Do I need to be able to draw?

No. Start from a photo you took: the postcard and the art print here began as photographs. If you do draw, the studio prints drawings too: the stamps and stickers here began as drawings. Either way it gives them the look of a risograph print, and the words, stamps and frames are layers you put on top.

The whole studio is free to try: every look, font and size. A free account exports a 1-megapixel picture with a small retro-print.com mark. To print for members you will want Plus or Pro: the full size with no mark, the back of a card, and a PDF for the print shop.

Can I sell what I make to my members?

Yes. What you upload stays yours, and so do the prints you make, commercial use included.

Can every month look like the same club?

Yes. Open last month's piece and choose Copy design. Start the new month with its picture, pick the same size, and choose Paste everything: the inks, the paper, the frame and the words come across. Then change the words.

Is it a real risograph print?

No. It is a picture made the way a risograph prints, and any printer can print it. The guide is about the real machine.

For snail mail clubs

Make everything in your mail club's envelope

The letter, the stamps, the stickers, the postcard and the recipe card, printed in a few bright inks from your drawings or your photos. Make one month, then keep its look for the next eleven.

Make this month's post See what others made →

Free, with an account to keep your projects. Nothing to install.

The front of a cream envelope: a round red rubber stamp saying "THE SLOW POST, No. 07, JULY", a perforated stamp with a drawn lighthouse under a postmark, and a white address label

Open it

Inside the July envelope

One month of The Slow Post, a photographer's club from a seaside town. Real clubs send a letter, stickers and a print, more or less; here is all of it, made in the studio.

The back of the envelope, its flap sealed with a red heart sticker — sealed with a sticker

A sticker sheet: a cat holding an envelope, a lighthouse, a smiling sun and a heart, and three word stickers: "hello from the sea", "07" and "write back!" — stickers! in nearly every club

An A5 letter headed "THE SLOW POST, No. 07, JULY, BY THE SEA", with a drawing of a teacup, a handwritten letter to members, a list of what is in the envelope, a member of the month, next month’s theme, and a P.S. — the letter: they read it twice

A postcard: a red and white lighthouse standing in a turquoise sea, printed in a few inks, "from the lighthouse" handwritten below — a postcard to keep, or send on

An art print: a wave breaking on a beach seen from above, printed in blue and orange dots — an art print, 1 of 100

A recipe card: three drawn lemons with two leaves, and "Lemon granita" in blue letters — a recipe for the season

A tall bookmark with drawn gulls, a sun and waves, and "THE SLOW POST" — a bookmark

The Slow Post's stamp for July: a lighthouse — July's stamp, for the album

The monthly letter

The letter is the part they keep

Clubs write a letter every month, in a hand or a font that looks like one, with the same parts in the same places. These are The Slow Post’s.

a name and an issue number, in the same place every month
what's in the envelope, as a list
a P.S., and where to write back

the story behind this month's pictures
a member of the month: the club is theirs too
next month's theme: something to wait for

a name and an issue number, in the same place every month
the story behind this month's pictures
what's in the envelope, as a list
a member of the month: the club is theirs too
next month's theme: something to wait for
a P.S., and where to write back

Sizes

Mail club sizes, from a stamp to a letter

Everything here is drawn to scale. Each is a size the studio has, or one you type in, from 30 millimetres a side.

Envelope C6 · 162 × 114 mm The front as a design: the club's stamp, a label, a postmark.
Letter A5 · 148 × 210 mm Folds in half for a C6 envelope.
Postcard 4 × 6 in Goes at the postcard rate in the US.
Art print 5 × 7 in Signed, numbered, wrapped in tissue.
Recipe card 4 × 6 in The recipe on the back, for the fridge door.
Sticker sheet A6 · 105 × 148 mm Print it on sticker paper and cut round each one.
Mini zine 108 × 140 mm The cover and each page, one sheet at a time.
Bookmark 51 × 152 mm Thin enough for any book.
Stamp 32 × 40 mm Print it on sticker paper; stamp-edge scissors do the rest.

A year of stamps

Twelve months, one story

A stamp a month, the same size and the same look, each with a line of the story. Members collect them, and by December the album is full.

Jan Moved in. Cocoa, boxes, no curtains yet.
Feb Found the bakery. Now I know everyone there.
Mar A robin sings on the fence at seven.
Apr The little tram up the hill, every morning.
May Poppies all along the cliff path.
Jun Oranges at the market, and the first warm night.
Jul The lighthouse, seven minutes from my door.
Aug A cat who sits in a blue window every afternoon.
Sep The balloon fair. I went up!
Oct Mushrooms in the woods. Looked, didn't pick.
Nov Tea, a book, and rain on the window.
Dec The longest night, and a moon over the harbour.

Printing

Printing for a mail club, at home or at a shop

Either works. What matters is the card: heavy enough for the post, with a little tone to it.

At home

With Plus or Pro, export the full size at 300 dpi, one piece to a sheet. Print on the heaviest card your printer takes, through its rear or manual feed, and trim on the crop marks.

At a print shop

Send the Print PDF: 300 dpi, in RGB or in CMYK for a press, with bleed and crop marks when the shop asks for them. A shop will set a hundred cards out on big sheets and cut them for you.

In the post

In the US a 4 × 6 card goes at the postcard rate; a letter in an envelope needs a letter stamp. Rates change, so ask at the post office before the first run.

Q&A

Common questions

Do I need to be able to draw?: No. Start from a photo you took: the postcard and the art print here began as photographs. If you do draw, the studio prints drawings too: the stamps and stickers here began as drawings. Either way it gives them the look of a risograph print, and the words, stamps and frames are layers you put on top.
Is it free?: The whole studio is free to try: every look, font and size. A free account exports a 1-megapixel picture with a small retro-print.com mark. To print for members you will want Plus or Pro: the full size with no mark, the back of a card, and a PDF for the print shop.
Can I sell what I make to my members?: Yes. What you upload stays yours, and so do the prints you make, commercial use included.
Can every month look like the same club?: Yes. Open last month's piece and choose Copy design. Start the new month with its picture, pick the same size, and choose Paste everything: the inks, the paper, the frame and the words come across. Then change the words.
Is it a real risograph print?: No. It is a picture made the way a risograph prints, and any printer can print it. The guide is about the real machine.

Seal it. Post it on the 15th.

There's no rush. It's free to start, and your drawings, photos and prints stay yours.

Make this month's post

Also: the card maker · the poster maker · what a risograph print is · the pattern book

The postcard and the art print are from photographs on Unsplash: the lighthouse by Raoul du Plessis, the tide by Shifaaz Shamoon. Everything else is drawn.