A Gocco (pronounced go-cko) is a Japanese toy that has quickly become an essential tool for print making of all types. People love to use it for invitations, customizing notepads, printing on fabrics, etc. Basically it looks like the equivalent of an easy bake oven, but it actually can be used professionally. (side note: it'd be hilarious if you could actually use an easy bake oven in a professional way) You design an image on your computer, print it out, insert it into the Gocco to make the screen, then print the invitations with real ink on the Gocco. The advantage of using the Gocco instead of a regular high end photo printer is that the invitations will feel extremely professional with the ink sitting on top of the paper.
Here's are some invitations I found online that used the Gocco:
(all invites except for the bottom right corner done by 'Things Are Better With A Parrott') And here's a great Gocco tutorial video I found:
So there's your answer! What do you think I should do? It's possible to find used Goccos on craigslist, ebay, and some retailers sell them. My guess is after all is said and done the unit (with inks, bulbs, screens, etc) would cost around $200-$275. Additionally, after we use it, we could resell it. Is that too much for DIY invitations? Should we stick to photoshop (consider printing prices here too though!)? Has anyone attempted to use a Gocco? What do you think, what should I do?
Well that's pretty cool.... I mean, I don't see why not if you guys are totally designing the layout. Looks pretty simple.
ReplyDeleteMy fiancee and I just finished goccoing ~200 invites using 2 colors. The ink is cheap ($3 a tube and we only used 2 total). The bulbs and screens will be where you spend most of your money (other than the machine itself). It costs about $15 to create a "template" and our invite (8.5" x 5.5") required 4 of them (2 for each color). We used up another 3 templates for testing/redos. So that's 7 x $15 = $105. With the help of a few friends on rotation we completed the 800 stampings (4 templates x 200 invites + drying time) in about 5 hours.
ReplyDeleteWas it worth it? It was for us because we had a custom invite and we didn't have to buy the gocco machine. So weigh your pros and cons and see what works for you. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
* Forgot to mention that our friends let us borrow their gocco machine. Hence the not having to buy.
ReplyDeletesimon@rocafella.org
I printed all of my invites on my gocco that i purchased for my wedding. I really think it was worth every penny. I love the look and feel of my invites. I also printed by Save the Date cards, my sister used it for my bridal shower and I am about to print my thank you cards later this week. I takes a little time and effort to get the hang of the whole process but if you are a real diy person it's really fun.
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