From bench to wall
How a flat field earns its grain.
A Pigment print is built, not printed. Hand-mixed ink, layer on layer, dried between every pass, then signed by the only person who ever touched it. Here is the whole journey — from the first batch of colour to a board mailer on your doormat.
The four stages
Mixed, pulled, signed, shipped.
-
Mixed by hand
Each colour starts as a small batch blended at the bench, weighed by eye and adjusted against the last run. No two batches of the same hue ever match exactly, and that drift is what makes an edition an edition rather than a copy.
-
Pulled in passes
The flat field goes down first, then dries overnight. The grain layer follows, sometimes a third pass on top, each one printed and dried separately so the risograph texture builds depth instead of mud. A six-work drop takes the best part of a fortnight.
-
Signed and numbered
Every sheet is checked under daylight, then numbered and signed in pencil, lower right. A blind emboss of the Pigment mark goes into the lower-left margin. Anything that doesn’t pass the daylight check is destroyed, not sold cheap.
-
Shipped flat
Wrapped in acid-free tissue, slid into a rigid board mailer with a matched edition card and a printed swatch of the actual ink batch, then sent tracked and insured. It reaches you flat, ready for a frame, never rolled.
Flat field vs grain
The same colour, before and after the press.
A digital flat is just colour. A risograph pull is colour with a surface — the grain, the slight misalignment, the tooth of the rag. That difference is the whole reason these exist on paper at all.
Watch a layer land
Every colour comes off one dial.
At the bench, a whole drop is mixed from one decision: the base hue. Everything else — the deep, the complement, the near neighbour — is pulled from it. Drag the wheel and you’re making exactly that first call, the one the rest of the run hangs from.
The risograph hums when it’s happy and sulks when the humidity turns. You learn to print on its good days.Mara Ostlund
Care & framing
Keeping it bold for decades.
| Light | Bright, indirect daylight is fine. Keep out of direct, all-day sun to protect the ink. |
|---|---|
| Framing | Sized for a standard 50×70cm frame with a slim mat. Use acid-free mounts. |
| Glazing | UV-filtering glass or acrylic recommended for long-lived colour. |
| Handling | Clean, dry hands or cotton gloves. Lift by the margin, never the image. |
| Humidity | Cotton rag is happiest in a stable room. Avoid bathrooms and unheated walls. |
| Storage | Flat, between acid-free sheets. Never roll a risograph print. |
Now you know how it’s built. See what’s on the wall.
View the current drop