Inkjet Printing

[saskia_madding]

In the hunt to find a printer I can use in my etsy shop for TR paper, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of laser vs. inkjet. It turns out that I do have a lead on a printer that might be able to print on TR paper, but it's an inkjet.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has experience printing lined paper on an inkjet that they then use FPs with, and if so, what paper did you use? I need to know if the fountain pen ink smeared the inkjet lines.

 

Thanks!

[macaddicted]

Laser, color or b&w: powder melted onto the paper. Tends to leave a bit of a ridge where it is places, which I found annoying with FPs. My Xerox and Canon laser printers ate TR.

 

Inkjet: slower and more expensive than laser. Also, the margins tend to be a great deal bigger than laser. The ink comes in two types IIRC dye and pigment. Dye inks are susceptible to running water, which would be bad with FP ink. Again IIRC, Canon uses dye for their less expensive printers, Epson uses pigment. Plan on refilling your cartridges as the savings are gigantic. For your application it would only be a problem color wise if you are trying to get EXACTLY Pantone color number whatever.

 

Dye sublimation (Xerox Phaser): noted for reference. Sort of a mix between inkjet and laser. Uses a waxy color block which is melted and sprayed (sorta kinda sorta) onto the paper. Best of laser and inkjet- lots of colors are possible, cheap to operate (even compared to color laser), no laser bump from the printed line. Downsides? Extraordinary expensive to buy. Oh, and mine at TR when I tried it. So don't, just don't.

 

 

Inkjet is probably you're best bet overall. From my experience TR seems to print ok when used in a printer with a straight through paper path. Every time it has to curve around a roller it crumples. I stopped fiddling with TR before I got a good quality inkjet so I can't speak to that. But having printed thin, onion paper style, pages on it I think it would handle it ok.

 

Oh, and check in with the online camera stores. They sometimes run specials on the big inkjets that photographers use. They make their money on the OEM cartridges, so discounting the printers makes sense.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I like my laser printer....I don't like Ink Jet paper in it feathers with fountain pens....as it is designed to do. Ink Jet inks need a paper to absorb the ink quickly.

 

Laser paper allows the fountain pen ink to sit on top of the paper longer, making it shading ink friendly...if it's 90g or better.

80g Rhoda and the 70g Japanese paper are exceptions to the rule.

 

I actually think that laser & ink jet paper are a compromise. The Southworth combo paper seems ok..but I'd stick to laser paper, which can be got in 90-100-110 or 120g.

 

Of course I'm very OCD about feathering and or woolly lines.

 

As nice as it is to write on 100 or 50% cotton, they feather more than I want. 25% cotton does well.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[Noihvo]

[dcwaites]

I use a HP Officejet Pro 8000, I print lines, dots and Whitelines patterns (mostly grey all over the paper). None of those have given me any problems, not even the little notebook I made with Tomoe River paper.

 

I have also printed successfully on Double A paper and Kokuyo Campus blank Refill paper.

 

I'm fairly sure my printer uses pigment inks*, which may be important in your quest. Make sure that the printer you select uses pigment inks.

 

 

 

*Yep, just proved that a printout from my printer is totally running water from a hot tap proof.