RISO Screen Printing

Richardton High School Technology Education Department

Richardton, North Dakota

Instructions for making a Riso screen-print project

Step One

Develop a project idea and project design.

The object that you are going to screen print on will determine your design limits. Note the size of the screen frames that are available to you. There are small, medium and large frames. The largest normal image is slightly smaller than a standard sheet of paper. The image must be smaller than the frame and narrower than the squeegee you are going to use.

Develop your design using any computer software or image generation process. The image can be hand drawn or scanned. The design should be black and white only and also line copy only.

Step two

Print your design from a laser printer. Check it for size on your substrate material, frame and squeegee.

Step three

Obtain a piece of Riso screen master material. If it is in a roll form, cut it to size, a little bit larger than the inside of your frame. A 8 1/2" material is the largest width that will pass through the thermo copier machine.

Step four

Place your artwork face up on the carrier material. Place the Riso screen master material smooth side down on top of your artwork. Turn on the thermo copier machine, it should be preset to about “4”. Allow the thermo copier to “grab” your artwork, screen master and carrier. Your material will pass through the machine and come out the bottom.

Step five

Separate the sheets and put in the proper space. Separate your artwork from the screen master carefully, and discard your artwork (it can not be used again).

Step six

Tape the screen master to the frame. Tape it fairly tight, but not so tight that it curls the frame.

Step seven

You are now ready to print. Choose the colors of ink that you would like. Select the proper size squeegee.

Select an ink knife.

You should have your substrate ready at this time.

Cleanliness is all-important this step forward.

If you are printing on a t-shirt or other clothing, place a sheet of paper inside of the article of clothing to reduce the chance of the ink “bleeding” through.

Step eight

Place a liberal amount of ink above the image on the screen. Apply downward pressure on the squeegee at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees. One pass should give you an adequate image. Practice on paper, or other material before actually printing on your substrate. Working on a padded surface, varying the amount of pressure, and the number of passes one makes will all factor in the outcome of your print.

Step nine

Clean up

Step ten

If you are printing on a material that requires no laundering, your screen project is finished. If you are printing on a t-shirt or some other clothing, the image needs to be heat set. Heat setting will give the image a longer life span under washing and drying conditions. Some fading will always occur. Turn on the dry mount press to 300 degrees (a hand iron can also be used). Place the article under the heating unit and press it for about 30 seconds.

Step eleven

Remove from dry mount press, fold, and your project is finished.