White ink printing at home?! YEP, it’s totally possible, and IMHO, totally worth the investment! I have previously been outsourcing any jobs that require white printing, but it made sense financially for me to be able to offer this service in-house. (Plus it shaves off a few days in my production timeline, which makes everyone a happy camper!)
So why is this a big deal? Typically white ink printing cannot be achieved by your average printer — you’ll need foil, engraving, white calligraphy OR a fancy white toner to get this look. Your printer reads “white” as the absence of color, so its not actually laying down any ink. Printers will usually have 4-color cartridges (CMYK), so the magic of my white ink printer is that I’m simply swapping out the K cartridge (a.k.a black) for a W cartridge (a.k.a white.) and DECEIVING IT WITH TRICKERY! (Sidenote: not sure if it’s actually called the W cartridge but it makes sense so we’re rollin’ with it.)
Also, If y’all have followed me for a while, you know I print all my envelopes in-house on my inkjet Canon IP8720 printer. (All my supplies and printers are listed here at camimonet.com/supplies!) I will, of course, still use this printer as well, and mainly use my new laserjet for white ink. However the laser printing is capable of printing more vibrant colors than the inkjet, so any bold, poppy tones (especially hot pinks, etc.) will get run through the laser. I’m also really excited to save some time by doubling up production with TWO workhorse printers getting after it. (You know, when they feel like it...printers have a mind of their own, and you have to respect that lol.)
So what do you need to create your own white ink magic at home?
That's it! Read on for the deets.
What types of printers print white ink?
There are LOTS of options that will work, and it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of deciding which printer to get. The model I decided on is the HP Laserjet Pro M452nw. Easy to use and gets the job done. If having a digital touch-screen is important to you, I’d recommend upgrading to the HP Laserhet Pro M452dw. You’ll have to shell out a few more buckaroos, but you’ll also be able to do duplex printing. (The ‘dw’ model means ‘duplex’ and ‘wireless’ printing.) Do some research to find what works for you! The Ghost White Toner website lists all the compatible models.
MAJOR IMPORTANT NOTE: This printer does not come with white ink; you will have to purchase white toner separately. Just want to be super clear with y’all so you don’t get mad at me if you buy the printer and think it’s ready to roll out of the box.
Got it, so where do you buy ghost white toner?
Since this a key ingredient to the white printing equation, here’s where you can get your white ink toner. I ordered mine from US Cutter since they are U.S. based and shipping was free, but you can also get it from their actual website, ghost-white-toner.com. And let’s not forget trusty Amazon, who also has the ghost white toner available. Pricing will vary so I’d recommend keeping an eye out to score a deal.
How much does all this cost?
It’s honestly not too expensive compared to OKI printers which can run ya in the $7000 range (oof) and other white printing methods like a foil printer. The ghost white toner was $319, and the printer was $249. According to legend (and the toner specifications), you can print around 2,300 pages before the toner runs out. That’s basically 13¢ per page, but I think if you were just printing envelopes that could go even further since I’m not sure what constitutes a “page” in their book. So let’s average around 10¢ per envelope. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me!
How do I install the ghost white toner?
Guys, I cannot even overplay how easy this is. You literally open up the printer, take out the black cartridge and swap in the white. My mother could do this, and it took her 30 minutes to understand copy and paste. Easy-breezy, I promise.
Okay let’s say you’ve got your printer & toner, and you’ve joined the White Ink Club. Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here. Let’s run through some quick basics of tech support:
To achieve the most opaque white printing, you must be printing in 100% BLACK. That means 100% on the ‘K’ in the CMYK scale. If any other colors get printed with the white, it looks gray or silvery, and it will ruin your day. Trust me, I’ve been there.
You’ll also want to make sure your driver settings are set up for the highest density available on the printer webpage. Here’s how to get here on a Mac:
Tada! This is where all the SeCrEt settings live.
Under System > Print Density, make sure that BLACK is set to 5 and the other colors to 0. This will make sure you are LAYING DOWN THE LAW when it comes to how white you want your whites to be. (I know it’s confusing that it says black, but remember: we switched the cartridges so the printer thinks it’s printing black.)
Now when you are about to print your document, here are some other tips to make sure your white is as opaque as possible. In the setup menu, select the drop down box that says “Preview” and scroll down to “Printer Features.” This is where you can make some additional adjustments and play around with settings.
There are other settings here as well, but I don’t think you need to worry about them. I achieved really great results with these settings! Of course, EXPERIMENT and see what works for you/what paper type you are using! If there’s anything I learned with printing at home, it’s that you have to waste some paper to get what you want. Words to live by, I’m telling ya.
Other Tips for Printing White Ink on the Laserjet PrinterYour printer might have multiple ‘trays’ where it feeds the paper from. I am printing all my envelopes from Tray 1 and keeping the flap closed. Carley from CZ Invitations gave me this invaluable tip to keep the flaps CLOSED when printing with a laserjet, otherwise you’ll slowly kill your poor printer. (Heat + envelope glue = horrible, sticky death.) This tray doesn’t hold very many envelopes, so you’ll want to manually feed them in. It doesn’t take that long, I promise. Just be sure to get the feel of the printer’s rhythm. I know this is weird and doesn’t make sense, but every printer has a ‘rhythm,’ and if you step on their toes while dancing, they’re going to angrily shove 6 envelopes into the depths of the rollers where you’ll need needle-nose pliers and some serious patience to remove them while anger-crying because YOU JUST BOUGHT THIS, WHY THE HECK IS IT EATING EVERYTHING. But I digress. You totally got this.
All-in-all, I’m pretty darn pleased with my setup, and I’m so excited for the possibilities with having white ink printing capabilities at home. I will say that I think the opacity and “whiteness” is a smidge better if you outsource with any of my favorite white ink printers (you can find where I print absolutely everything here), but for affordability and convenience, you can’t beat ghost white toner. Also if you REALLY want to go down the rabbit hole of toner possibilities, you can use this printer to make toner transfers for t-shirts, mugs, textiles...all kinds of fun stuff!! I haven’t really dove into this aspect of it, but hey, I think it’s totally worth looking into! Let me know if you have any other questions about my white ink printer in the comments!
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Rashein B Feaster
April 13, 2021
I would like to find a color LaserJet printer 11×17 & I can do the ghost white toner as well!!!!