Achieving a well-matched purple colour can be notoriously difficult when using edible ink. We've put together some suggestions to try to help you get the closest possible to the right shades of purples and deep pinks in your edible prints.
This is particularly important when printing corporate edible toppers with brand logos and colours, in order to get them as close as possible to the correct colours, for example the deep purple of the Cadbury logo. With our guide, you should be able to achieve closely matched results in your edible prints.
Top Suggestions for Achieving Purples and Pinks in your Edible Prints
- Use high-quality edible inks
- Edit the image before printing
- Experiment with print settings
- Adjust colours in the printer driver settings
Before you Start
Before trying any of the below suggestions, two of the most common reasons for colours not printing as they should are the following:-
- One or more of the edible ink cartridges is not filled enough or properly.
- The print head is in need of a clean
We would always suggest before starting any edible printing, that you manually check each edible ink cartridge to make sure it is filled sufficiently and replace or refill any colours as required. If using refillable cartridges then both the sponge side and empty cavity should be filled and there should be no white patches on the sponge. To ensure ink is flowing through the cartridge, you can tap the opening under the sponge onto a paper towel and if ink appears, this indicates it is correctly filled and working efficiently. If not, you may need to fill your cartridge further or create airflow by placing a pin into the opening above the sponge side of the cartridge.
We also recommend that the print head is cleaned on a regular basis. If it's been a while since it was last cleaned or the printer hasn't been used for a while, it's a good idea to perform a clean before starting.
To check the above are not causing your colour issues, make sure to Print a Nozzle Check Pattern prior to printing and assess if any further maintenance is required.
Use High-Quality Edible Inks
Most importantly, you should always be using high-quality edible ink such as EPS edible ink. While choosing a cheaper alternative may be tempting, not only will the print results not match that achieved using high-quality ink, cheaper ink can damage your printer overtime and cause printer issues to arise, such as a worn print head. All EPS inks have been double-filtered and specially formulated to prolong the life of your print head, whilst also achieving high-quality and vibrant coloured edible images.
100ml Edible Ink Refill Set - £13.95
Please remember though, no matter how high quality your edible inks are, your print head will still need regular cleaning and maintenance to ensure optimal printing results with your edible printer.
Edit the Image Before Printing
It's important to realise, that image quality and colours you see on screen are different to that on paper. On screen, images are displayed in RGB colours (red, green, blue), when printed they are made up of CMYK colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). This will always lead to a less vibrant image with altered colours to what is seen on screen, throw edible ink into the mix and it's even harder to achieve what you see on screen!
The best way around this is to over compensate with what you see on screen. Alter the following using image editing software, such as Photoshop or Canva, prior to printing and what you see when printed will more closely match your original image:-
- Increase Contrast
- Increase Saturation and Vibrance
- Increase Brightness
You may need to play around with these a little until you achieve the best shade of purple/pink in your prints - try printing on regular paper first so you don't waste your more expensive edible papers! (Please note - what you see on screen may look a little too vibrant when you have finished editing, but once printed this will dull down and look closer to your original image.)
If you are printing a logo or branded images, we highly recommend that the artwork is provided in CMYK colours, or you convert it prior to printing yourself (you can do this in Canva too) - this will result in a closer colour match to the brand colours when printed.
Experiment with Print Settings
Like with all kinds of edible printing, some trial and error is required when trying to achieve certain colours and image quality. You may find you need to try different combinations of print quality (draft, normal and best) and print media (envelope or normal paper) until you achieve the closest colour match. The optimal combination will change depending on the type of edible paper you are using (icing sheets, wafer paper or transfer sheets) as well as the image you are printing. As suggested above, always try using regular paper first.
Adjust Colours in the Printer Driver Settings
Our final suggestion would be to manually apply colour correction to your prints by altering the colour intensities of certain colours within the printer driver settings themselves.
Select the following to open up the colour adjustment panel - Print> Properties > Main > Color/Intensity > Manual> Set
The following panel should appear:-
Here you can adjust the colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) to get the best colour match on paper - this may take some trial and error so print on regular paper until you are happy with the adjusted results.
The above suggestions are only a guide. As with all printing (edible or not) it’s important to experiment until you achieve a result you’re happy with yourself. It's also important to educate your customers and manage their expectations. It is not possible to achieve an exact colour match every time with edible ink, but these suggestions should help you get closer!
If you have any other questions about using your edible printer, our knowledgable and friendly team are here to help! Just get in touch by emailing our Support Team at support@edibleprintsupplies.co.uk or giving us a call on 01254 825786. We also have a number of other edible printing blog posts and plenty of hints and tips on our social media pages, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok - follow us and tag us in your posts if these tips have helped with your edible printing!