Swimming Through the Gocco Patch

RISO Gocco. A small blue machine out of which emerges lovely crafts, postcards, and small books. I have seen the wonders both virtually and in person. Finally, today, i experienced gocco for myself. I borrowed a friend's blue baby a few weeks ago, but only played with it today. My intention? To make patches to take to the Portland Zine Synposium. After an hour or so of drawing, I took my finished drawing to the packing store and made an 11 cent photocopy. At first, I had a bit of trouble figuring out how much ink to use (when they say a lot, they mean A LOT!) and other small debacles resulting in not exactly what I wanted. (for instance, I silkscreened the spare bedroom's wooden floor when first applying ink. It wiped away, mostly) One problem was i ordered the wrong screen type. I had to improvise the plastic screen by using a plastic baggie. The screen I used was supposed to be for silkscreening with a squeegeeeee and Gocco Silk Screen Ink. I had gocco stamp ink and used the screen on the Gocco itself. With a bit of improvisation and a great deal of learning as I go, I think the end result is rather nice. I am quite taken with my little patches. (in the heat of the moment, i took off my shirt, and ran it through the gocco. Would have worked, had i been patient enough to smooth out the bumps in the cotton!)