Yes rice paper stay crunchy and the icingimages sheets are by FAR the best.... plus the "paper" goes allll the way to the edge of the plastic backing so you get a lot bigger printing surface.

Bobbie, you have been given all of our best advice but don't like the answer and are frustrated that no one can predict the future with your exact combination of product luck/usage/and environmental factors? Nice.

Yup. I am.

There is three different types of sheets...rice, potato and sugar. Rice and potato dont taste good and do not meld in to the icing. They are also less expensive then sugar sheets. A sugar sheet is made for edible printing and tastes more like the frosted item. Believe me, when I started my business, I wanted to use potato or rice as it was cheap! But, it really wasnt the right product for edible printing. Sugar sheets are sold by many different companies and they are all about the same price. So if you see something that is much cheaper, chances are it is rice or potato based. As for sugar sheets, we sell three different brands. This pretty much covers the wide range that is out there. You have our house brand which is thin and does not go edge to edge. It is what we use to use before we carried our premium brand. We had to keep carrying because too many people were already using it and we did not want to just stop carrying something. It is our least popular paper and it is just like all the competition that is out there with the exception of Lucks...which we also carry. Lucks is what you see that the Edible Images are made on. It is a nice brand that is our second leading seller. Our number one seller, and the paper that everyone prefers is our Premium Paper. We are the only US distributor of this paper. It is a bit thicker and it runs edge to edge with the exception of the leading edge. It tastes great, it doesnt crack up on you nor is it hard to get off the backing in the summer like other brands. It is very flexible even if you leave it out a while. It is also highly recommended by decorating professionals like Julie Bashore, Mike Terry, Norm Davis and many many more. In addition, it is used and recommended highly in the electronic cutter world by Linda McClure, Tobias, Jennifer Atwood, Martha (Sweet Sisters) Norm Davis and Zane on both the Cricut as well as the Silhoutte. I apologize if I missed someone..I am sure I probably did!

I hope this helps you make some decisions. Let me know if I can help you further

Thank you for clarifying. I am a total novice and didn't know. I got really discouraged after KoryAK's comment and thought maybe this hobby was not for me. I was going to just quit before I even got started but then I made a really nice cake over the weekend for a birthday. I used BC for the icing. My neighbor, who is a cake decorator at a local bakery, asked me how I got the cake so smooth. She was impressed. That gave me the desire to keep going. Thank you again for the information.

Why would you quit before getting started! Everyone has to start somewhere. While edible printing is something you really only want to do if you are going to do it regularly, there are many other things you can do and have a blast with out the risk. Maybe you should take a look at the silhoutte instead. If you dont use that regularly, its ok, but it is really a neat toy that can really make your cakes fun.

I'm not going to buy the image thing. I didn't know how it worked and that is why I was asking. Now I know. I just got my feelings hurt by the comment. Guess I am too sensitive. I wanted to try making cakes for family and friends. No selling. Just for fun. I'm somewhat retired. (Retired young and on disability.) I was in need of a hobby since I am home all day and love to cook.

That is the one problem with forums, you cant hear the voice behind it. It is hard to judge sometimes. Lift your head up and go bake a cake! You sound like you are very smart and creative so use those brains to create!

I've been reading thru all the comments.. NOW I don't know where should I start?  please help me out.

The me get some hightlights what I understood...

Most of you recommended CANNON  MP560. So this is the BEST?

I saw some website sells CANNON pixma MG5320  This one they sell as the WHOLE kit for 199.99...Ouch.. so pricey !!!!

Please give me some advices what should I get since I  saw they sell edible sheets so pricey.. that what I told myself why don't I buy a printer and try to do it for fun.. Just make some cakes for my 2 little ones.. I'm not good at decorationg, like using pipe to write on the cake.. so I have to go with a cheating way.. USING this edible image to put on the cake.....lol

Please help me out.. What should I buy beside a printer?  Thanks in advance.

to cakeRocket:  did your new printer come with regular ink cartridges, and if so, is it safe to simply replace those cartridges with edible ink cartridges - I don't know if a new printer would have any of that regular ink anywhere in it besides what's contained in the cartridges  - those same printers are so much more expensive when you buy them with the edible cartridges in them

what is the silhoutte?

To "Nwbi":

You don't need to do your own edible printing to use the technology. All you need is someone to whom you can outsource it on an as-needed basis. I don't expect to ever need more than 2-3 sheets a year of edible printing (and as I've said many times, I refuse to own an inkjet anyway), so I just (1) gang everything I expect to need, including spares, onto one sheet, and (2) go to the local cake supply dealer.

And I happened to notice that if you can't find someone local who will do the edible printing, and sell you the unmounted sheet, you can outsource it to Debbie, at Icing Images, for only a little bit more than what the local cake supply charges.

At any rate, an edible printer has the same cost-of-ownership issues as any other inkjet printer: you use it like crazy, you go through ink like crazy. You let it go unused for too long, and it clogs up. So unless you're making money with it, an edible printer is probably going to end up costing you at least as much as outsourcing would.

HMM. I JUST HAD AN IDEA. NOT A VERY PRACTICAL ONE, BUT AN IDEA, NONETHELESS:

I know that they make edible marking pens. I wonder if a small flatbed plotter could be retooled to use them. No good for photographs, obviously, and as cheap as color printing technology has become, plotters have become a bit of a rarity these days, mainly used for cutting more than drawing.