When ink soaks into paper quickly, it often dries faster. But the very nature of glossy paper requires that the paper fibers be more closed and therefore ink penetrates glossy paper much more slowly, if at all. Because of this lack of absorbency, some method other than being absorbed into the paper must be used to speed up the drying time of ink on glossy paper. When using most home printers, the user is limited in the types of ink available. But when possible, those printing at home should purchase inks or toners that are designed for glossy paper.

Things You Will Need

  • Ink or toner designed for glossy paper (if available)

  • Infrared heat lamp

Talk with a computer or printing expert to see if inks available for your printer that are designed for glossy paper. Choose the glossy paper that is best suited to your particular printer -- ink jet or laser, for instance.

Feed each piece of glossy paper through your printer one page at a time. Glossy paper has a habit of sticking together so that two pages often end up going through your printer at the same time and the added thickness can damage some printers.

Set each page out on a flat surface, printed side up, as soon as they are printed. Stacking pages on top of each other could cause wet ink to be transferred to the backs of each page.

Place each page under an infrared heat lamp for several seconds to shorten the drying time. The best way to speed up the drying of ink on glossy paper is to increase temperature and decrease humidity.

Tip

The exact drying time of ink under the infrared heat lamp will depend on the temperature of the lamp as well as the general humidity. More humidity equals a longer drying time.