Artists, writers, zinesters and creative hobbyists are welcome to drop by The Fifty-Foot Press’ studio in East London for private, one-on-one riso printing sessions. No prior experience is required to have a go — if you’re a total novice, I will teach you all you might need to know about producing risograph prints; alternatively, if you’ve got significant past experience with a Riso duplicator and just need a machine you can use to fulfil a creative project, I’ll be as hands-off as you like.

Building community around riso printing and DIY publishing/art-making has always been at the heart of The Fifty-Foot Press’ mission. Enquiries surrounding collaborations and regular usage of the Press’ riso duplicator are absolutely welcome, and can be made by filling out the form at the foot of this page — though please do be aware that I currently run the Press single-handedly, in between managing an extensive creative research practice and a separate part-time job. Even if I feel it might be difficult for me to help fulfil your project, however, do drop me a line to open up a conversation about it, as even if I’m currently not in a position to embark on any major new printing or publishing collaborations, I can at least talk through your ideas with you as a friendly, constructively critical ear!

Alternatively, if you would like to support the Press’ work in other ways, do check out our online shop or donate to our Ko-fi page using the buttons at the door of this page.

Open Access printing sessions can be booked by clicking on the link below. Abigail’s Facilitation Fee for these sessions is £18 for the first hour, and £13 for each additional hour, which covers the cost of the assistance and technical support she will provide throughout the printing process. Materials used during the session are to be paid for once your session has concluded, and are costed as follows:

£4-8/Master — one master is required per colour used, per print run. One master can print pretty much infinite impressions, so whether you’re printing 5, 50 or 500 prints, you’ll never need more than one per colour. We charge for masters on a sliding scale with a £4 minimum, but if you want to pay more as a donation to the studio, you are very welcome to do so.

£0.02/Impression — This fee covers the ink used per impression, meaning that, for example, if your print requires two colours you will be charged 4p per completed print, or 6p if it requires three colours, et cetera.

Paper:

• £0.03-0.04/A3 Clairefontaine Evercopy 80gsm sheet.

• £0.20-0.25/A3 Context Natural 250gsm sheet.

• £0.20-0.25/A3 Red Coloured Paper sheet.

• £0.30-0.35/Custom Paper sheet (MUST be requested via email before session).

We’ll test all designs on sheets of 80gsm Clairefontaine Evercopy before printing your final designs on 250gsm Context Natural. Red coloured paper of a similar weight is also available. If you’re looking to print single-colour, text-heavy interior pages of a zine or booklet, however, Evercopy will absolutely do the job, so don’t feel pressured into needing to pay for more expensive papers if you feel your project may not need it!

I can order in custom paper stocks for these printing sessions, however it is imperative that you email me beforehand to let me know which papers you would like me to order in for you. Due to the turnaround time on orders, sessions will have to be arranged for at least 2 weeks after each custom paper stock has been ordered. I can provide a full list of papers I can order in on request. You are, of course, welcome to bring your own paper, so long as it is of A3 size, and so long as it is between 80 and 240gsm in weight.

I currently have Riso drums in six colours: Blue, Fluorescent Pink, Orange, Yellow, Teal, and Black. Basic instructions on how to prepare artwork files for printing can be found by clicking the image below, which will also take you to the page where sessions can be ordered and paid for. If you are interested in printing a full-colour art print, Pink, Yellow, Teal, and Black are rough equivalents for CMYK primary pigments on other forms of printing equipment. You can either split artworks up into their constituent colours for printing using downloadable Photoshop colour profiles linked here, or I can split them up using a programme called Spectrolite prior to our session together.

All artwork files must be brought on the day via USB or sent via email to abigail@beanandqueer.com in advance of your printing session.