Blue Dot Paper Shop, Paper Products to Inspire You

Printing Tips

The majority of our papers are laser and ink jet compatible and should work in most home printers. You’ll find printing information in the product description for each item on our site. We do recommend purchasing sample sheets when you can to be sure the paper works in your printer.

Printing On Metallic Paper

You can print on our metallic papers, however we highly recommend testing a sample sheet first. The text weight paper will run through most home printers, though on ink jet printers you may need to let the ink set before handling. The metallic cardstock will run through a laser printer (I do it all the time) however, due to its heavy-weight, you must send it through the Manual Feed Tray. In some cases you may need to feed a few sheets at a time. Make sure your printer is also set to “heavy paper” or “thick cardstock” so the printer takes the paper through more slowly and the ink can set. I’ll be honest, I’ve had customers who have had no printing issues, and those who have had to take the paper to a professional. If it’s in your budget, a local digital or offset printer is recommended when using our metallic papers.

Printing On Vellum

Our vellum will work on any laser printer, and most ink jet printers. When using an inkjet printer, select the printing mode that lays down the least amount of ink. Be sure to let the ink dry before handling the sheet. Again, testing a sample sheet is highly recommended.

Printing White Ink

The print process, whether digital (laser or ink-jet) or offset (professional printing press), uses four basic ink colors which combine to create all the colors you see in an image. The most common process is called 4-color or CMyK printing which uses Cyan, Magenta, yellow and Black ink. In rare cases a home printer may use three colors known as RgB (Red, green, Blue). Digital or home printers do not print white ink. If you are hav- ing your design printed by a professional printer on an offset press you may select an ink color, however white ink is not common. In order to get white type on a home printer you need to print on white paper and reverse the type out of a color. For instance, to create white type on a black background you would need to print a black box on a white sheet of paper and make your text white. The ink will only fill in the black areas leaving you with white type. Further, if you did the same thing only on yellow paper, your type would be yellow, and so on.