An inkjet printing method forming a decorative printed layer having a three-dimensional texture on a printing surface is described. The inkjet printing method includes: printing dots of curable ink that cure under a predetermined condition based on dot pattern data indicative of printed positions of the dots to be printed on the printing surface; and curing the printed dots. The dot pattern data indicates that: a distance between the adjacent dots becomes a distance where the adjacent dots before the curing are allowed to be maintained independently without bonding to one another in a first region; and the distance between the adjacent dots becomes a distance where the adjacent dots before the curing bond to one another in a second region different from the first region. Such a method may allow forming a decorative printed layer having a three-dimensional texture with a desired gloss level.

By the use of an ultraviolet curable inkjet ink set for a line head printer comprising a lower layer ink containing a polymerizable monomer having a specific structure, and, a specific photopolymerization initiator, and an upper layer ink containing a polymerizable monomer having a specific structure and a specific photopolymerization initiator, wherein among the lower layer ink and the upper layer ink, one of the inks is a white ink and the other ink is a black ink, a good printed matter having excellent adhesion between a recording medium and the ink layer, and, between different ink layers can be obtained without generating curing wrinkles and curling over time even during high speed printing.

An ink contains a coloring material, a water-soluble organic solvent. a compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1 or Chemical Formula 2, a surfactant containing a first silicone-based compound having an HLB value of from 7.0 to 9.0 and a second silicone-based compound having an HLB value of from 14.0 to 18.0, and water,

##STR00001## where, m represents an integer of from 1 to 4,

##STR00002## where R.sup.1 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, an aralkyl group having 7 or 8 carbon atoms, or an ally group, 1 represents 0 or an integer of from 1 to 7, and n represents an integer of from 20 to 200.

An aqueous ink jet ink composition is for use in an ink jet recording method. The method includes ejecting ink from an ink jet head including nozzles. The nozzles are configured such that a shape of a side wall surface is a scalloped shape in which a scallop width S1 and a notch depth S2 satisfy S1/S2≥4. The aqueous ink jet ink composition includes a pigment and a solvent that contains a specific compound.

An aqueous ink jet ink composition is for use in an ink jet recording method. The method includes ejecting ink from an ink jet head including nozzles. The nozzles are configured such that a shape of a side wall surface is a scalloped shape in which a scallop width S1 and a notch depth S2 satisfy S1/S2≥4. The aqueous ink jet ink composition includes a pigment and a solvent that contains a specific compound.

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.

An ink jet printer includes a transporting section configured to transport continuous paper in a transport direction, an ink jet head forming a nozzle array having a plurality of nozzles aligned in the transport direction, a cutting section configured to cut the continuous paper in an intersecting direction, and a controller configured to control the transporting section, the ink jet head, and the cutting section. The controller causes the ink jet head to form, on the continuous paper, a first image and a second image that are adjacent to one another in the transport direction, causes a nozzle among the nozzles aligned in the nozzle array to form a test pattern in a region between the first image and the second image, and causes the cutting section to cut the continuous paper to separate, from the continuous paper, the inter-image region in which the test pattern was formed.

An ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink composition, an ink encasement in which the ink composition is encased, a recording head that ejects the ink composition, and a carriage configured to move the recording head back and forth. The carriage carries the ink encasement, with the ink encasement integrated with the carriage. The ink encasement has an ink fill port that opens and shuts as a port through which the ink composition is loaded. The ink composition contains a water-soluble dye and a polyhydric alcohol with a normal boiling point of 270° C. or above, with the percentage of the polyhydric alcohol being 26.0% by mass or less of the total amount of the ink composition.

A liquid discharge head is provided in which heat of a heat sink is less apt to transfer to a head body. The liquid discharge head includes a head body 2a having a discharge hole for discharging a liquid therethrough, a driver IC 93 configured to control driving of the head body 2a, a casing 91 which is disposed on the head body 2a and has openings 91a and 91b on a side surface of the casing, and a heat sink 90 which is disposed on the openings 91a and 91b of the casing 91 and configured to dissipate heat generated in the driver IC 93, and a thermal insulation part 91e disposed between the heat sink 90 and the head body 2a. This makes it possible to reduce the likelihood that the heat of the heat sink 91e transfers to the head body 2a.

A liquid discharge head is provided in which heat of a heat sink is less apt to transfer to a head body. The liquid discharge head includes a head body 2a having a discharge hole for discharging a liquid therethrough, a driver IC 93 configured to control driving of the head body 2a, a casing 91 which is disposed on the head body 2a and has openings 91a and 91b on a side surface of the casing, and a heat sink 90 which is disposed on the openings 91a and 91b of the casing 91 and configured to dissipate heat generated in the driver IC 93, and a thermal insulation part 91e disposed between the heat sink 90 and the head body 2a. This makes it possible to reduce the likelihood that the heat of the heat sink 91e transfers to the head body 2a.