My laser printer died years ago, but I still have a stack of transfer paper (think temporary tattoos, or candle decals, I used it for fusing iron oxide to glass, but they don’t make toner like that anymore), so I thought I would see what happened if I put it through my inkjet printer.

First, the ink puddled after printing, separating up into bumps and changing the texture of the print. Now this looked really cool on the octopus, but made other prints just look muddy. Second, the ink didn’t dry, even after using a hair dryer. Well, could I transfer the print anyway? Maybe just pressing the wet ink against a surface?

Instead of wetting the backing and sliding off the decal, I just pressed it against my skin to see what would happen. The transfer wasn’t fantastic, but it was interesting, until I touched it.

The ink didn’t stay on my skin either, well, part of it did, but a good portion easily rubbed off and gave me dirty fingers. That won’t do either. So no printing on designated laser paper with an inkjet printer, at least not without more investigation into print density and drying methods. Yup, that is where I’m leaving this post. Not everything I attempt works, which is OK because there is still data gleaned and learning occurring.