Rock Cakes

Romance is Dead – Gocco is Alive

Inspiration Monday # 09

And so it is that I have jumped on the Gocco wagon, a few people I know have Japanese Gocco printers, little machines that allow you to expose a screen and use it to print up to about 50 c6 size prints from one inking, quantity depending how good you are, as with anything the more often that you do it the better and more efficient you will be. It is a dying art as at one time nearly one in three of Japanese households owned a Gocco printer, then came the electronic revolution and Japan has the reputation of being ahead of the game so Gocco was old news and died a death.

Last year I began hand drawing cards and have been struggling to keep up with demand so I researched the prospect of going Gocco and the temptation to purchase was too much. It is not cheap to get into, particularly if you are in the UK as the equipment needs to be shipped from the other side of the world, the machines new are $250 although you can pay less for a second hand one, as I did. Every screen that you expose is $6 and they require two single use flash bulbs to expose each screen costing a further $6.50 not including the shipping cost. The inks are not too expense at about $4 each, depending on how many you purchase, there are fab colours available including florescents and metalics. There is a brilliant how to print Gocco movie on Etsy which really inspired me to get one.

For my first print I decided to expose two screens to make a three colour Valentines card, the design is based on the engraving inside mine and my husbands wedding rings. I did a successful print run of 20 limited edition cards and made a few that I did not line up properly, I need a bit more practice. You can see my design, get an idea of the process and see the final results on the images below. The cards are available to buy on Etsy for a mere $4 (£2.50, not sure why I’ve gone gone all $$$) plus shipping. I’m selling the off print ones for just £1 plus postage 50p, email me if you want one, I quite like the individuality misprinted ones myself, I hope that my husband does ‘cus he’ll be getting one.

Finally I have made my second Etsy treasury entitled “Romance is Dead” something a bit darker to take the edge off the forthcoming sickly day of love, if you like that then take a look at my first Etsy treasury “For the Love of Owls“.

Check out some other Gocco-ers here:
Heather Champ and her Gocco prints on flickr.
Flutterfolds designs and products by Jo Skinner.
Two guitars detailed Gocco work on Etsy.
Savegocco.com a site dedicated to keeping Gocco alive.

And please do leave any comments below if you have some!!!

17/01/2011
Posted in: Uncategorized