The present invention relates to [1] a water-based ink containing water-insoluble polymer particles (A), an organic solvent (B) and water, in which a polymer constituting the water-insoluble polymer particles (A) is in the form of a crosslinked polymer; the organic solvent (B) contains a polyhydric alcohol ether; and a rate of change in viscosity of the organic solvent (B) as calculated according to the formula (1) is not more than 140%, and [2] a printing method of printing characters or images on a printing medium using the water-based ink described in the above [1], in which a water absorption of the printing medium per a unit surface area thereof as measured by contacting the printing medium with pure water for 100 milliseconds is not less than 0 g/m.sup.2 and not more than 10 g/m.sup.2.

A metal fine particle-containing ink that contains metal fine particles dispersed therein with a polymer dispersant, a low-molecular weight carboxylic acid and an aqueous solvent, wherein the polymer dispersant contains a constitutional unit derived from an acid group-containing monomer; a content of the low-molecular weight carboxylic acid C in the ink is not less than 1% by mass and not more than 15% by mass. A boiling point (C) of the low-molecular weight carboxylic acid and a boiling point (D) of the aqueous solvent satisfy the following relational formula (I); and an acid dissociation exponent pKa (C) of the low-molecular weight carboxylic acid and an acid dissociation exponent pKa (B) of an acid group in the polymer dispersant satisfy the following relational formula (II):

boiling point (C)>boiling point (D)   (I), and

pKa (C)<pKa (B)   (II).

An image recording apparatus includes a controller configured to: (a) when a remaining amount of ink at the time of receiving a recording start instruction to start image recording on one recording medium is equal to or less than a predetermined amount and a calculated ink remaining amount is less than a required ink amount, not to start the image recording; and (b) when the remaining amount of ink at the time of receiving the recording start instruction is more than the predetermined amount, start the image recording according to the recording start instruction and, during the image recording according to the recording start instruction, when the remaining amount of ink is equal to or less than the predetermined amount and the calculated ink remaining amount is equal to or less than a threshold, interrupt the image recording.

An ink jet composition of the present disclosure includes water; a polyester resin having sulfo groups; and a colorant, the colorant is contained in particles formed from a material containing the polyester resin, and the particles have an average particle diameter of 100 nm or less and are contained in the ink jet composition at a content rate of 15 percent by mass or more.

A clear ink includes resin particles, water, and a compound represented by General Formula (1) below. The resin particles have a volume average particle diameter of 50 nm or less. A dried film of the clear ink has glass transition temperatures (Tg) at 50 degrees Celsius or higher and at lower than 0 degrees Celsius.

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In the General Formula (1), R.sup.1 represents an alkyl group having 1 or more but 4 or less carbon atoms.

To provide an aqueous ink having excellent ejection stability and capable of recording an image having excellent abrasion resistance and the like. An aqueous ink for ink jet containing a resin particle, in which the resin particle is formed of a first resin and a second resin, each having a carboxylic acid group, the first resin is a polyester resin not having a crosslinked structure, the second resin is at least one of a polyester resin and an acrylic resin having a crosslinked structure, and the crosslinked structure of the first resin and the second resin is an alkylene oxide group having a repetition number of 1 to 9.

A method of acoustophoretic printing comprises generating an acoustic field at a first end of an acoustic chamber fully or partially enclosed by sound-reflecting walls. The acoustic field interacts with the sound-reflecting walls and travels through the acoustic chamber. The acoustic field is enhanced in a chamber outlet at a second end of the acoustic chamber. An ink is delivered into a nozzle positioned within the acoustic chamber. The nozzle has a nozzle opening projecting into the chamber outlet. The ink travels through the nozzle and is exposed to the enhanced acoustic field at the nozzle opening, and a predetermined volume of the ink is ejected from the nozzle opening and out of the acoustic chamber.

An ink contains at least one kind of polyether-modified siloxane compound and at least one kind of aliphatic alcohol alkylene oxide compound.

A method for producing a laminated body including a first curable liquid composition and a second curable liquid composition, the method including: forming a first liquid layer formed of the first curable liquid composition; impacting the second curable liquid composition onto the first liquid layer, to form a second liquid droplet layer formed of the second curable liquid composition inside the first liquid layer or at a lower part of the first liquid layer in a direction in which second liquid droplets for the second liquid droplet layer are impacted onto the first liquid layer; and curing the first liquid layer and the second liquid droplet layer.

A printing process for printing with ink an image on an antimicrobial medical glove formed by a dipping process, wherein the image is first printed on a former and transferred to the glove during dipping.