Best Printers for Handmade Paper
There are so many factors to consider when digital printing on handmade paper. There’s the paper itself: what fibers were used, the weight, any additives such as sizing, texture, etc. There’s the computer settings: what kind of file you are working with, dimensions, settings, etc.
But all that doesn’t matter if you don’t have a printer. So.. Now what? What printer should I get? There are so many out there where does one even start? I’m hoping this post will help those who are lost and at the very least give a starting point as to what to look for in a good digital printer for handmade papers. This is largely based on my personal experience and information I have found when it comes to printers. Maybe later on I will go into detail about the other factors but let's start at the base. Purchasing a printer is a large investment and not knowing what to look for is something I for sure struggled with.
Personal Experience
I’ve gotta admit, I did not do enough research when I purchased my first printer. I was in the electronic section at Target, googled “best printers for artists” and bought the one that was available at the time. Yes I’m pretty impulsive.
The printer I had purchased and the only one that I’ve used for printing on handmade paper is the Canon PIXMA TR8600 series.
I got lucky and it’s worked out great for me so far once I got the hang of the appropriate settings to use. Here are a few things to keep in mind when using your printer for handmade paper:
If your printer has the ability to feed the paper from a rear tray, use it! Handmade paper is not like printer paper, it can’t always bend the way front feeding printers need it to bend. The Canon PIXMA has a rear feed tray and you can customize the size to any random dimension you need!
You cannot load the printer the way you normally would. Printing requires your full attention by feeding each sheet individually. When I’m printing I usually multitask and work on other things such as instagram posts, my etsy, or website. Or I watch Netflix.
Research
Now that I’ve purchased a printer already, why not do the research afterwards? I tend to do things unconventionally and I’m hopeful it will help others on their last minute google search.
There are a few things that I kept in the back of my mind when it came to researching what printer would work best for printing on handmade paper. This includes:
Rear Tray settings
Custom Size Availability
Varying Paper Thicknesses
Crisp quality results
Before I get into my recommendations, it is important to note that there are two types of digital printers: inkjet and laser. From my research, it seems like the consensus is inkjet printers are the way to go, whether it's printing on handmade paper or just some form of art paper (Source). So with that my primary focus will be on the best inkjet printers.
**Also another thing to note: there isn’t much information available on handmade paper digital printing but there is countless information on various art and craft papers, including those with textures that I would say could apply to our handmade paper.
So from the information I found and based on my personal experience, this would be my top 3 choices in printers for handmade paper:
Canon PIXMA iX6820
HP Smart Tank 790
Epson Expression XP-960
This list should give anyone who is interested in investing into a printer a base to start off their own research with! Or if you’re like me, make a last minute split second decision. If you already have a printer, let me know what you use and what you like/dislike about it!
Links for more resources and information on printers (as well as what I used for referencing):
