Edible Image Printing...red Will Not Print..help Help Help

Decorating By mohara Updated 19 May 2005 , 1:50pm by Lisa

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mohara Posted 16 May 2005 , 1:11pm
post #1 of 12

I need help desperately, and by Wednesday!!!

The item I am using is a logo that is a "brick red" color, and automatically, my Canon Pixma ip3000 prints it brownish. When I used an imaging software and made the red more of a "candy apple" red, then it prints orange. It is skipping red altogether. I was trying to adjust the colors manually, but I don't know which ones I should be increasing or decreasing. Do I increase magenta or cyan and decrease yellow? I am basically getting no red and I have only had the printer for 3 months, and I have only printed maybe 20 edible sheets on it. I have run the nozzle check and the print head cleaning, and everything checks out fine. Should I just try buying a new print head anyways? Or should I do some sort of soaking of the cartridges? I touch the bottom of each cartridge to a paper towel and they all "drip" their proper color. What could it be????? I need this image for Wednesday.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

11 replies
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Lisa Posted 16 May 2005 , 1:20pm
post #2 of 12

Hi mohara...sounds like your red is printing out fine or it wouldn't print brown or orange either. Red is a really hard color to get to print out right. One thing you might try is to reset your printer options to default. Set the quality to highest and decrease the yellow. Also, if have the option...decrease the overall color saturation until it looks like a muted red. Sometimes the more red you make an image, the more orange it becomes. Print a very small version of the image you're using onto regular printer paper and keep adjusting the colors and printing test copies until you get the color you want.

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mohara Posted 16 May 2005 , 1:26pm
post #3 of 12

Thank you very much! I will definitely try that.

I called OfficeMax and (of course didn't say I was using the food coloring cartridges,) and they said it sounds like I am low on ink. That other colors are trying to compensate and make the color. I've only printed about 30 images. I am ready to get new ink overnighted to me, but I just don't think that's the problem, and those inks are sooo expensive. - especially to overnight. I just don't know what to do.

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Lisa Posted 16 May 2005 , 1:30pm
post #4 of 12

If your nozzle check is coming out perfect...then your red isn't out yet. I use the refill kit. You should purchase one. It's a lot less expensive and will refill your cartridges dozens of times.

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The_Parsons_Wife Posted 16 May 2005 , 3:07pm
post #5 of 12

Lisa, do you have a 4 head printer or 2? I own an i350 and am wondering if I should purchase the refill kit...are you happy with the outcome? Is the ink just airbrush ink? Off to print some grad cake pics...blessings on your baking, Shawn <><

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Lisa Posted 16 May 2005 , 4:54pm
post #6 of 12

Hi Shawn...I use the i350 too. The edible ink refills aren't the same ink as the airbrush colors. Airbrush colors aren't anywhere near as intense and don't come is the same colors (no magenta). I love refilling especially with a 2 cartridge system. You don't have to toss out an entire color cartridge just because you run out of one color.

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The_Parsons_Wife Posted 16 May 2005 , 4:58pm
post #7 of 12

Lisa, thanks for the information. Cannon has been really great with me, I had to get a new printhead once and another entire printer when it wasn't printing properly. I have everything new again and am setting up again today, I will order refills for the ink, do you get yours from kopykake? Thanks again...Baking Blessings, Shawn <><

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Lisa Posted 16 May 2005 , 5:06pm
post #8 of 12

Yes...I order all of my supplies from kopykake.

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mohara Posted 16 May 2005 , 9:04pm
post #9 of 12

Kopykake thinks I should just play with the color adjustments in the printer settings on the computer. I will do that tonight and see if I can make any headway. I am so stressed over this, I don't know what to do.

Thanks for your advice.

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Lisa Posted 16 May 2005 , 9:10pm
post #10 of 12

You're welcome...I really hope you can get the red you're looking for or something close. Many times, I've had to settle for something close when it came to reds.

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mohara Posted 19 May 2005 , 1:43pm
post #11 of 12

I solved the problem thanks to a few of your suggestions!!!!!!!!

I went into the Printing Preferences on my Canon Pixma IP3000 printer, I lowered the yellow down as low as it would go (-50%), I left the Cyan, Magenta and Black as the defaults, and I got the perfect shade of red!

What a sigh of relief!!!!!!!

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your suggestions!!!

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Lisa Posted 19 May 2005 , 1:50pm
post #12 of 12

Yay! You're welcome. I am so glad it worked out.

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