Edible Ink Printer

[lookoveryourshouldernow]

Hi There

Does any have any experience of Edible Ink Printers ??

I fancy having a go making my own personalised topper for cookies/ biscuits/ etc etc etc

Can anyone recommend a good starter "kit" or perhaps a model of printer - HP / Cannon ? that would be good for home use..

I realise that I have too much time on my hands and sending my designs out would probably be better (if not cheaper) - but I have a neat computer die cutter machine (which sits fairly idle most of the time) and though it would be interesting to cut complex/original designs to match my cookie cutters and go from there

Can anyone help ???

I have a "project" where I want to cut into jigsaw shapes a photo which I want to send as a Birthday gift to someone - and I can't find anyone that wants to cut complex shapes - hence my question....

????

[lookoveryourshouldernow]

• just in case anyone is interested.

I spent a day researching edible inks/printers/papers etc etc and about one minute buying my kit...

Got it all set up today and away I went.

Have designed some "Pop-Art" toppers in a fondant icing and a couple of sheets of other designs to test the other edible papers - so I need to get busy making my biscuits now..

Must admit I am pretty impressed with the results - so far ??

[lookoveryourshouldernow]

I know it is going to be more expensive printing my own - but most of the suppliers of toppers I approached would only print either the round or 7 inch designs (uncut) and I wanted to be a bit more adventurous.

I want to cut out specific designs to match the shape from some of my cutters - I have a cutting machine which is standing idle and it looks like this will be the ideal match to cut the shapes on the edible paper too...

Lots of interesting playing around over the weekend.

Shame I am diabetic and can't eat of the stuff I will make !!!

[MikeLitoris]

Which printer did you go for after?

I've been after one for a while. Didn't think of a cutter though.

The one you have done sound lovely. Do you have a picture?.

[lookoveryourshouldernow]

I ended buying a Canon as their refillable edible ink and cartridge solutions seemed the best bet.

I think that any printer which has a back/top feed can be used - although you need to use a NEW printer rather than re-commission an existing printer which has been used with traditional inks...

I have read stuff that you can "flush through" - if you are using an printer which has been used for normal printing - but (personally) I wouldn't take the risk..

There are some deals on E-Bay where you get a selection of different papers, printer, inks etc etc - so (for me) this was a good place to start. It depends on what you want to do.

I am not particularly keen on the wafer papers - they look a little "cheap" for what I was trying to achieve - but I am still a novice and lots to learn.

I am still experimenting and will upload some of my designs later - not happy to upload with Pop-Art designs of my Son as I don't think that he would be too happy...

Tomorrow is biscuit making day again - so on and upwards...

Hell - it keeps me amused and I need stuff to motivate me in this weather...

.... Apologies most sentences above seemed to start with "I" - well it is my little project and I am having a great time learning....

[MikeLitoris]

Sounds great.

I'm not a fan of the wafer paper either and I seem to be getting lots of requests for specific toppers.

I thimk I might treat myself for my birthday on April. I hate buying from Ebay so will look out for deals elsewhere.

[tb]

Amazon have the Canon printer with edible ink. There are also cartridges with edible ink for an Epsom printer.

[Edendance]

I looked into this... I got put off when I read something which said you needed to use it regularly or the ink would dry out, so I'd be interested to know how you get on! How much was your start up kit? How often to you anticipate using it?

[lookoveryourshouldernow]

.... so far I have been using mine on a weekly basis mainly to produce designs for my cookies ....

I do switch the printer on in between times so that the heads are "fired up" and perhaps do a cleaning cycle to make sure that the heads don't get clogged or dried up ....

I am thinking of investing in another set of empty cartridges which I wanted to fill with a special cleaning fluid and leave these in the printer when I don't think that I will be using it for a while.

From memory I think that I paid around £150.00 all in - printer, cartridges, edible ink and four different types of icing/wafer papers.... can't remember the exact number - but I did price them up and it seemed like a good deal...

Made these cookies today for a friend - printed out the designs and then gave them a 3D effect with royal icing - still need to perfect my icing techniques though...

[Edendance]

They look great! Hmmm, maybe I'll (finally) invest!

[Nicole1289]

My two cents ;D

I have an Canon IP7220 cookingtimejournal.com/best-edible-ink-printers#1_Canon_IP7220_Printer_Best_Wireless_Printer inkjet, I believe, and the print quality is fine, but I find that it has a hard time feeding both wafer paper and frosting sheets, so it jams A LOT, or doesn't feed at all sometimes. Soooo frustrating.

You can use most any inkjet printer as long as it hasn't been used before with inedible inks and you buy the right set of food coloring cartridges to fit it. Kopykake has a handy printer-cartridge matching chart here: www.kopykake.com/docume...PrinterInks-Xref.pdf