Rosh Takeover: Zine Workshop at Machwerkhaus
Yesterday, I gave a workshop on zine making at rosh studio, famous for their drop-in Risograph printing sessions. It was so much fun! I had incredible support from J, L, and M and together we successfully blended the art of zines and Riso.
The workshop format was deliberately mellow, with a low, almost non-existent entry barrier, and thus catered to the typical visitor of a Machwerktag, which is the open day of the creative hub Machwerkhaus, of which rosh studio is a part of. Machwerktag happens every first Thursday of the month, from March through October, and lets you sneak a peek into ateliers, workshops, and exhibition areas. It’s usually accompanied by a small flea market and the local Hempies provides drinks and vegan snacks.
So given that you never know who and how many to expect, I was really happy when we became a group of ten who—after a short introduction in zine history and culture—sat down for around four hours to cut, write, draw, doodle, glue, collage, and finally copy on the Risograph printer. It surprised me how quickly everyone was game and how people seemed to have a pretty good intuition that turning a piece of paper into a small booklet about whatever is damn wholesome!
Speaking of the actual zines: We worked on A3 paper—because that is the paper format the Risograph operates on—and used the “classic” or “punk” zine folding method. That gives you a grid of eight A6 cells to work with, and if folded right, an A6 zine with front and back cover and three spreads.
We put pens, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, and magazines to cut up in the middle of the work bench and people really got into it.
Once people had their master version of the zine ready, we stepped to the Risograph printer and made a couple of copies with vibrant blue ink and this signature texture that only Riso can produce. This was definitely the tricky part because Riso ink is soybean-oil-based and never really dries, so folding a piece of paper with wet ink on it is just asking for all kinds of smudges. We did a couple of things that helped, though:
- We used paper that is a bit thicker than normal copy paper (120 g/m² if I’m not mistaken … will double-check) and that absorbed the ink well while still being easy enough to fold.
- We (well, L, really) pre-folded the paper before we put the sheets into the printer. That was dicey as Risograph printers are notorious for their moody paper feed and horrible paper jams. But it worked well in our case, also because we made sure to only print one zine at a time.
- A bit “Duh!” but still: We layed out the zines for a bit of drying time and instructed participants to be careful.
Those measures did not prevent every tiny smear from happening. But then again, zine making is not about perfectionism. Quite the opposite. I think the final zines looked amazing!
I also managed to finish my zine about how watching movies seems to be a dying pastime that I think we should rekindle. That was no mean feat because interesting conversations, watching the others, talking to the occasional drop-ins asking questions, and just taking in the soothing atmosphere was the good kind of distraction.
Thanks again to everyone who participated and my fellow tinkerers J, L, and M. I had a blast and I hope there will be opportunities to do this again.