Digi printing with an inkjet?

[DancesWithHooves]

Hi all!

My mom blessed us with a lovely Canon Pixma printer the Christmas before last and I'm starting to consider using it to try out a digi or two, and perhaps even some headliner sentiments for the front of my cards.

I've scoured the web and came back with armloads of how-to information, but it seems everyone says to do something different as far as printer settings and the like. I realize these things may differ based on the intended use of whatever I'm printing (if I'm coloring the image, for example, I imagine copics require something different from say, watercolor, or colored pencil. And of course simply printing a quality sentiment with no coloring required is an entirely different animal, I would guess.)

So, where does one turn when they don't know where to turn from where they're at? The extremely knowledgeable and experienced membership of SCS, of course.

If you use an inkjet printer for digis and sentiments and things on the main panel of your cards, please spill the beans on what works best for you! Also, do you have any tips for preserving ink? (It's easier and more financially possible to replace the huge black tank than all the colored ones, of course!)

THANK YOU!

[dini]

Is it a water-based ink or pigment?

[Cook22]

You'd definitely need to know the answer to Dina's question. I only ever had one printer that was waterproof ink. I'm thinking I have definitely watercoloured digis printed on watercolour paper with non-waterproof ink for a guest DT slot, but it's so long ago I can't remember what I did. Possibly sprayed with fixative, or else just waited a day before colouring.

For the best black sentiments and ink conservation, choose to print using black only if it will let you. Our last printer was one DH bought especially to print on CDs, and it wouldn't print a true black. And he never printed even one CD before it died :-(, when I promptly replaced it with a black and white laser for primary use and and a colour inkjet/scanner because we needed a scanner that would work with the latest Windows release. For digi outlines you should also be able to print in black only.

For label-type sentiments (white texts on black or colour), create your sentiment in a spreadsheet like Excel or Google Sheets. Use a coloured fill and select white for the font colour. TLC850 Looking at the Stars by Cook22 at Splitcoaststampers - prime example of our old printer not printing black, but you get the idea.

Check what weight of media it can handle, too. Again, DH's choice wouldn't handle anything beyond heavy paper.

[hoptownracer1]

I believe my printer is a PiXMA 3100, so mine is much older than yours. I print my digis out on the Fast setting. You just have to click the properties button, and change the quality to Fast . I do that for the images. For sentiments that I'd like to print out darker, (since I do not have to color), I print out on Best, I think it is. I have never tried water coloring a printed digi before. I haven't tried printing on water color paper. I don't think my printer could handle paper that thick, but it handles card stock fine. Since my digis get printed using the Fast setting, the ink lasts longer also.
I also upload my images to a document (using LibreOffice or you can also use Microsoft Word or another program). I click on file, New, text document, then I click on Insert, then click on image, and you can add multiple images on one page to print that way. I use the program LibreOffice most of the time. It's free with a donation, and I like how it works. I make sure to give them a nice donation, as I really like their program.

[DancesWithHooves]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dini

Is it a water-based ink or pigment?

Good question, Dina and one I didn't even think of until you asked.

Here's what it says: (Printer is a Canon PIXMA TR8620)

INK TYPE
PGI-280 Pigment Black Ink
CLI-281 Dye Based Inks

INK TANK & FILL VOLUME
PGI-280 PGBK : 11.2 ml (Std.) , 18.5 ml (XL) , 25.7 ml (XXL)
CLI-281 BK, C, M, Y : 5.6 ml (Std.) , 8.3 ml (XL) , 11.7 ml (XXL)

[Cook22]

Then if you can print using only the black cartridge, you can consider that like stamping with Versafine. It should certainly be fine with water-based mediums, and I have no experience with Copics.

Hoptownracer1 mentions the thickness of watercolour paper. We do tend to think of it as fairly heavy, but I have purchased 90lb and inherited even lighter, and as well as being printer-friendly, a lightweight one is my preference if I am fussy-cutting.

[MN_Stamper]

Chrissy, I have a Canon 8700 series and I use it for printing all my digis. I use it with cardstock, bristol smooth, and even watercolor paper with no problem. It is water based so it works beautifully with my Copics and color pencil, but not with watercolors. I usually don't mess with the printer settings, but I do adjust the digi stamp image I am printing in my software (Word, Photoshop, etc) for size and opacity. I usually print the image in a lighter tone than black for a more no line look, and sometime in a different color altogether. I love my printer and I love the ability to resize an image that digis give you.

[DancesWithHooves]

Thank you all for chiming in! These are great tips!

Sabrina, if I might ask... if I can't figure out how to print just from the black tank (a feat I've not yet accomplished, sadly), what would you suggest?

[Cook22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DancesWithHooves

Thank you all for chiming in! These are great tips!

Sabrina, if I might ask... if I can't figure out how to print just from the black tank (a feat I've not yet accomplished, sadly), what would you suggest?

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/ind...t&id=ART180511 should walk you through it, I think that's your printer.

[bzzzeee]

This is a little off topic, but does involve using an inkjet printer: when printing invitations on vellum several years ago I found that I could heat emboss if I sprinkled the embossing powder onto the wording right after it came out of the printer. The current discussion reminded me of this so I thought I’d chime in with another way to use inkjet and digi images!

[basketdiva]

When I've printed clip art/digital art with my inkjet printers I always heat set before doing any coloring. I only water color using markers or pencils.

[DancesWithHooves]

THANK YOU, Sabrina!

bzzeee - that is awesome! Thanks for sharing that tidbit of wisdom!!!