Printing onto envelopes?

[Michael Duckett]

Anyone know how to print onto envelopes?

I meant to turn the envelope into the front cover/intro for a zine that didn't really explain itself properly, then when I got the zines in the post I realised I had no idea of how to actually print onto the envelopes!

I realise I could've lino-printed onto them, or used one of those small stamps, but neither of those 2 options would have enabled me to use more than a score of words.

I SHOULD've used an old manual printing press that lives in my old house, but it's been so long since I had access/cleaned it up/practised that I wussed out in the end.

So any tips appreciated, as (a) I still like the idea aesthetically & (b) it would let me update an old zine.

Thanks, Mike

[kit feral]

I'm not sure if I completely understand, but I print images on envelopes with my regular printer. I just tape the envelope to a piece of paper and it usually doesn't jam.

[Michael Duckett]

I've never owned my own printer.
Would this work for dozens & dozens?

[kit feral]

Well, it would, but it'd take a while. I don't know if you could do the same thing with a photocopier, it might jam.

Michael Duckett said:

I've never owned my own printer.
Would this work for dozens & dozens?

[Michael Duckett]

Yeah my local copy shop said no. But they say no to stickers too and I know they go through printers okay, although the ink tends to rub off. It was mostly the size (A6 & A5) and the uneven thickness/sticky seal stuff I presumed would be an issue, but it sounds like it's worth playing with.

star blanket river child said:

Well, it would, but it'd take a while. I don't know if you could do the same thing with a photocopier, it might jam.

Michael Duckett said:

I've never owned my own printer.
Would this work for dozens & dozens?

[Andy (Footprint Workers Co-op)]

Hey Mike

We can laser print onto envelopes no problem, we get self sealing ones from paperback and they just go through, I think we've done it on the riso in the past too, it just doesn't stack very well

Andy

[Dan C]

On lots of fairly simple home printers it's pretty easy to adjust for the size of the thing you're printing onto so you can just print directly onto a thing like an envelope. Enough regular people just want to be able to print the addresses on envelopes that this is a not a weird thing to be trying to do at all. You should consider buying a printer (and checking it's features to see if it can do this) or finding a friend with a printer that can do it.