I am planning to buy edible printer, ink and sheets but am so confused with a lot of stores to find online. These products are still not available here at japan so I'm planning to buy it online. Hope there are stores you could recommend. Thanks

I got completely frustrated trying to buy my printer. So, when my DH asked what I wanted for Christmas (in 2007) I asked him to "handle it". He bought the printer at epson.com, and the rest of the supplies from kopykake. I love it !

I have nothing negative to say about my printer. The images are impeccable. I originally purchased the rectangle and 8" round frosting sheets. A couple months ago I order the 3" circles for some cookies I started doing for our church. I find it helpful to put the image in the freezer for a little bit. It stiffens the image and it normally slides right off of the backing. I have a little bit of trouble with the 3" circles, but today they worked like a charm.

I also have an epson and I love it. It sits for months at a time without use and has never clogged on me.

I was just looking into this myself... according to kopykake.com, all I need is frosting sheets and edible ink (I have a PC and Cannon printer)! I am stoked ! I thought I had to purchase a seperate printer, ink and the obvious frosting sheets! Sounds like y'all love yours!!

I don't own one myself, but I believe you do need a seperate printer. There's a rather long thread on printers elsewhere on this site, I'll see if I can dig it up...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-626923-.html
User: Photofrost is quite knowledgable on this subject.

Justlovecakes,
I currently reside in Japan as well and I purchased my printer from canon online but they didn't ship to my fpo address. What I did was to have them send it to my parents house and then my parents sent it to me. There is a complete list from the blocked website that tells you what printers are compatible with the types of ink cartridges that are available. There is another website called tastyphotoart.com that has the ink and the edible paper. They are a little more expensive though. If you have any additional questions please feel free to pm me.
HTH

thanks for the replies. I love this site.

@sjholderman
thanks for the link. very helpful indeed.

@cakeandpartygirl
actually I'm also in a worry if they can actually ship the item at my place. And unlucky me, I have no one in the US to send those goods to me so I guess I'll just have to try and see if it would be delivered at my door lol. Okinawa looks like a very wonderful place. I am currently residing at Tokyo. Thanks for the link. Domo Arigatou Gozaimashita. Kore kara yorushiku onegaishimasu.

Hey everyone,
Glad you are thinking about getting into the edible photo and image industry, it is wonderful and there are so many different applications that you can use them with.
If you live in Japan then my best reccomendation would be to purchase your own printer, preferrably a Canon printer in my own opinion. More than a few people have Epson printers but the down side is a uncleanable print head. If it clogs, you can not take it out and clean it, you must hope for the best, take it to a repair shop or buy a new one. Some have had much luck with their printers but so many others have not. Canon printers make it so you can take the print head out and clean if you have to.
You can either decide to have your edible inks and icing sheets shipped here from the states to you or try and find some locally, make sure they are talking about icing sheets also known as frosting sheets, not that wafer paper, rice paper or other similar products, you will never be happy unless you experience the merge properties of an icing sheet.
Yes you can not use an existing printer for edible printing, the FDA, the health department and others will no way accept the use of regular inks in an edible printer.
Whatever you decide my best wishes to you and remember to enjoy what you do and everyone else will enjoy what you make. If you need any assistance you can always post here or pm me for edible photos and image questions as I do not always see every post about these subjects.

**Hope this is not border line because I try and not sway people in one direction or the other, just offer my helpful advice but shipping to your door would cost approximately $77.00 and thats for about 4 packs of icing sheets and 2 sets of cartridges.**

I had problems with both TastyPhotoArt.com (my first attempt), and then KopyKake.com. KK was the worst! They send me leaky cartridges and I opened up the only one that wasn't leaking and found out it was the wrong cartridge. I talked to customer service, and the guy said that he could replace the other cartridges but the one that I opened. I'm like, how was I supposed to know that I ordered the wrong cartridge. Then he tells me that I needed a special one...I went to the website and that particular product wasn't even listed as an option...still isn't! I love my new Canon printer, but now it sits idol because the leaky cartridges that I originally got from TastyPhotoArt made a huge mess of my printer, and I don't want to spend another $60 for another worthless set of ink.

I'm currently looking into SweetArt.com and their system since it's more sanitary, doesn't require you to use frosting sheets, and prints directly on your cakes, cookies and even chocolate. Sounds good to me Oh yeah, and you can print on odd shapes, unlike with frosting sheets that you have to cut out.

Hope this helps a little