Monday, December 22, 2008

holly jolly gocco

I've been meaning to post my first try on the Gocco for a while now, but am just now getting around to it. Christmas is in four days, and I am not ready! My Christmas cards got a little delayed this year, but I finally was able to print a run, so without further ado...the printing of my Christmas cards:

1. For the sake of time, I just designed a quick, simple design in Illustrator, then printed it off our high quality printer at work to get a good sharp master copy.


2. The master screen that my image will be burned onto:


3. Light bulbs go into the lamp housing that will be used to "burn" the image onto the screen.

4. The blank screen slides into the top portion of the Gocco machine. The master image (that I printed out) lays on the bottom pad:


5. When you close the Gocco, you'll see your image through the screen:


6. Now the lamp housing, with the two lightbulbs, slides into the top of the Gocco, over the image:


7. Then I push down completely on the top to "burn" the image onto the blank screen. When you push down on the machine, the two light bulbs flash brightly. There is carbon in the ink of the master image, so when the lights flash, the heat reacts with the carbon in the ink and burns little holes in the screen wherever the ink was.


8. The image is now burned onto the master screen:


9. I slide the master screen out of the machine and peel back its thin clear layer. The artwork is still attached to the back of the screen, so that you can see where to place your ink. I put ink-blocking foam pieces in between the texts so that the different colored ink will not run together:


10. I cover the art image with ink and recover with the thin, clear layer:


11. I slide the master screen, with ink, back into the machine, then peel off the copy of the master image:


12. Put a fresh sheet of paper or cardstock onto the bottom pad, push down the top of the machine. The ink will push through all those tiny holes that were burned into the screen and transfer through the image on the screen onto the paper:


13. Lift up the top, and you've got a perfectly printed piece! Replace the card with a fresh sheet of paper, close the machine again and push down to create a second print, and keep repeating until your heart's content!



Printed and drying on the rack:


Seems complicated, but it's really rather easy. Printing on the Gocco is so fun...I will be sure to share my next printed project!

2 comments:

Jessamyn said...

this is so cool! I have never seen or heard of this but it looks so fun. i love the design you made for the cards. Merry Christmas!

Unknown said...

I was checking out your blog for the first time in a while and came across this post. I have to tell you that my Christmas cards would have NEVER gotten out if I'd gone through such a process. However, I loved seeing the process and the finished products. BEAUTIFUL!