So far so good Price, thanks for your help. Hopefully it will keep flowing.

Tiggy2,

I have the cannon mp560 I bought mine from Icing Images their customer service was excellent and the product couldn't be better. I used to have so many problems with the epson and now I just print. It sure saves a lot of headaches. It's a great investment also. Good luck.

I just found a Canon IP 2700 on amazon for $14.99. It states that it is new and does not come w/ ink which is fine w/ me since it will be for edible images. Can I get edible ink for this model???? I am itching to get this since it is so darn cheap.

The 2700 is NOT compatible. Sorry. You want the mp560 or ip3600.

I don't do a lot of edible images but whenever I do I think it will be my last time! It nearly always causes me much frustration/time/money getting the colors to print out. The edible inks do not have solvents in them, so they dry up inside if you don't use it regularly, causing them to not print out. I am afraid to say this because of the response I'll probably get from everyone....but The guy at kopykake told me to use the regular ink (I have epson, don't know if it is the same with cannon) to clean it out. I want everyone to know that I questioned him about this and he repeatedly told me that the printer does not leave any residual ink. (which I actually do think is true. i wont get into boring details but I put a different ink type in the printer and it wasn't "mixed" when I printed..like it wasnt like there was something left behind from the last one) anyway it does work like a charm to clear it out, then you put the edible inks back in. I generally only do small images that are probably not eaten anyway)

Epsons don't have print heads like the canons do but I still wouldn't put regular ink in it. I also wouldn't use kopykake inks or frosting sheets. I've used them in the past and the quality isn't near as nice as icingimages.

One of my jobs at Icing Images is to break printers, so that I can fix them. I try to come up with every scenerio possible so that I can anticipate what my customers may encounter. I will tell you the way the printers work, Canon and Espon both have nozzles where the ink flows from the cartridge to the paper. These are very small and in Canon the nozzles are in the printhead which comes out of the printer so that it can be cleaned. The Epson does not have the removable printhead but the nozzles never the less are still in there and the ink travels through them on to your sheet. There is no effective way to clean them that I have found without breaking the printer. In addition, both printers have waste tanks that allow the residual ink (when performing nozzle checks or printer based cleanings, this is where the ink goes) The bottom of the printhead (whether canon or epson) rests on these and the residual ink does get on the bottom of the printhead and in these nozzles and cannot be cleaned off. So word to the wise, be careful when considering putting regular ink in your printhead. You never know who is alleregic to what non-food safe product.

Tiggy2...again thank you for all your kind words.

I want to purchase an edible ink printer. Probably the wireless MP560. I have read that the ink clogs and to avoid that I would need to print something weekly even if on regular computer paper. I am just a hobbyist and would only use the edible ink printer maybe once a month if that. To avoid the clogging, can I print little small dots of all the colors once a week? I don't want to use up the ink since it is so costly. I was thinking of printing one little dot of each color this size: O. Would that work? Or has the clogging problem been fixed and I don't need to do anything.

I have a Pixma MP560 now that I use for every day printing. I know I can't use it and have to get another solely for cakes. Can I buy another Pixma MP560 for this? Is there a program that I would need to buy for the edible ink printer?

We do not recommend you purchase a printer for edible printing unless you plan to print a few times per month. The ink is actually the cheapest part of edible printing. While I have customers who go weeks adn weeks without printing and have no problem, we recommend this as to avoid clogging. You can always print on regular paper with edible inks, just remember that it will fade over time. But, if you might print once per month, its not something I would recommend. There are plenty of people who can print for you and mail you the print.

That is why I asked if I can print a dot weekly to keep from clogging on computer paper? If the ink isn't the most costly part of printing, what is?

I would print more than a dot. The paper is the expnesive part. Plus the cartridges are refillable so it really brings the costs down.

Like I said the guy at KopyKake told me to use the regular ink to clean it. It wasnt my idea. Thanks for not yelling at me about it though! There is no other way to clean the epson unless you break apart the printer. It is really really frustrating for someone who only does the occasional edible image. I have wasted a lot of money trying to clear up the clogs. The ink and the paper is expensive. Perhaps the canon printers are a better bet.

I wasn't going to print weekly on the edible paper. I was going to print on printer paper.

OK. Exactly how much would I need to print?

We recommend people print a full page. We recommend that it has all four colors in it, black, red, cyan and yellow. We haven't done tests as to exactly how much to print.

Why would I need to print an entire page? I don't understand why printing a small circle wouldn't keep the nozzle open. It works on regular printing.
(a red, cyan, black, yellow circle)

Hi! I had an epson nx400 for two years and had no problems until a couple of weeks ago. All of a sudden it just stopped working saying that there was a paper jam but there was no.paper jam. Anyways although I had had it for only two years we were printing about an average of 8 to 10 images a week. So for a printer that cost me 50 dollars it paid for itself a long time ago. The cartridges I bought from kopykake with the refill bottles and had BARELY bought new cartridges right before it broke. So I had really no choice but to buy another epson because I already had the cartridges with refill bottles. So I bought An epson nx415 on ebay and bought a warranty with square trade. So we will see how long this one lasts. But with so many images being requested especially for graduations I couldn't afford NOT to have one. With that said I would say that if you get an epson or a cannon I would suggest for it to be a standalone printer. I have my printer on another table and I use it like a copy machine I suppose. Since almost all of my images are photos I do not need to print directly from my computer if that makes sense. Also you can look to see if there is a wireless one where u do not have to worry about it being fight next to your computer since the signal would be sent wirelessly. Anyways hope that makes sense.

I have the canon MP560 and print once a week on paper and have no problems with it clogging. It really doesn't take that much ink to print a test page once a week. Much easier then being frustrated with a clog.

That is what we recommend. Now I have customers who do not do that and they are fine. People usually just print something they have to print anyway but they print it on regular paper so there is no waste involved.

8x10 wafer paper/rice paper from sugarcraft.com is $17.95 for 100 sheets. It says it is for edible printers.
8.5x11 sheets from tastyfotoart.com is $18.95 for 25.
And 24 8.5x10.75 sheets from icingimages.com is $28.
Why such a difference in the prices? Is there a difference in the paper?
Can any be used in am MP560 printer?

Why is the name sugarcraft blocked in my post?

we are not allowed to talk about that company on here. There were some issues several years ago.

You can print on rice paper but I think it is better for things you don't plan to eat.

I am so confused. I make cakes on the spur of the moment so really don't want to wait and order images online. I live out in the country, one hour from the city so can't just run in and get one made. I thought this would be fun to have.
What I have been told here now is that I can't print a little circle every week to keep the ink from clogging but no one really knows.
I still don't know if the paper from the other 2 companies (the ones I am allowed to mention) are the same except for the price.
And I don't know if I can use rice paper. It states on the (blankety blank) site that it is for cake images. Maybe rice paper just sits on top and is crunchy and doesn't 'blend' into the cake.
I thinking I should just get another piece of jewelry for my bday present and let it sit in the jewelry box like all the others. I would use it less than once per month. LOL

Yes, there is a difference in the frosting sheets. As the old saying goes "You get what you pay for". I've tried several brands and find icingimages to be the best quality. You have to decide for yourself what you want to use.

I don't think the rice paper absorbs into the icing as well. I have been wanting to get some for certain projects

i have a cannon printer and just purchased a printhead cleaning kit from KopyKake. i haven't used it yet, but does anyone know if it works?