Outlet PDX is an artist studio and small business for artists and creatives printing in an intimate Sandy spot.
I had met the artist early and then I recently met an artist in residence using their printers, so I had to visit.
It has a lot going on, and an ongoing community.
Artist Bingham-Burt, it's her working studio too, emerged into the Portland zine community with a PSU art degree and a zine illustrating everything she bought, day by day. That's something to think about. She has a continuing illustration business in this small studio.
The star is a collection of antique in the technical lifecycle mighty Risograph printing machines. The Risograph was developed in Japan. It's an instant screen printer for paper. A machine can do one or two colors in a pass. Your original is scanned like a copier. From there a color separation can be made. The separation layers are sent to the instant screen maker. The screens are applied to the inked drums, one or two, depending on the machine. From there you can send as many paper sheets through as you like to get one or two colors of ink. That's all inside the machine which looks like a mild-mannered old-school copy machine!
The ink is in cartridges and the ink comes in a small set of colors from Japan. Usually a Risograph studio has a small set of inks in their cartridges. It is a cleaning ordeal to change the color of a cartridge, so a studio is going to keep the color of their cartridges for months or longer. But among those cartridges they can plug from their collection into their machines. You can send your paper through multiple machines multiple times to build up a layered color image, like a screen print.
Multiple passes makes for charm - each pass can have slightly misaligned images.
Outlet can do contract Risograph jobs. Or you can register for a class and then do your own projects ongoing.
But there is more!
The studio has a zine library and zines for sale. They have art and cards by the artist. And they have some art supplies.
They are in a beautiful space on the courtyard of the 2500 complex. It's not super retail-oriented, most of the individuals there are focused on their own Riso projects with their own creative intensity when you visit.
Nonetheless it's special. The other Risograph options in Portland I know are the IRPC and the PSU Risograph studio. Inquire for your project which colors each is printing at any time.
Outlet has 4 Risographs. They have names: Barbara, Jolene, Lil' Tina, and Large Marge. Lady printers.
It joins my museum list for its zine collection, and for obsolete printer technology which is cool.
It's open very limited hours you can see on the website.
Outlet illustrates the best of Portland creativity in niche color printing, art, classes and supplies in a dreamy space! read more