how to print white on coloured paper

[Tony]

This is either impossible or so easy I've totally missed it.
I want to print on coloured paper, with some areas of the image white.
What is happening at the moment is that "white" is treated as absence of colour, so I am seeing the paper colour rather than the white I want. I tried making the "white" 5% grey, but that still shows all the base colour beneath.
I'm hoping I've missed something obvious, but I suspect I might be out of luck.
Laser printer BTW.

Any suggestions?

[1101]

There is no white printer ink or toner . Thats your problem

Add to that , you would need several layers of white to 100% block any color underneath it . A bit like when you painting white on top of a darker color , takes several coats .

[Tony]

That's pretty much what I had concluded.

Thanks.

[wainuitech]

You can get White toners, BUT they are special Printers are not cheap, if doing thousands of prints then it can be done and may be worth the $$, But for just a few, if it HAS to be white, would be better off going to a actual Print / photo Shop and get them to do it.

Example of of a Printer -- https://www.oki.com/ce/printing/prod...ies/index.html

AND in NZ, Cheap at half the price https://carter.co.nz/product/oki-pro6410-neon-1011.htmx or https://carter.co.nz/product/oki-pro7411wt-1012.htmx

[Tony]

Everything you say is true. It is not worth it just to get a white trim on Santa's hat

[piroska]

I want to print on coloured paper, with some areas of the image white.
?

You can't. The printer will treat the paper as white even if it isn't, so anything white will be whatever colour the paper is.
If you really need white printing, use Vistaprint. They're not expensive.

[Paul.Cov]

Yeah, printer ink works differently than combining coloured lights, where mixing red, green and blue give you white light (additive mixing). Ink and paint work on subtractive mixing, where red ink absorbs all the other wavelengths, likewise for blue and green, with the result being black (all colours being absorbed). The only way to print white is to deposit white, or to have inks/toners that specifically use red, green , blue pigments (additive colours), rather than the subtractive dyes.

[Tony]

Thanks everyone. You have all confirmed what I already suspected.
FYI attached is the image I have been trying to print:

[wainuitech]

Just print it on White paper, it comes out fine, Rough as guts but here it is on A4 Std White paper from my color Laser. It looks a lot better than the picture shows.

[Tony]

Sure. My issue was that I wanted to print on card to make a Christmas Card, and the only card I have is yellow, and I'm too tight fisted to buy white card.
It looks OK on yellow.