The aqueous ink for ink jet contains a resin particle dyed with a fluorescent dye, and a water-soluble resin. The fluorescent dye contains a fluorescence-emitting dye selected from the group consisting of basic dye, disperse dye and oil-soluble dye, the resin particle has a core portion that contains an aromatic group-containing unit and cyano group-containing unit, and a shell portion that contains an aromatic group-containing unit, an anionic group-containing unit and a crosslinking agent-derived unit, but free of cyano group-containing unit, percentage (% by mass) of the crosslinking agent-derived unit in the shell portion is 30% by mass or more to 80% by mass or less, the water-soluble resin having an aromatic group-containing unit and an anionic group-containing unit, and the water-soluble resin having an acid value of 100 mgKOH/g or more to 180 mgKOH/g or less.

Solvent-based pigmented ceramic inkjet ink compositions including a solvent blend consisting predominantly of one or more hydrophobic solvent(s) (preferably one or more hydrophobic long chain hydrocarbon solvent(s)) are capable of achieving superior print quality when applied over unfired glazes by the inclusion of less than 10% by weight of the composition of a water-soluble solvent, especially glycol ethers. These ink compositions are particularly suited to ceramic tile decoration via the double fast firing process, with resulting improvements in absorption, color strength and print definition.

Provided is an aqueous ink for ink jet that has excellent storage stability and whose viscosity does not easily increase even in a case where the ink is stored in a severe environment such as a high temperature condition. This aqueous ink for ink jet contains a coloring material and a block copolymer. The block copolymer includes an A block having a segment A having no acid group and a group represented by Formula (1) bonded to one terminal of the segment A, and a B block having a segment B having an acid group and a group represented by Formula (2) bonded to one terminal of the segment B. ##STR00001## (In Formula (1), R.sub.1 represents an alkylene group, and M represents a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal, ammonium or organic ammonium. In Formula (2), R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 each independently represent an alkyl group or the like.)

A printing method for printing a printing medium includes a non-white ink application step of applying an aqueous non-white ink composition containing a non-white coloring material onto the printing medium, and a white ink application step of applying an aqueous white ink composition containing a white coloring material onto the non-white ink composition on the printing medium to form a superimposed region. The non-white ink composition and the white ink composition each have an organic solvent content limited to 15% or less relative to the total mass of the corresponding ink composition. The mass ratio of the white ink composition to the non-white ink composition in the superimposed region is 1.5 or more in a portion to which the non-white ink composition is applied in an amount largest in the superimposed region.

Provided are an ink set including a first ink including an ethylenic unsaturated compound and a photopolymerization initiator, the first ink not including a colorant or including a white colorant, and a second ink including an ethylenic unsaturated compound, a photopolymerization initiator, and a colorant, wherein the proportion of the amount of a monofunctional monomer to the total amount of the ethylenic unsaturated compound included in the first ink is 95.0% by mass or more, the proportion of the amount of a monofunctional monomer to the total amount of the ethylenic unsaturated compound included in the second ink is 95.0% by mass or more, and, when the static surface tension of the first ink at 25° C. is defined as T1 and the static surface tension of the second ink at 25° C. is defined as T2, the value calculated by subtracting T1 from T2 is 1 mN/m or more, and applications of the ink set.

An ink set includes an inkjet ink and a recording head filling liquid. The inkjet ink contains a pigment, water, and 1,2-alkanediol with a carbon number of at least 7 or 8. The recording head filling liquid contains a specific surfactant, water, and a specific alcohol compound with a carbon number of at least 10 and no greater than 12. The specific surfactant has an HLB value of no greater than 5.0. An amount of content of the specific alcohol compound in the recording head filling liquid is at least 0.1 ppm and no greater than 1.0 ppm.

A liquid ejecting apparatus, a liquid ejecting method and an ink are provided, so as to appropriately increase the strength of ink after fixing. The liquid ejecting apparatus is configured to eject an ink by an inkjet method, and includes an inkjet head configured to eject the ink. The inkjet head has a nozzle configured to eject the ink. The ink includes a resin particle having a size capable of passing through the nozzle. The resin particle contains a fibrous substance. The fibrous substance is, for example, fibers of cellulose.

The method is an ink jet recording method, which uses an ink set being composed of a plurality of aqueous inks and including a combination of a first ink containing a coloring material and a second ink containing no coloring material and by which an image is recorded by applying the first ink and the second ink onto a recording medium so that an area to which the first ink is applied and an area to which the second ink is applied overlap at least in part with each other. The coloring material of the first ink contains fluorescent dye, the second ink contains a first water-soluble organic solvent, and an SP value S.sub.S of the first water-soluble organic solvent and an SP value S.sub.D of the fluorescent dye satisfy a relationship of the following formula (1):
|S.sub.S−S.sub.D|≤4.0  (1).

An ink jet ink composition includes a color material having a ligand; an inorganic compound; and a pH adjuster, and the color material forms a complex with the inorganic compound by the ligand.

A radiation curable inkjet ink composition that includes (A) a mono-ethylenically unsaturated oligomer, (B) a mono-ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and (C) a solvent, wherein the radiation curable inkjet ink composition is substantially free of a photoinitiator and wherein a total weight of the mono-ethylenically unsaturated oligomer (A) is less than or equal to the total weight of the mono-ethylenically unsaturated monomer (B). A printed article including the radiation curable inkjet ink composition in cured form, and a method of forming an image with a thermal inkjet printhead are also provided.