I’ve seen a lot of people asking about printing their own edible wafer paper or icing sheet images at home, but printing on wafer paper isn’t as simple as putting a sheet into a regular inkjet printer.
Edible paper has to be handled in specific ways in order to maintain the “edible” part of the description. So how DO you print on wafer paper?
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What is an edible ink printer?
Edible ink printers are regular inkjet printers that are used only with food coloring inks, and that have never been used with non-edible printer ink.
When the printer has had non-edible ink cartridges in it, it’s considered not safe for food use, and can’t be converted to a food coloring printer at that point.
New printers that have never been used with anything other than food coloring cartridges are considered safe for food use.
Edible inks are basically food coloring that has been formulated to flow easily through the print head of the inkjet printer.
Unfortunately, the chemicals that non-edible inks have in them to make the ink flow through the printer are toxic, so they can’t be used in food coloring ink cartridges.
This generally means that edible ink printers tend to clog fairly easily, and that they need to be cleaned on a regular basis.
To clean an edible ink printer, the print head needs to be flushed with water or food safe printhead cleaner to remove any stagnant ink that’s clogging the system.
Because of this, it’s often recommended that Canon printers be used for edible ink printing since the print heads can be completely removed from them.
If you don’t use an edible ink printer on a regular basis, you may run into more trouble with clogs and colors not printing correctly than you would if you do use them often.
Daily use is the best way to keep the inks from creating clogs inside the system, but it’s generally recommended that you should print something at least once a week in order to prevent printing problems.
I know a lot of cake decorators who have purchased edible ink printers who later say that they want to throw them out the window.
This is understandable, because if you don’t use them regularly, they will gum up and you’ll spend more time fixing them than using them.
These printers are the most temperamental pieces of cake decorating equipment that I’ve ever owned, and I have three in service at any given time in case one or more stops working correctly at the same time.
It’s happened more times than I can count, and it’s not fun to try to figure out what they’re doing.
Which side of wafer paper do I print on?
In general, the best print results will come from printing on the smooth side of edible wafer paper. O and AD grades of wafer paper have a smooth side and a rough side, and while you can print on both, the smooth side will look the best due to the lack of texture.
In addition, printing on the smooth side will mean that the rough side will be attached to the cake or cookies, and the additional texture can help to give whatever edible glue that you use a little more to grab onto.
It’s not such a drastic difference between the two sides that it will make a huge difference, though, so don’t throw away paper that’s been printed on the rougher side just because of that!
Remember that with inkjet printers the color remains on the surface of the paper, so it can smear if it gets wet.
Regardless of which side you print on, always handle wafer paper with dry hands in order to prevent damage to the print!
What printer settings to use to print wafer paper?
To print edible wafer paper, you should use printer settings that take the size of the paper and the type of paper you’re using into account. Too much ink on the surface can create bubbling where the ink is absorbed into the paper, and miscalculating the paper size can result in the print being cut off.
My recommended print settings for an edible ink printer and wafer paper are as follows:
- Matte photo paper
- Size A4 paper
- Prevent paper abrasion turned on in the printer settings
- Normal print quality
- Adjust the color settings in the printer settings to be more vivid than standard
- Do not fit picture to frame
If you use these general settings, the print quality will be good, and you’ll avoid bubbling of the color unless the color is a deep red or black.
You may also need to go into the printer settings in the computer control panel to adjust the color intensity if one of the colors is printing lighter or darker than it should.
Most edible ink printers have certain color balances that they default to, and they will need to be adjusted individually in order to get the best color.
I have three of the same type of Canon ix6820 printers, and each one prints slightly differently. I’ve learned that I shouldn’t print purple things on one of them because no matter what I do, it’s too blue.
Another doesn’t print the edible wafer paper money well, so I avoid using it for that. It’s difficult to figure out, because unless you have multiple printers that you can use to compare, you won’t know if the colors are off in general or in the individual printer.
The settings for wafer paper will be different from the settings for icing sheets, because they’re not made from the same materials.
If you’re going to be printing icing sheets, you may have to experiment with which settings work best and avoid super intense colors, which can easily smear if they get wet.
Wafer paper supply list:
Shop for materials to make wafer paper flowers on Amazon (#ad):
- Wafer paper, white or colored
- Silicone flower center molds
- Petal veiners
- Petal dust
- Floral wire
- Tylose glue
- Fluffy paintbrushes
- Flower former
- Craft scissors
- Liquid Food Coloring
- Food-grade glycerin to make wafer paper conditioner
- Corn starch
- Flower paper punches
- Steamer to shape wafer paper
