Printing headaches

[Dane]

So, I'm using Photoshop to try to print onto some cardstock. This is cardstock that previously held an image, but I've used acetone to blank out so I can put my own onto it (it's for a trading card game, and I want to be able to make my own custom cards for playing with friends, but still have the "official" back and feel.)

The problem is...when I print using Photoshop, if I use any settings other than HP Advanced Photo Paper - Glossy during proofing (onto paper, obviously) the colors are just plain NOT right. The Glossy Photo Paper setting nails the colors perfectly...but then when I try to print directly onto the cardstock, the colors run BADLY.

However, if I use a different setting, like HP Note Cards, I have zero running issues...but the colors are wrong. So, I know that my printer (HP B9180, by the by) is CAPABLE of printing onto the cardstock...it's just getting the colors + zero running just right. It's almost like trying to push a dog off the bed...you push one end, and the other comes back towards you.

I've been trying all sorts of solutions, changing whether Photoshop or the printer manages the colors, Absolute/Relative Colorimetric...adding layers of Saturation/Brightness, tweaking curves...etc. I started keeping pretty decent notes on my proofs, so if anyone needs more data, please just ask, and hopefully I can provide it.

Hopefully someone is able to help out here. Thanks in advance.

 

[ALB68]

Don't suppose it would be possible to get a proper profile for the cardstock you are using? The idea of reusing the paper bothers me as far as trying to get desired color. It really sounds like a paper and profile issue from what you have said. Obviously it prints fine on glossy photo, which is what it is primarily intended for. So it isn't the printer.

 

[Tom Mann]

ALB nailed it.

A huge amount of work goes into the development of papers for inkjet printing. There are many different parameters that must be carefully controlled in the production of papers including rate and amount of ink absorption, color, specular and diffuse reflectivity, etc., etc.. Even after a particular type of paper / card stock is developed, each still requires a different printer profile.

Since you are using a card stock for which (a) you may not have had the original printer profile, and (b) even if you did, you certainly changed it significantly by treating it with acetone and wiping, all bets are off.

There are commercial services that will make a printer profile for a custom paper and a specific printer / ink set, but I doubt you would want to pay the money to do so, and even if you did, since your application of acetone / wiping couldn't have been done under repeatable conditions, the profile is likely to be usable only on the particular sample you sent to be profiled.

My recommendation is that if the project is worth it, throw out the stock you are attempting to reuse, buy some new, well characterized material, and you will be a much happier camper. ;-)

T