An ink set includes: a water-based ink for ink-jet recording that contains water and at least one of a direct dye and an acid dye; and a fixing agent that contains a water-soluble polymer having diallyl amines as a constituent unit.

The present disclosure is drawn to primer compositions, which can include a polyvinyl alcohol, a cationic salt, and water. The polyvinyl alcohol can have a weight average molecular weight from about 50,000 Mw to about 250,000 Mw. The cationic salt can be present in an amount of at least 15 wt % of all dry components of the primer composition. The polyvinyl alcohol and cationic salt together can make up at least 30 wt % of all dry components of the primer composition.

A coated print medium can include a base stock having a basis weight of 35 gsm to 250 gsm, and a coating layer applied to the base stock at from 1 gsm to 50 gsm by dry weight. The base stock can include from 65 wt % to 95 wt % cellulose fiber with 80 wt % to 100 wt % being chemical pulp, and from 5 wt % to 35 wt % inorganic pigment filler. The coating layer can include inorganic pigment particles having an average equivalent spherical diameter from 0.2 m to 3.5 m; a fixative agent including metal salt, cationic amine polymer, quaternary ammonium salt, quaternary phosphonium salt, or mixture thereof; and a polymer blend including water soluble polymer and water dispersible polymer having a Zeta potential greater than 40 mV, wherein a weight ratio water soluble polymer to water dispersible polymer is from 1:25 to 1:1.

The transfer material has a laminated structure in which a base material sheet, a transparent sheet, and a coloring material-receiving layer are laminated in the stated order, in which: the coloring material-receiving layer contains inorganic fine particles and a water-soluble resin; the transparent sheet contains at least two kinds of emulsions including an emulsion E1 and an emulsion E2; and the emulsion E1 has a glass transition temperature Tg1 of more than 50 C. and less than 90 C., the emulsion E2 has a glass transition temperature Tg2 of 90 C. or more and 120 C. or less, and at least the emulsion E2 remains in a particle state in the transparent sheet.

The present disclosure is drawn to a coated print medium, a method of preparing a print medium, and a printing system. The coated print medium can comprise a substrate and a coating applied to the substrate. The coating can comprise, by dry weight percent, 5 wt % to 30 wt % of a polymeric binder, 20 wt % to 50 wt % of a cationic latex, 5 wt % to 15 wt % of a multivalent cationic salt, and 1 wt % to 20 wt % of an optical brightener; and 5 wt % to 20 wt % of a cationic polyamine.

A printable film that contains a polymeric film substrate with a front side and a backside. The printable film contains also a light diffusion layer and an image receiving layer. The light diffusion layer is applied on the backside of the polymeric film substrate and contains inorganic particles, dispersing agents and polymeric binders. The image receiving layer is applied over the light diffusion layer on the backside of the polymeric film substrate. Also disclosed herein is the method for obtaining the printable film.

An image recording paper medium containing a resin having a constitutional unit represented by General Formula (1) and a constitutional unit represented by General Formula (2-1) and/or a constitutional unit represented by General Formula (2-2), in which in the resin, a content of the constitutional unit represented by General Formula (1) is 30% to 96% by mass, and a total content of the constitutional unit represented by General Formula (2-1) and the constitutional unit represented by General Formula (2-2) is 4% to 70% by mass. Also provided are a manufacturing method of the image recording paper medium and an image recording method including the manufacturing method:

##STR00001##

where R.sup.1, L.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, L.sup.2, M.sup.1 and M.sup.2 are as defined herein.

Lustrous print media include: a lustrous metallic core substrate; a base layer disposed on the lustrous metallic core substrate; and an image-receiving layer disposed on the base layer. A method of fabricating the lustrous print media and a method for printing on the lustrous print media are also provided.

An ink let recording medium of this disclosure has a substrate and at least one or more ink receiving layers on the substrate, in which a first ink receiving layer which is the outermost surface layer contains anionic inorganic particles having an average particle diameter of 3.0 m or more, a binder, a cationic polymer, and a polyvalent metal salt, the content of the polyvalent metal salt based on the anionic inorganic particles in the first ink receiving layer is 5 mass % or more and 40 mass % or less, the content ratio of the polyvalent metal salt to the cationic polymer in the first ink receiving layer (Content of polyvalent metal salt/Content of cationic polymer) is 1.0 or more and 8.0 or less, and the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the surface of the recording medium is 1.0 m or more.

The present disclosure is drawn to leveling compositions, which can include from 80 wt % to 95 wt % water, from 0.5 wt % to 15 wt % organic solvent, and from 0.2 wt % to 6 wt % surfactant. The leveling compositions can further include from 1 wt % to 10 wt % cationic ionene polymer having a weight average molecular weight from 100 Mw to 8000 Mw, and from 1 wt % to 10 wt % polymeric binder.