The clip below loops on the shop monitor during print nights. It has nothing to do with toner jams, and that is the point: it keeps people calm while we fix one.
Our risograph is older than two of our volunteers. It has a pink drum, a blue drum, and a personality. On humid days it jams if you look at it wrong, so we keep the paper in a sealed box until the last minute.
Keep a log of every run: paper, drum, density, and what went wrong. After a year you will have a manual written specifically for your machine.
We keep a guest book by the door. Some people write their name, some write a poem, and one person drew the entire floor plan of the shop from memory. It is the best zine we have never printed.
Everything in this post works just as well at a library copier or a corner copy shop. You don't need a studio, just a flat table and about an hour.
Aurelie Fontaine
The bit about making the dummy first is so true. I learned that the expensive way.
Aurelie Fontaine
Saved this to print out, which feels like the right way to save it.
Rosa Lindqvist
Thanks for reading. Let us know how it turns out.