Printing on transparencies

[susan mc]

I want to print on a transparency sheet to make a suncatcher. Is there a secret to getting a heavy coverage of ink? I'm using a basic ink jet printer and when I use the transparency setting, my design comes out real pale.

I'd like a more opaque look.

TIA!

[Amanda]

If you print on transparencies with a lot of ink I think it can bleed. But you can always try using like a glossy paper setting and see if that helps.

[mekstamper]

I have had no luck printing on transparencies because the ink usually smears for me. What I do is print a nice image on white paper and then make a photocopy of that image onto the transparency sheet. It works great!

Mary Ellen

[Amanda]

I've used transparencies by Grafix and they have a rough side - which is what you print on - and I've had no smearing.

[Audrey]

I've printed successfully quite often on transparencies, and like Amanda said, one side feels rough. The coverage is usually very thin on the transparency setting. I wonder if you could feed the transparency through the printer several times after it dries, although it probably won't line up perfectly each time, would it? That's the only thing I can think of, besides using the glossy paper setting and not touching it until it's completely dry. I guess it'll take some experimenting
Maybe photocopying will work best, like Mary Ellen suggested.
I do hope you'll let us know if you figure something out, or maybe someone else has tried something like this and can help?

[tshirt]

Originally Posted by susan mc

I want to print on a transparency sheet to make a suncatcher. Is there a secret to getting a heavy coverage of ink? I'm using a basic ink jet printer and when I use the transparency setting, my design comes out real pale.

I'd like a more opaque look.

TIA!

I have my transparencies printed at OfficeMax (CopyMax). I was experiencing not real opaque areas also. Found out that I needed to increase the Contrast settings before bringing the file over there. I guess the black on the monitor wasn't printing out as black as I thought it should be. I was only printing B/W images though.