11 days ago I came down with COVID and it sucked. All in all I had a mild case, and worse things have happened, but it delayed my trip, and recovering was not fun. The whole time I had it, I was looking for a silver lining. There’s gotta be something that’ll make getting this worth all the trouble.
My good friend Cheryl and I have been talking about getting a riso machine for some time, but they are difficult to find, afford, move, etc. Thursday, February 2, at 10 am, Cheryl texted me. I was on day 3 of COVID and still struggling. She happened to check Craigslist, and stumbled upon a riso machine in Wausau, Wisconsin for a great deal. It was a discontinued model– the GR3770– but it was still operating properly, and came with 6 drums, and additional ink. Cheryl and I were both excited and we both know how to let an idea run wild. For the next 5 days we would make calls to our riso friends, our local family-run riso supply business, and brainstorm ideas about how to move a 250 pound machine that doesn’t fit in either of our cars with 2 people.
Eventually we figured out the logistical nightmare of transporting it and made a plan. We rented a mini van (thanks Turo!), brought a friend for extra help (thanks Kitty!), and made the 4 hour journey to Wausau. The day before I was to leave for my Mexico trip. 😃
We met our Craigslist seller (and her very friendly cat, Toby) at her home. She had recently retired from running a 25 year old printing business. A look of concern came over her when she opened the door and saw 3 young, 5’ small humans. I imagine she was also extremely perplexed why some gals in their ~30s would want a more than 20 year old industrial-grade copy machine. And boy did we want it.
In the car ride, I made an A3-sized piece of ‘art’ we would test in the machine. It depicted our journey to Wausau, and the beloved machine we would buy. We decided to name her Sharon 4,000,000 after our Craigslist seller and the approximate copy count on the machine.
Lots of people doubted we could move it, but I never doubted us for second (probably due to my blind optimism, or maybe just dumb naivety). We safely wheeled the machine out of Sharon’s, through a ramp in her garage (bless!), and gently lifted the machine off the base, and straight into the mini van. Smooth like butter. Sharon covered her eyes and cowered the whole time, in case something disastrous happened. Getting it out of Sharon’s was only half the battle. Once back in Chicago, we had to transport it down 4 stairs. Doesn’t sound too crazy, but our riso friends weren’t messing around when they warned us about stairs. “If you have to move it up any stairs, forget it. If you have to move it down any stairs, good luck,” they told us. It wasn’t easy, but with patience, confidence, and incredible thighs, we carefully moved it into its temporary home in Cheryl’s basement– or Cheryl’s Workshop, as I like to call it.
I’m looking forward to printing all kinds of magical zines, prints, and more on our Sharon 4,000,000. I’m excited to learn more about this beautiful art form, and use our printer for as long as she’ll let us. And to everyone out there who has moved a riso machine before – I salute you. There should be badges of honor for this.
Sometimes silver linings are hard to find. Sometimes you have to squint a bit. In most cases, seeing silver linings is making a choice to be optimistic, to be grateful. If I hadn’t gotten COVID, and hadn’t delayed my trip, we would not have gotten this machine. That’s the silver lining of this, and I’m so stoked to start this journey when I return!!!
Special thanks to:
Kitty – who helped us move the machine
Dan – Sad Sack Press – who helped advise us on how to move it safely; hire Dan for Riso printing, Screen printing, and Letterpress
Louie – Risoworld – who also gave us moving and purchasing advice
The Toyota Sienna 2015
Our husbands– who tolerate and entertain our ideas that run wild
Panchero’s
Appendix
During the process, it was revealed to us, that many people don’t know what Risograph Printing is. It’s a non-archival, soy-based, cold process type of printing on uncoated paper, and it prints 1 layer of art at a time, creating beautiful overlays, a charming texture, and sometimes mis-registration. Here is more info about risograph printing.
It was also revealed to us throughout the process that there aren’t many resources out there about transporting these machines. If you find yourself in this situation, and want more info about how we moved it, and all the options we considered, feel free to reach out, and we’ll give you the low down. If there’s a lot of interest, I’ll make a separate post.