Gocco machines... worth it?

[Alice]

Hello nice people

I am considering investing in a Gocco machine, but have noticed that they have been discontinued. With my amazing powers of deduction I have therefore guessed that they will probably continue to get more and more expensive and the supplies harder to get hold of (ah, the polaroid film dilemma all over again)...

Does anybody own/use a Gocco machine? Can you advise me on whether it is worth the investment and if the supplies are too expensive to run... I have got a reasonably good idea of the current prices but I'm not sure how long a tube of ink/paint will last, for example. I mean, how many 1/2-size prints (A5) could I expect to get out of a regular tube?

Would it just be cheaper, albeit less practical, to stick to silkscreen printing?

[Alex Wrekk]

I have a gocco and I love it. As for it being worth it, it all depends on what you plan to do with it.

How long the ink lasts depends on what kind of ink coverage the image has. I have the one that is about 1/4 letter sized (4"x6") and I have printed hundreds, close to 1000 envelopes for Brainscan #22 and i have gone through maybe 2 tubes of ink? I'm not really sure though. Brainscan #21 had envelopes with a lot more ink so I went through a lot more tubes and I printed way more than 1,000.

Gocco is nice because it is so much less clean up and prep than gocco and the size works well for zines.

[Krissy PonyBoy Press]

I have one and I agree, it is great! If you are going to use it for zine covers it works great. I use it on fabric too (you need fabric ink for that) and it is great, but goes through ink way faster. It seems to still be easy to get the supplies, although they do say it won't be eventually. But, I heard they were going to start making it again. There was this big fuss about it and then not another word.....so who knows.

I have never done silkscreening, but it seems so much easier.

[Alice]

Thanks both of you for replying, I really appreciate your advice. I think that I am going to get one when I get paid next... I was just concerned that a tube of ink might get used up really quickly and I'd be buying new ones all the time. I was watching some of the instruction videos on Youtube last night (which are hilarious but also quite interesting) and they are SO cool!

I have access to tons of silkscreen stuff but (and this is me being pathetic) it is kept in my friend's "workshop", ie. garage, and the other day it was so cold in there that the lock froze up and we had to pour hot water over it to get inside. I don't want to risk hypothermia for the sake of printing when I could just get a Gocco and do it in my living room... also I imagine that the clean-up afterwards is much quicker and simpler.

I REALLY hope that they start making them again. I am surprised that they haven't already, especially since crafting/card-making/scrapbooking is so huge right now.

[Paper Dinosaur]

i've had one for ages, and i mean like 2 years, and didn't ever use it. i think i was a little bit dubious about how good it would be and was also a bit concerned that i would think it was awesome and then all the supplies would run out and i'd be sad...
but anyway, we used it the other day to make distro fliers and it was awesome! super simple and cool and cleaning up was easy and its so cute! now i'm really regretting everything i could have used it for in the past and i'm looking for more supplies on line like a crazy stock-piler!
so yeah, get one while you still can!
ps. does anyone know a good supplier of screen and inks etc?

[Alex Wrekk]

This is supposed to be a good place to buy Gocco supplies. I haven't ordered supplies in awhile though:
http://www.welshproducts.com/process/prodlist.php?cat2ID=G2M&ca...

Paper Dinosaur said:

i've had one for ages, and i mean like 2 years, and didn't ever use it. i think i was a little bit dubious about how good it would be and was also a bit concerned that i would think it was awesome and then all the supplies would run out and i'd be sad...
but anyway, we used it the other day to make distro fliers and it was awesome! super simple and cool and cleaning up was easy and its so cute! now i'm really regretting everything i could have used it for in the past and i'm looking for more supplies on line like a crazy stock-piler!
so yeah, get one while you still can!
ps. does anyone know a good supplier of screen and inks etc?

[Anna]

I love Gocco machines, though I don't own one. They're far too expensive for me now. A tube of ink doesn't last for very many printing sessions (you need to really slather it on), but you can get as many prints as you want out of one print session.

Bulbs and screens are more of an issue than ink, in my experience... they're expensive and can be hard to find. On the whole, though, I wish I had my own machine... I say go for it!