Weddingbee

Q: What is Gocco??
A: “Though small in size and low priced, Riso’s Print Gocco Kit is no toy. The Print Gocco will produce professional quality printing that in some ways will out-perform your local printer.”

The Print Gocco is essentially a mini printing press that is capable of printing whatever you can imagine if you can create it and make a B&W photocopy of it.

Q: How does the whole thing work?
A: There are lots of wonderful tutorials about Gocco on the internet (just google “gocco and tutorial”), but I’ll try to demystify the process for you here. So, as I said before, it’s a printing press. It’s not as cool as a letter press or some super high-tech fancy printers, but since it only requires batteries and it fits on a small sidetable, I’m going to say it beats its counterparts in a few ways.

The process is simple.

1. DESIGN
You’d like to print “something” - a design, a body of text, a wedding invitation, etc. That “something” needs to be capable of fitting within the gocco screen parameters and can either be photocopied or drawn with a carbon-based writing instrument. So if you design it on the computer all you simply do is print it out and make a photocopy of it.

(image from WarmNFuzzy)

2. BURN
The gocco unit BURNS the image that you’ve drawn/copied into a screen using 2 flash bulbs. You place a blank screen in the unit and place the design you want to burn (remember step 1?) on the bed. Then, with the flash bulb unit in place, you click and it’ll smell like you’re burning the house down. No worries…. the image you created has now been burned into the screen and you’re ready to start printing!!!

(images from TheSmallObject)

3. INK UP! All you do is ink up the screen, put it back in the gocco unit. This is extremely easy if you’ve only got one color on your screen… but if you’ve got 2 or more, you just need to put down some foam walls to keep your ink from running away.

(image from WarmNFuzzy)

4. PRINT AWAY!!!
Simply place the screen back in the machine, and put the material you’d like to print on underneath… and “stamp” your design! It’s really that simple!

Q: OK….so what can I actually DO with this expensive little contraption?
A: Let your imagination run wild and raft to your heart’s delight! Here are some examples of gocco creations just for wedding purposes:

(all images via flickr using the search “gocco wedding”)Q: OK, I want one.. how much is this little habit going to cost me?
A: Kits are usually sold upwards of $130. The screens run about $12/5 pack and the bulbs are another $12/10 pack, leaving the simple cost of burning one screen at around $2-3. Inks are anywhere from $2-4/each, and you usually only have to ink a screen once completely for every 50 prints.

Q: Umm… and I would find one of these things where?
A: eBay is your best friend right now for the actual machine housing. For supplies, try www.savegocco.com for multiple sites that sell supplies online.

Q: Is it worth the investment?
A: I think the best way to answer this question is to gauge how much you’ve used other craft gadgets that you have, and possibly the amount of correspondence you normally send in the mail. If you’re spending money buying notecards and stationery for yourself or others, than this is worth its weight in gold. Otherwise, it might be a pricey gadget.

Q: What is so hard about all of this?
A: If you’re doing one print screen… not too much. But when you’re doing multiple screens, the registration process gets a little tricky and you need to be on your toes in order to do your best. You also need to have the vision and knowing how to use Photoshop layers will help in that area as well.

Q: What’s the coolest thing that you’ve done with your gocco?
A: Metallics and pastels! You can’t print them at home any other way….. and I adore making myself and friends stationery.

Any other questions? Add them to the comments and I’ll answer them next week! Get excited!

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