Unusual Uses for Your Printer

16 Feb Unusual Uses for Your Printer

At DocX, we offer document solutions in South Africa because we care about making the use of printers more efficient and affordable. But what about using a printer for something you never would have thought of? If you think your printer can only be used to print, scan, copy, and fax, then your mind is about to be blown. Here are two (rather unusual) uses for ordinary desktop printers. Go wild!

Printing on Wood

Did you know that you can use your standard inkjet desktop printer to print on wood?

Well, you can!

All you need is transfer paper and a lightly-coloured piece of wood that isn’t varnished. You’ll also need an image to print onto the wood. Preferably, the image should be bright in colour, with very little to no white. Lastly, you’ll need photo editing software to change any text you might need to alter, as well as a sealant to preserve the image afterwards.

To print, place the transfer paper glossy-side-down in the printer, making sure that the text in the image is edited so that it’s backwards. Print the image, being careful not to touch the wet ink. Place a strip of tape at the top of the transfer paper and then turn the transfer paper over, slowly sticking the tape onto the piece of wood. Press the transfer paper down gently, transferring the image onto the wood. Once you’ve printed the image, spray it with brush sealant in order to preserve it.

Printing Make-Up

The Mink 3D Printer, invented by Grace Choi, can print make-up in any shade of colour. While you could buy the printer yourself, Choi demonstrated at a hackathon conference that a normal desktop printer can be turned into a make-up printer. So if you can’t find the exact shade of lipstick that suits your skin tone, perhaps you should become BFFs with Grace Choi, or buy her invention. Choi sees the printer as an educational tool, as well as something that could spark the imaginations of girls, getting them more interested in technology. The Mink 3D Printer puts the power back in the consumer’s hands, individualising make-up in a way that has never been done before.

A printer, even an ordinary desktop one, is no longer simply a tool for printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. The printer, in fact, is as variable and useful as the human imagination deems it to be. As a company that provides document solutions in South Africa, we believe in the power and necessity of printers, as well as in their endless versatility!

Main Image Credit: www.pixabay.com