O-M-Gocco! (Part 2)

Here you'll see the materials you need for your Gocco adventure.  Clockwise from top, you need the Printo Gocco, itself, drying racks, the Gocco lamp (and bulbs, in the yellow box), a Gocco screen, your image, foam ink block and scissors, something to print your image on, Gocco screen printing ink.

First I took my original image. I drew it small because I wasn't going to have a lot of space to print on, anyway. The Gocco machines only allow for a print area of about 3.5" x 5.5". It's tiny, but there are options for you to get a larger image later on. I cut down my image after it was drawn, separating the elements of the clouds and the fox.

I then Xeroxed my image and shrank it just a bit to ensure that the entire image, with all elements included, would fit into the allotted space given for Gocco printing. You Xerox the image so that you have an image that has ink printed with carbon elements. Most Gocco kits come with a pen that contains carbon so you can skip the Xeroxing step, but since my kit came used and did not include the pen, I had to Xerox my image.

This is the Xeroxed image placed on the stick pad that is inside of the Gocco machine. I have also loaded the Gocco screen onto the machine and placed the lamp and bulbs on top of the machine all together. (Sorry for not documenting those aspects very well!)

After you put your lamp with bulbs on the machine, have loaded the Gocco screen, and have your image on the sticky pad, you close the arm to the machine, and push down. The bulbs flash, and your screen is burnt! It's a little hard to believe, but as long as you see the flash, you've got a burnt screen.

After you burn your screen, you use the foam color block to separate areas on your image that you want to come out in different colors. The foam acts as a barrier for the ink so that it doesn't spread into the different-colored areas of your image.

Here you can see how I blocked my burn screen to ensure that those areas would stay only one color.

This is a really bad picture (sorry), but I was trying to show you how I inked the screen, then closed the plastic film flap to squish down over top of the ink I just put on the screen. See if you can figure out that that's what is actually in this picture! :)

After you ink your screen, you load it back into the Gocco machine (lamp removed), and place your paper that you want to print on the sticky pad (where you put your original image before.) You fold the arm to the machine down over top of your paper, lift the arm, and MIRACULOUSLY, you see your image printed in the colors you inked on your screen! 

Here is what my image looked like after I lifted the arm of the machine. You can see the smooshed globs of ink in the screen on the arm of the Gocco machine. I was so scared because I was certain the whole thing wouldn't work and I would just have globs of ink printed onto my paper. But It totally worked! And it really amazed me.

With a well-inked screen, you can print up to 50 times using the same inked screen you originally burnt. I used the drying racks after this image was taken. Additionally, once you are finished printing your image, you can clean your screen and save it to be used again at another time. You cannot, however, burn a new image onto the same screen you used. Once you burn a screen, it's burnt for good.

If you're interested in purchasing this Gocco card print, visit my etsy store!

O-M-Gocco! (Part 1)

I recently discovered a very exciting creative machine that a lot of artists are using in the independent artistry world. I know it's been around for a while-- so long, in fact, that it's already no longer in production. But the machines are out there in the modern world being used to turn every kitchen table into a miniature Andy Warhol studio, enabling artists to "mass produce" their own imagery via screen print. And it's so easy, you wouldn't even believe you've never heard of this before.

The machine I speak of is the Print Gocco machine. There are many models of the same machine, and those strange model numbers can get a little overwhelming to someone who is new to Gocco (like myself) who wants to get one, but doesn't know what kind to get, and wants to make sure that it's the proper kind for a beginner and for what you want to use it for.

I researched online as many places as I could, and found that most people seemed to be using what is called the "B-6" model, though truth be told, that letter and number combination means nothing to me. I saw artworks people were printing using that model, I watched tutorials with that model, I read about the pros and cons, learned about the struggles and joys, and decided that if I'm jumping head-first into this machine, I might as well just get the B-6. If it's wrong, oh well. I tried, right?

Tracking it down was the trickiest part, as I had to find an independent seller, since they're no longer in production to be sold through art suppliers. I eventually found one through ETSY. It had be very slightly used and was still in awesome condition. The listing showed that it came with lots of ink, bulbs, and screens. So even though it still hurt to pay (even less) for the used machine, I at least knew I was getting a semi-discount.

Yesterday was my first run with my Gocco machine and it was SO much fun. Read the next post to see my first encounter with the Gocco, documented step-by-step for you to see how it works and what kind of awesomeness it produces.

The scooped-up reject

So my mother said no, but someone else said yes! I will be mailing these out to a lucky friend very, very soon!