Troubleshooting Photos –
Print Is Shapeless Blobs Of Ink
Problem
The print is basically illegible, with formless blobs of ink all over.
What should you look for?
An image, a man and woman standing side by side (note the two vaguely flesh-colored blobs near the top), has dissolved into shapeless forms, like a bad abstraction.
What should you do?
Examine the print. It is of course just possible that the cause is ink that has gone really bad because it's too old. But that's not it. In this case, the key to the real cause is easily visible. It's the paper-maker's name, just visible through the smears of ink, that tells you you're looking at the back side of the sheet.
How do you fix it?
This print isn't repairable but you can prevent a recurrence quite simply. Don't:
- talk on the phone...
- look for another pen...
- read a manual...
while you're loading paper into your printer (in other words, pay attention). Then you won't have to kick yourself because you've put the paper in back to front.
This is an extreme form of a problem called puddling. When you set up the printer (through the print dialog) to use a very absorbent type of paper, like an uncoated matte stock, but use a less absorbent type of paper instead, such as glossy coated paper, the printer will lay down far more ink than the paper can handle. The ink will then sit on the paper surface in puddles – usually very small ones, not the blobs in this picture.
