Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!! (UPDATE on bottom - fixed them)

I just received my Stardream Metallic envelopes and am trying to print on them. The color is Quartz, they're pretty light, and I am having two problems:

1. The words are coming out blurry; they are not crisp at all, I would say the ink is 'smeary.'

2. The black ink is coming out grey. I have adjusted the settings on my printer (hp psc 2410) - the ink levels, the quality, and nothing is helping.

What else can I do?

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

oh man...I posted about that when I made mine. I had to use clear tape to put over the print. You can do that, which I thought looked fine or print labels to adhere to them.

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

i'd go with the labels. if you really don't want to do that, i'd ask a professional printer what they would use. or you could try leaving each of them out to dry completely for a while - that may stop them from smearing. if you want crispness though, go with the labels.

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

Try putting your printer preference into photo mode. If that doesn't work then buy clear labels and use them. Good luck

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

What kind of printer are you using? Inkjet printers are more likely to smear than Laser printers.

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

Can't help with the smearing, but no matter how dark we tried to get the purple ink, our type came out lavender. And we even brought it to a printer!

Sorry I can't help. Good luck!

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

its the printer....u need an laser printer and it wont do it...lables will prob be your best bet!

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

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Posted by NY031978

its the printer....u need an laser printer and it wont do it...lables will prob be your best bet!

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I used a laser printer and the ink still started to flaked off.

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

I bought metallic paper for a DIY project and it wasn't cheap...and I found that nothing printed on it well...inkjet, laser, copy machine. NOTHING. It was never clear or crisp and black was always gray.

You might have to do labels, but be careful b/c the clear labels MIGHT smear as well. They are slick not papery and with some inks, will never actually dry. I've learned this the hard way at work with our postage machine!

Some papers just aren't meant for printing on I suppose...and the really great metallics are definitely one of them!

Hope you can fix them or figure something else out! Good luck!!

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!!

Okay ladies. I have found a solution: my laser printer at work. No smudges and dark black print!

However, it is putting roller marks on my envelopes. I wonder if I can iron them out.... Maybe I can put them between a sheet and run the iron over them later....

Oh well. I can always claim they got wrinkled in the mail


ETA:
Thank you to all of you who replied

Re: Help with printing: my envelopes are smearing!!! (UPDATE on bottom - fixed them)

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Posted by Hallowedding

Okay ladies. I have found a solution: my laser printer at work. No smudges and dark black print!

However, it is putting roller marks on my envelopes. I wonder if I can iron them out.... Maybe I can put them between a sheet and run the iron over them later....

Oh well. I can always claim they got wrinkled in the mail


ETA:
Thank you to all of you who replied

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the marks might not go away...but i saw some of ours that were mailed from the post office where they were going [same town] and they looked worse than the ones that went across the country...so don't sweat it too much. it's great you found a way to get them printing well!!!