Halloween RISO Workshop

Join us for our Halloween or Samhainn RISO printing Workshop here at create!

Celebrate Halloween night with a hands-on, creative printing session in Ayr's first RISO-print studio! Step into the world of Risograph printing, an analogue process loved for its vibrant spot inks, rich textures, and tactile finish.

This workshop will cover all the basics of RISO printing and you will design and print your own 2-colour A3 posters combining folklore, spooky fun, and printmaking.

SAMHAIN & FOLKLORE INSPIRATIONS

Before modern trick-or-treating, Halloween in Scotland was rooted in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), marking the end of the harvest and the turning of the year into dark winter. It was believed that on this night, the veil between our world and the spirit realm grew thin.

Did you know some of the well loved Halloween traditions actually originated here in Scotland? Before pumpkins arrived from America, Scots carved eerie faces into turnips (neeps) to make glowing neep lanterns, carrying them to ward off malicious Aos Sí (faeries).

LOCAL & NATIONAL FOLKLORE TO EXPLORE

In the workshop, we will be exploring mythic creatures and tales as inspiration for your poster design:

* The Kelpie: The shape-shifting water spirit of Scottish lochs, often appearing as a magnificent black horse or a mesmerizing stranger with waterweeds in their hair.

🦭The Selkie: Seal-folk who shed their glossy skins to walk on land as humans, carrying haunting tales of sea-longing and love.

🧙‍♀️The Cailleach: The ancient Divine Hag and Queen of Winter. She strikes the ground with her staff to bring the first frosts, her hair as white as snow.

🔮The Witches of Alloway: From right here in Ayshire! From Robert Burns’ Tam o' Shanter, depicting witches, warlocks, and spooky revelry inside the ruined Alloway Auld Kirk.

WHAT IS RISOGRAPH PRINTING?

The Riso printer was invented in Japan in 1986 by the Riso Kagaku Corporation, and was originally built as a high-speed office duplicator used in primary achools and churches. More recently, artists, illustrators, and independent publishers adopted the machine for its bold inky printmaking effects.

How Riso Works:

1. The Master Sheet: The machine burns tiny thermal pinholes onto a paper master sheet, creating a physical stencil wrapped around an ink drum.

2. Liquid Spot Inks: Soy or rice-bran oil ink is pushed through the stencil onto uncoated paper as the drum spins at high speed.

3. Layering & Registration: Colours are printed one layer at a time. Misalignments (known as misregistration) and slight ink textures give every single print a unique, handmade character that screen printers and digital artists love.

Workshop Structure:

1. Layer Separations Because the Riso machine reads artwork in grayscale, you will draw or build two separate layers on tracing paper—one layer for each ink color (e.g Layer 1 = Teal, Layer 2 = Fluorescent Pink). Its best to use dark bold lines to get the brightest inky results!

We provide markers, fine-liners, black ink, and paper cut-outs. You can cut out shapes, trace folk motifs, layer dried botanical silhouettes, or draw freehand.

If you don't want to draw from scratch, choose from some of our Scottish folklore outlines, spooky cut-outs, gothic borders and our collaging materials to assemble your composition.

Print & Take Home: We will help you put your designs together through the RISO machine, you can watch the layers combine on your chosen paper and finish the class with walk away with 10 copies of your A3 poster.

What to Bring: Just yourself and any ideas you have drawn, pinterest boards or reference images you like! Wear clothes you don't mind getting a little ink on.