The Many Different Types Of Ink

By Keren Kipfer


If you take a look around wherever you are, you are sure to see multiple examples of ink. From the mail in our mailboxes to the clothing that we wear to the newspapers that we read, ink is everywhere. The ink industry includes manufacturers that produce a variety of ink, some for general use in our home printers and others for specific types of industries. Here are just a few specialty types of inks you might encounter.

Body art is a booming business, and tattoo ink is regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is completely safe for all people. Most professional tattoo artists use carbon-based inks that are injected just into the very top skin layers, which is the safest option, as heavy metals are often used to produce different colors. So if you were planning on getting that tattoo, do some research and go with a pro. It might cost a bit more, but it will be safer and indubitably a higher quality piece of body art.

While you probably haven't given it a lot of thought, there are special types of inks and printers used to affix product ids to all sorts of packaging. The printers that place the ink on the packages are called id coders or id printers. The ink is specially created to dry very quickly and to be printed on many surfaces, from glass bottles to metal computer parts to plastic.

There are many companies that produce these types of coders, including Videojet, Imaje, Domino, Altima and Maxima. These companies also produce make-up and ink for the printers, but a less expensive option for those use id coders is to purchase quality inks from a product id company. These companies make Videojet inks, Altima inks, Domino inks and many other top brands. In addition to the inks, these firms also create the proper make-up fluid for each ink.

It might surprise you to know that there is ink on products that humans ingest. Many bakeries can transfer an actual photograph onto the top of a cake using ink made out of safe food coloring. There is also a special edible type of water-based ink used on pharmaceutical products, such as pills, to identify the amount of milligrams or type of drug.

Special inks also are formulated for use by the apparel industry, and you often will see ink printing on t-shirts. These inks have to be fairly strong in order to compensate for washing and drying. They cannot run or bleed and shouldn't fade quickly, so ink manufacturers work hard to ensure that these are long-lasting inks.




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