Gocco fun
June 25, 2008

So one of my best friends in the world, Cristin, is having a baby in August and I could not be more thrilled for her. She is the first out of our group of friends to be having a baby so a fabulous baby shower is most definitely in order. I was put on invitation duty and I could not wait to get started and put my new gocco printer to use!
For those who are unfamiliar with the gocco- it is this magical little box of joy which has time traveled from the 1980's Japan to the states today. It has taken the wedding industry by storm lately and opened so many new doors to DIY-ing. I LOVE it.
The way it works is surprisingly simple. You take an image or design (something you drew, created on the computer, a photograph, etc.) and make a photocopy of it. (The photocopy is important because it contains carbon..) Then you place the photocopy in the gocco, attach the special light bulbs in the top (these are one time use only light bulbs) close the lid and poof! The light bulbs go off, there is some smoke and magically, your image has now transferred to the little disposable screen in your gocco. (And by magically, I mean that the high heat bulbs have burned the teeny tiny bits of carbon onto the screen.)
The screen then gets inked with whichever colors you are using and goes back in the gocco. Then your gocco is ready to print onto your paper. "You mean like a screenprinter?" Dave asked when I finished explaining what the bright orange box on our dining room table was. Yes. That is what it is. I just like to be able to explain it now that I am finally able to.
Dave was as intrigued as I was when I first learned about it, so he took some photos of the process which I thought would be fun to post to show how easy it is.


Inking! You don't have to be precise with this. The image that is burned into the screen has the teeniest, tiniest holes to allow the ink through..


Putting the film back over the screen (so the ink does not gush everywhere or get the gocco dirty.)


Rather than paper, I decided to use the onesie in the gocco. Kind of a risk since I had no idea if it could handle it. (They do make fabric ink for the gocco, though I did not have any..) Notice the screen is back in the top of the gocco.


Pressing down the top to put the ink on the onesie. You need to be careful not to put too much pressure or too little pressure.


Yay! A perfect print!


Half way done..


Of course, there is no photo shoot in our house without Chester. He got in on some gocco action too.
4 comments

4 Comments:

rebecca -- i love everything about this post! what a fun way to share the gocco with your readers ;-) i am a huge fan as well!! adore that you added chester at the end; he makes fab things even better! xoxo

By  Angel @ loveandsplendor.com/blog, at June 26, 2008 at 1:36 AM  

rebecca thats awesome!

By  Anonymous, at June 30, 2008 at 3:49 PM  

You are SO talented! I love all of your work and have been really enjoying your blog!

By  Maria @ {ritzy bee}, at June 30, 2008 at 9:10 PM  

I love those little onesies! Of course, leave it to you to come up with the cutest ways EVER to use a gocco.

By  Unknown, at July 13, 2008 at 9:53 PM  

Post a Comment