An ink jet recording method in which an image is formed by applying onto a recording medium a reaction liquid, an aqueous pigment ink containing an anionic polymer aggregatable by the reaction liquid and a resin-containing aqueous liquid containing an anionic polymer aggregatable by the reaction liquid to form an image, the method including the steps of applying the reaction liquid to the recording medium; applying the aqueous pigment ink to a surface of the recording medium to which the reaction liquid is applied by an ink jet method to form an image; and applying the resin-containing aqueous liquid to the image formed on the recording medium by the ink jet method. The surface tension of the resin-containing aqueous liquid is higher than the surface tension of the aqueous pigment ink.

An inkjet recording apparatus includes an ink jetter that jets ink and a transfer unit that has a ring-shaped intermediate transfer body. The transfer unit transfers, to a recording medium, a primary image formed on an outer circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer body with the ink that is jetted to land on the outer circumferential surface by the ink jetter. The transfer unit includes a heater that heats air in an internal space of the intermediate transfer body enclosed by an inner circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer body, and an air mover that flows the air in the internal space.

A container body decorator (10) has a controller with a software stored in a memory. A plurality of ink jet print heads (108) is in communication with the controller. An endless image transfer belt (116) has a circumferential configuration with an inner surface opposite a printing surface. A printing site (124) is located along the endless image transfer belt (116). A container body handling module (200) delivers container bodies (14) to the printing site (124).

A printing apparatus acquires characteristic information about a recording medium and executes a light quantity adjustment in a reading operation using a reading unit based on the acquired characteristic information. By using the above-described configuration, it is possible to prevent an increase in the number of processes for analyzing read data obtained by reading a test pattern.

A method of recording an image on a recording medium by applying an auxiliary liquid containing a water-soluble resin and wax particles to an intermediate image formed on an intermediate transfer member, bringing the intermediate image into contact with the recording medium at a temperature higher than a melting point of the wax particles, subsequently peeling off the intermediate image from the intermediate transfer member at a temperature lower than the melting point of the wax particles and transferring the intermediate image onto the recording medium. The method can improve the efficiency of transferring the intermediate image from the intermediate transfer member onto the recording medium.

A printing apparatus applies ink to a surface of a printing plate in the shape of a predetermined pattern and then transfers the ink to a substrate. The printing apparatus includes: an image recording section that applies the ink to the surface of the printing plate; a plate surface observation unit that acquires information about the surface of the printing plate; a storage section that stores information about a reference shape serving as a reference of the surface of the printing plate; and a determination section that compares the information about the reference shape stored in the storage section with the information about the surface of the printing plate, which is obtained by the plate surface observation unit, and determines whether or not the surface of the printing plate to which the ink has been applied is present in a predetermined range of the reference shape.

A porous layer included in a transfer body for image recording by a heat transfer method has a multiple layer configuration, and porous layers are provided such that when a thickness (mm) of each porous layer from a porous layer P(1) of the plurality of porous layers on a side closest to the surface layer to a porous layer P(n) on a side closest to the substrate is set to t(n) (n≥2), and a total thickness of the transfer body is set to T (mm), Expression (1): C×T≤t(1)+ . . . +t(n) (here, C=0.4, and T≥1) is satisfied.

A device and a method for the decoration of objects to be decorated, wherein the object is held by a holding device. In a first step decorative material is applied to a transfer medium by a printing device. In a second step adhesive is applied to the transfer medium provided with the decorative material or to the object, and in a third step the transfer medium is pressed onto the object by a pressing device and at the same time the adhesive is cured by a curing device.

A transfer type ink jet recording method including an image forming step of forming an image including an aqueous liquid component and a coloring material on an image forming surface of a transfer body, the image forming surface being formed of a water-repellent porous body; a transfer step of transferring the image from the transfer body onto a recording medium; a wetting treatment step of performing a wetting treatment by applying a wetting liquid whose contact angle with respect to the image forming surface is less than 90° onto the image forming surface before the image forming step; and a liquid absorbing step of absorbing at least part of the aqueous liquid component from the image formed in the image forming step by using the porous body in at least one of a period between the image forming step and the transfer step and a period in the transfer step.

An ink jet recording method includes an absorption/removal treatment of an aqueous liquid component by using a porous body from an image formed by using an ink and a reaction liquid that increases the viscosity of the ink. The ink contains at least two or more types of particles having different particle diameters, and the particles having different particle diameters satisfy the expressions (1) and (2):

D1/D2≦0.5  (1)

0.2≦M1/M2  (2).