Can you print white on a deskjet?

[Illusio]

I'm trying to print white letters on black paper on a deskjet printer. Do you need a special cartridge to do that or is it even possible?

 

[bluntman]

Is this the same type of question as "What's the sound of 1 hand clapping?"

Honestly though, no you cannot. Because from art class, the colour white is actually the absence of colour while black is all of the colours combined. So, if an inkjet printer were to lay down the colour white, it wouldn't be laying down any ink at all.

 

[Illusio]

True, while white is the absence of color, white ink is not the absence of ink

 

[bluntman]

True, while white is the absence of color, white ink is not the absence of ink

Actually, it is, because white inks are absent from store shelves.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Chucko]

Originally posted by: Dark Jedi
True, while white is the absence of color, white ink is not the absence of ink

Actually white is the presence, or reflection, of all colors. Black is the absence, think of it this way, you can't see any colors in the dark.

 

[EeyoreX]

There used to be a printer that had provisions for printing with white ink. I don't think it's made anymore, and I can't remember the brand/model... Currently, however, it can't be done, so far as I know.

\Dan

 

[clicknext]

Yes, there is white ink. No, most printers cannot print with white ink.

 

[FreakyGuy]

Most printers assume you are printing on white paper not black. So when they come across a white space they print nothing.

 

[Peter]

No you can't.

This is simply because ink isn't opaque. This is because the ink goes INTO the paper, not on top of it. With ink in paper, you get SUBTRACTIVE color mixing, meaning you can only take frequencies out of the reflected spectrum of light, but you cannot add to the reflectiveness of the paper.

So if the paper absorbs the entire visible spectrum (black paper) already, then there's nothing you can change about this.

Solid-dye printers that essentially iron a chunk of wax ONTO the paper might be able to pull that trick.

 

[corkyg]

Peter is right. But - if you need the effect of while letters on a dark background, that can be don in most any word processor. It simply prints the background and moits the letters. It has to be on white paper. I do that for certain labels - both inkjet and laser. With a laser, the dark background is toner fused to the paper's surface.

 

[tenoc]

Like corky says, it can be done on white paper, but it would be hell on ink usage! 95% coverage per page, roughly.

 

[Jeff7]

There was a printer awhile ago by Alps, and I believe it had the ability to print white. I don't remember the model number; I don't think it was an ink printer either. I think it used some kind of ribbon; not a dot matrix either though.

 

[lucky9]

They used to have correction ribbons for dot matrix printers, didn't they? Or is my brain playing tricks on me again....

 

[EeyoreX]

Alps, that was the printer I was thinking about, I looked around and found a couple Alps models and found that they can do white (and some metallic colors). They are mostly dye sublimation printers or thermal printers. Dye Sublimation uses a ribbon containing transparent dyes, that are heated over the printhead onto the paper. Thermal printers are similar to dye sublimation but uses a wax based ink and prints faster. You may be able to find one of these printers online. As far as I could find out, they are no longer available via retail in the US.

<edit>sample model numbers are MD-1000 and MD-5000</edit>

\Dan