TheMagicTouch has just started selling the new OKI C711WT printer, which prints CMY plus white toner. It costs £1,995.

In conjunction with TheMagicTouch's own print utility, the new A4 device can print white only, or optimised amounts of white in a full-colour design in order to maximise toner use and minimise unit cost.

The ability to print white opens up a host of potential new markets for the firm's range of transfer media, for both dark garments and hard media such as binders, folders, diaries and mugs.

It also opens up potential applications in label and packaging mock-ups.

"We've been experimenting with mobile phone covers, folders, diaries and all sorts of different products," said managing director Jim Nicol. "The range of things it can print onto is unbelievable. The biggest problem we've got is working out all the things it can do."

Nicol said he expected the new product to be "a springboard" into the print-for-pay market for the Dunstable-based business. "You can make a sample so easily with it, and that's what printers don’t do at the moment. We produced sixty different folders with Unibind and there was not one reject.

"This little printer for £2,000 is your new salesperson," he added.

TheMagicTouch's SpaceControl utility controls the amount of white that is printed. White toner is about twice the price of standard toner.

Nicol said that a full-colour image for a decorating a breast pocket would cost around 30p, including the material and print cost. The firm's software also includes a facility to step and repeat images to maximise the available print area.

Replacement CMY toner cartridges are £138, while white costs £260. Black is created using CMY and Nicol described the results as impressive.