For a few years in the 2010’s I ran a risograph printing service out of a studio in George Town. I enjoyed being part of the local print community but it was a lot of hard work. First things first I had to have the best paper. Riso ink is not fully opaque and it technically never actually dries. Ideally you want an uncoated, toothy stock that has minimal transparency. I used Mohawk Via Vellum 80 lb text weight sheets for book pages, and 100 lb card stock for covers. This paper is expensive. I tried to remain frugal when purchasing other supplies. During this time a lot of churches had old riso supplies. Riso printing was marketed to churches as a cost effective alternative to xerox. By the early 200’s hundreds of churches were trying to get rid of their supplies. Knowing this I Scoured craigslist ads from all over the U.S. I would contact sellers in other states and offer to pay them to ship to me. These second hand materials worked just as well as brand new ones and Using this method I managed to acquire supplies for around 20% of the retail price for several years. The combo of cheap supplies and expensive paper allowed me to keep the cost of printing competitive with other riso printers. Every print was important to me and I wanted to maintain a reputation of producing high quality work.
Thinking big is a bit outside my wheelhouse. I primarily focus on the task at hand and keep my work local and simple. This is an aspect of my personality I’d like to change. I’m taking small steps and sometimes leaps and bounds outside of my comfort zone in this program. The idea of working for a large company with a big impact seems more tangible to me now than in the past, but I still think in small, independent terms when approaching most projects.