Risograph Printing & CFS Problems | ASD #9

This week I had a few really exciting workshops to attend. We were getting an introduction to risograph printing as well as a workshop on bookbinding. Both are going to be quite useful for the project we’ve just started. I was really excited about these workshops so of course, my chronic fatigue had to come along and ruin the fun.

RISOGRAPH PRINTING

I love risograph printing but I’ve never been able to give it a try. I actually talk about it quite often here, Ohh Deer does little riso printed calendars in each Papergang box. Risograph is a type of printer but is more like screen printing than digital printing. It was originally made so it could produce lots of copies in a short amount of time.

As my lecturer put it “it was never intended as an artists tool so of course artists love it”.

In groups, we all got to try making prints using the risograph machine. This involved taking lots of different textures and laying them on the scanner of the riso printer. The black parts of the image are then duplicated onto a drum, essentially creating a master, which is then used to duplicate the image onto paper.

Risograph isn’t an exact science, so it’s easy to see how artists love using it as part of their process. You also have the added benefit of being able to change the paper and colour of ink you use which can make some really interesting results.

CFS PROBLEMS

There was also a bookbinding workshop this week which I had been really looking forward to. I really enjoy bookbinding, in the past, I’ve made notebooks and photo albums. It’s something which is going to be really important for this project because we are to make an “artists book”. Unfortunately, my CFS reared its ugly head and I couldn’t leave home for three days.

I probably should have seen this coming. My CFS has slowly been getting worse for a good six months. It was just the transition from college to university that made me realise just how bad it had got. It’s really quite frustrating because I had thought it was getting better. Anyway, instead of attending the bookbinding workshop I stayed home to try and catch up with my lecture module as well as research for my current project. Both of which I haven’t been able to work on all week.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS

I’m hoping by next week I will be back on track with coursework. By that time I think the tablets from the doctor along with painkillers will help the worst of my CFS flare up. It really doesn’t help that the end of the semester is nearing and all the deadlines which come with that.

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2 Comments

Stacie Fields

May 25, 2019 at 10:46 am Reply

Have you tried d-ribose for your CFS? I have fibromyalgia and my boss has CFs and it really helps us both. Apparently it helps 2/3rds of people with CFS so only get a small pack and try it for a week the stop and see if you can tell the difference. Best to buy the loose powder and put in tea or juice or something rather than the capsules as you get more for your money that way. Hope you feel better soon I’m really hoping to go to university for art full time in the next few years. I’m doing lots of separate classes at the moment and love it. It is hard when fibromyalgia rears it’s head though. I hope you’re feeling better soon x

BluChickenNinja

May 26, 2019 at 8:09 pm Reply

I’ve never heard of that but thanks, I’ll check it out. I have a friend at art school with fibro and I know just how hard it can be. Hope you’re doing well.