Printed cookies appear blotchy, patchy, spotty, mottled, uneven or splotchy (Eddie).

Printed cookies appear blotchy, patchy, spotty, mottled, uneven or splotchy (Eddie).

Adjust the printing surface (Icing/Frosting).

The most critical part of obtaining a high-quality print is to use a well-suited frosting. Frostings that are white and that dry hard work best, something similar to a royal icing. Cookies should be flat and consistent in size.  See the recipe below, which will deliver excellent results. (Hint: the secret ingredient is meringue powder.)

For the 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 a similar icing, or use the recipe below.
   
2. Smooth. The surface should be as smooth as possible. Make sure the icing is completely mixed! Icing that is not fully mixed can appear blotchy when printed with dark, full-coverage prints.
   
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 that 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 cookie's surface, 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. Moisture Meter.  You can use a moisture meter to test one cookie out of the batch to see if it is dry enough to print.  We recommend the Klein Tools ET140 on the Masonry setting. We have found the following moisture settings to be best for printing, but you may have to experiment to find the setting that works best for you.
   
1. Anything less than 10% moisture should be fine for printing.
   
2. Simply hold the meter to the top surface of the icing on the cookie to test.  You may want to put a paper towel between the meter and the cookie to prevent contact. 
3. You can test the cookie before icing to ensure it is dry enough to ice since excess moisture in the cookie can affect the icing even if you wait long enough for the icing to dry.  
   
4. Finally, you can test it again before bagging to prevent bleeding inside the bag. 
5. 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.
6. Other Print items and frostings. If you are not using frosting and are printing directly to the surface of the cookie (For example, Macrons, Marshmallows, candy, white chocolate), you may notice that your prints are not as vibrant and are slightly blurry. This is to be expected since the ink soaks into the surface more, and the surface is not necessarily white. Other frostings, such as Buttercream frosting, do not work well. It is too wet and too porous. Over several hours after printing, CMY colors tend to soak into different layers, which means you will never get the color you intend. Everything turns out brown eventually. 
   

For a complete quality guide, visit this article

Article ID: 081126