Colors are printing wrong. Colors are not accurate. Colors are not matching. (Eddie)

Colors are printing wrong. Colors are not accurate. Colors are not matching. (Eddie)

There are several possible reasons for colors to print incorrectly. The first step is to print a clean print on your cookie or a cardboard coaster. 

1. Print a Clean Print.



2. Print your design or the Clean Print on a Cardboard Coaster or Piece of Paper. If your colors look good on a coaster or paper, it probably means the frosting is not white or is too wet.

   

3. Contaminated Cartridge. If one or more of your colors is contaminated, it probably means that ink has leaked inside the cartridge cap. If this happens, the ink in the cap can be wicked back up into the cartridge, contaminating the color. To resolve this problem.  

1. Clean the cartridge maintenance cap regularly. Take a look at this video to clean the maintenance Cap.   Also, See section 6B-8 of the manual.  



2. Replace the cartridge. A contaminated cartridge can not be recovered. You can still use it for all-black designs or any design where color accuracy is not critical. 

Note: Refilling cartridges will also contaminate the color.


4. Color Matching.  Sometimes printing on your cookie will not match the screen.  This is unavoidable in many cases due to nature of CMYK printing edible ink on icing. Certain colors will never match.  If this is the case, it is good to get idea of what colors are possible before you design.  We have created the color wheel below to help with this.  The color wheel shown below has all of the CMYK values for those of you that use pro level programs where you can adjust these things.  Print this design with or without the CMYK color values directly on your cookie to see how colors will look.   Keep the cookie as a reference.  (Both designs are available for full resolution download at the end of the article.) Note that colors will look different depending on how white your icing is.




5. Frosting/Icing. If colors don't appear correctly or change after printing on your cookie, it can mean that the ink is reacting with the frosting/icing. 

Tip! Try to print your design on Cardboard or paper.  If it looks good and doesn't change or fade over time, it means the problem is related to the frosting.  

For best print quality results, follow the specifications below: 
  1. Use the right recipe. The surface of each cookie should be frosted with the Primera recommended icing or similar - See below.
  2. Smooth. The surface should be as smooth as possible.
  3. Dry. The surface should be hard to the touch and completely dry. If the frosting is wet when you print you are just adding more water to an already wet surface. It will begin to bead, causing splotchy uneven colors. If there is excess moisture in the frosting, it is possible the print will bloom or become blurry if it is placed in an individual bag. Bagged cookies retain moisture and that excess moisture can be redeposited on the surface of the cookie, causing it to bleed. If this happens, reduce the saturation value present in the printer driver. (See Number 2 above).  
    1. After frosting, leave your cookies to dry for 24 hours until a crust forms before printing.
    2. After printing, wait another 24 hours before bagging cookies.
    3. You can use a heat gun to dry the surface faster to decrease drying time before or after printing. Stay about 12" away and dry each cookie for about 15 seconds. You'll have to experiment with the exact settings as every cookie and environment is different and will affect drying speed. 
    4. You can also use a dehydrator or add cornstarch to the icing. 
  4. White. The color of the icing should be bright white. The white surface makes the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow colors match as close as possible to the image on your computer screen. It also creates a vibrant bright image. White food coloring can be added to enhance the brightness. 
  5. The Colors you choose to print can have an effect on your quality.
  1. Black. Any black area on your cookie uses all three colors to produce the black. The mixing has to occur on the cookie. If the surface is more porous, some colors will sink lower, causing a green or magenta hue, especially around the edges. When they mix properly, the black will look more like a dark gray. If too much ink is used, it will not dry evenly and look splotchy.   Think twice about using black in larger areas of your cookie. A few accent areas are fine, but ask yourself if it really needs to be black. If you switch to another color, it will look better and use less ink. 
  2. Red.  A new cartridge with new magenta that prints a better red is now available.  SKU 053507.  To order, select New Magenta from the menu on this page.  If you have the original 053498 Cartridge, Apple Red or Fire Engine Red is a difficult color for Eddie to produce. See this article on how to print the best red with 53498.
  3. Photographs. Photographs will never look as good or vibrant as when printed on professional photo paper. There are some things you can do to improve it. If you are printing pictures of people, don't print the background. Crop out the person or people in the photo, so there is a white background behind them. This can be done using many programs, including Paint 3D. The process is described in the manual. If you are printing scenery, it is best to design the print so that scenery is not the only element. Add text graphics and other graphical items to compliment it.  
6. Colors are Changing.  Blacks fading to Green or other Colors.  Follow this article. 

Recipe for Royal Icing

The key to making this icing is adding meringue powder to get an icing that will harden well and have a little air in it to absorb ink. It is crucial to get the consistency right so that the icing will flood well and give a smooth and flat surface for printing, but not so thin that it takes too long to dry.

·         3 Tbsp. meringue powder

·         ⅜ cup warm water

·         3 ¾ cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

·         1 ½ tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Step 1: Combine the meringue powder and warm water in a bowl. Wisk for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is frothy.

Step 2: Add confectioner's sugar and mix for about 2 minutes until the icing is smooth. Add vanilla or other flavoring and mix well. 

Step 3: Add additional warm water or confectioner's sugar in small increments to achieve the desired consistency for flooding the cookies. Adding water will make the icing thinner, adding sugar will make it thicker. Add enough water that the cookies will flood with a smooth surface, but not so much that the icing takes too long to harden completely.

Step 4: Use a piping bag to flood the cookies. Start by outlining the cookie and then fill in the middle. Make sure the surface is smooth and completely filled. Let them sit out until the icing is completely hardened. Do not store in a package that allows moisture buildup (like sealed plastic bags) as it could damage the smooth hardened surface of the frosting. 

Article ID: 081222