Risograph stereo print for Mill Co exhibition
The hardest part about doing something for Kavel Rafferty’s Collectionistas show at Mill Co was deciding which of my many collections I should feature. Since it’s a risograph exhibition and we were limited to two colours by the brief, I settled for my collection of old View-Masters. You know the type- the 3d glasses and the reels. I was obsessed as a kid – particularly with my Batman reel. I love toys like this- stuff that hasn’t changed in almost 70 years. Amazing really…
So I decided I wanted to make a 3D image – meaning two plates offset and printed in two colours using the anaglyph process. To create one of these you have to shoot two images of everything – one as though from the perspective of your right eye, and one with the perspective of your left eye (and you have to remember which one is which!). This is a tutorial of how to combine them in PhotoShop: http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/3danaglyph.htm
I did this by taking one picture and then moving my camera about 3 inches to the right to take a second picture. Getting these to work on computer screen is quite easy, because you can match the colours exactly right, in RGB – ’0′ R, ’255′ G, ’255′ B, for cyan, and then reversed for the red. This works with red/blue 3D glasses. So what I’m showing here is my mockup for the press, but the colour will change considerably. It’s funny that even though I love View-Masters and the whole 3D process in general I have never actually made one of these myself…
Because we’re using Hato press, they don’t have a cyan type colour for the risograph, so I’m probably going to end up getting the cyan layer printed green, and then use red/green 3D glasses… Check Hato out, if you’re in East London and fancy exploring the risograph process they’re super helpful! http://hatopress.net/1/
So my 3d glasses are ordered, the artwork has been sent off, now let’s see if the magic happens.
This will be my first risograph so it’s very exciting and I can’t wait to see how it comes out. I’ve already got lots of idea of what to do with the next one… This was a bit complicated, as it’s one things copying and pasting elements into your artwork, but a whole other thing when you need layer transparency and certain colours to show through- tip: keep your layer stack organised and make sure you check what white areas in your layers exist, as obviously these white areas don’t print, so erase anything below the white parts of your layer if you want to keep white! I got myself in a muddle , so don’t do what I did…
Keep your eyes peeled for the final artwork and show pics. These will be for sale through Mill Co, so let me know if you want one. 
