Printing White??

blue gekko

blue gekko

I *heart* Mac
Hey guys,

I'm about to print out a document on black paper, however something occurred to me... I don't have white ink! Do I need white ink to print white on black? Or... Well I don't really know what I'm asking. Can I do this? Or is there such a thing as white ink?

Regards.
 
An inkjet printer would print white as an absence of color, so anything white printed on black paper would not show up at all. White is the absence of all pigment, so you simply get nothing (the color of the paper itself)

The only method to do what you want is to print by hand, with metallic or white/light paint or markers. Or, silk-screening at a print shop that does that.
 
blue gekko said:
... Can I do this? Or is there such a thing as white ink?

Regards.
Click to expand...
Standard printers assume that they are printing on white paper. Color is based on the CYMK model. White is "printed" by applying no ink to the white area. To print white on black, you will have to apply white paint. No standard printer will do this. You need a special printer.
 
You can also go to a big office supply store that has large stocks of inkjet and laser toner cartridges.
Look for white.
(hint - you'll be looking for a long time!)
 
Doh...

It's easy. Set the background to black and the color of the document text to white. Print on white paper.

You'll use a LOT of black ink and that much coverage with a solid may saturate the paper and make it curl.

But if it's really important to you give it a try.
 
That's a joke, right?
White is the absence of pigment.
The printer doesn't actually print white, because it can't mix pigments to produce white.
The process relies on white paper to result in white, and no ink flows to the paper to produce white
On any ordinary printer, if you print white on black paper, you get black, not white.
You can't print white on black paper, and make it appear white. It will be black...
 
Heh!

I know it's off-topic, but this was too funny.

Reminds me of the time I was working on a newspaper in Egypt. The censor had us take out a reference to the fact that Mubarak was president longer than Tutankhamon (King Tut) was king. So I stated loudly that we would just print it in white ink so we wouldn't muck up the layout. When the print edition came back the censor was looking at that page with a magnifying glass. A month or so later we lost our permission to print in the country and had to fly galleys out to Greece for printing.

The spy in the company (every foreign company has them) must have taken me literally and gotten the Muhabarat (secret police) all shook up.
 
Haha thanks heaps for the posts guys! I understand that white is the absence of pigment, but I was merely curious, no need to jeer. Also, will a laser printer print white? Or will I have the same problem?

Cheers.
 
Same problem.

No consumer-level inkjet or laser printer will print white, for the most part. It would take a "special" printer, no doubt.
 
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