One of the most frequently asked questions I get from brides is “I want my wedding invitations to have white text on colored paper. How do I do that?” Technically, you can’t print white unless you use a printing technique like thermography, engraving, foil stamping or screen printing. Most digital and offset print shops, as well as ordinary affordable desktop laser and inkjet printers, only print color. And in printing terms, white is the absence of color. Printers don’t have white ink, but rather use a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black to render color.
UPDATE: Some printers now have a printer that can digitally print white on colored stock. You can inquire locally and I can recommend Indigo Ink in Maryland.
So how can you get white text to print on a colored background without using a pricey printing process (say that five times fast)? You actually have to print the background. Find a good white card stock—I suggest one that is at least 100#—and you can print the background color and make the text white. That way you’re knocking the text out of the background so that the text is the color of the paper. Make sense?
I always recommend bringing your files to a professional print shop. That is especially true in this case because this method requires a lot of ink, so it’s best not to depend on your poor little desktop inkjet printer to do all that work. Inkjet printers aren’t meant to handle large quantities with a lot of ink coverage. You may get banding in the solid background which you certainly don’t want. You want nice flat, solid color. Costwise, it may be cheaper to send your files to a print shop anyway. Those darn ink cartridges are expensive!
I’m happy to answer any printing questions you have! So feel free to shoot me a message.
pomp creative • washington, dc • annapolis, maryland
