Best Printer for Crafting: Arts & Crafts Has Never Been so Easy

A versatile and reasonably-priced printer, Epson’s Expression XP-15000 is a great addition to any crafting station! Packing a grab-bag of features into a small design, the XP-15000 is easily the best printer for crafting!

With a print speed of 20 pages-per-minute, the XP-15000 is one of the fastest printers on our list, alongside all the other features. The rear tray supports all kinds of specialist media such as cardstock and can print up to 13″ x 19″ – with borderless printing of any size below that. Using a six-color Claria ink system, you are guaranteed accurate colors and vivid detailing. And with multiple wired and wireless ways to print your designs, you’ll never struggle to create with the XP-15000!

However, something that may make you hesitate to buy this otherwise great printer is the cost of ink: compared to many other contemporary printers, the XP-15000 isn’t very efficient, meaning that you’ll have to frequently buy expensive ink replacements. This can be frustrating for frequent crafters, and a black mark against this model of printer.

Regardless, as one of the more affordable craft printers on the market, we think that this printer just manages to strike the right balance. For speed, size and versatility; the Epson Expression XP-15000 is our number-one pick for the best printer for crafting!

For crafting on a tight budget, the HP ENVY 6055e is a great print solution. With support for a wide array of media and a small footprint, this is a cheap-and-cheerful option for entry-level craft enthusiasts!

As we discussed in our dedicated look at the best printers for greeting cards, this printer manages to do a lot with little! With a versatile multimedia tray, the 6055e is capable of producing deliverables up to 8.5″ x 11″ in size. With options to print via WiFi, Bluetooth or USB connection, you’ll be able to print your designs no matter what you design them on!

However, there are some potentially deal-breaking drawbacks to this printer. Despite the compact design, most of its place-anywhere benefits are negated by an awful status light that bathes any room that the 6055e sits in with ugly light. What’s more, like our top pick, this printer isn’t very ink-efficient – which is made worse by how difficult it is to even get hold of HP’s exclusive ink range.

If you are just getting started with crafts, however, and want a low-investment option to experiment with, then the HP ENVY 6055e is still the best budget printer for crafting available!

As mentioned in our guide on the best printer for graphic design, the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is a dark-horse candidate for a cartridge-free crafting solution. If you want a low-hassle printer with great ink economy and a large printing format, then this is definitely the choice for you!

With a maximum print size of 13″ x 19″, the ET-8550 is great for designers looking to create sizeable works. It can support the printing of borderless photos, glossy pictures, CD and DVD covers, cardstock, and more. And with highly economic ink tanks rather than cartridges, this printer is far more efficient than a great many of its competitors. 

However, the ET-8550 is notably slower than a great many other craft printers, which will alienate business-minded designers after speed as well as efficiency. It is also quite heavy despite the small footprint, and with some strange design choices that can make the ET-8550 cumbersome to use at times.

We’d much rather have a little longer to wait for a better and more economic print solution, though. Taking away the hassle of ink cartridges and giving back a wide range of printing options, we think the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is a great printer for crafting at any skill level!

Designed with crafters in mind, the Canon TS9521C can meet all your printing needs with its blend of ease of use, precision, and versatile media support. Though slower-than-average for a printer, the range of options means that this shouldn’t prove an issue for most crafters or hobbyists!

The TS9521C can print deliverables up to 12″ x 12″ in size, with support for a host of media options. Another highly-efficient ink tank printer, this has a low cost-per-print and produces great color gamuts and detail. Alongside wired and wireless connectivity options, there’s also a handy SD card slot which is perfect for photographers or designers. 

However, we don’t recommend it if you need a high turnover for your work: the TS9521C prints at a measly ten prints-per-minute in color, which is painfully slow compared to others on this list. And given the maximum print size, it isn’t as compact, either. 

These are all manageable tradeoffs, however, and we like the TS9521C as a highly-versatile printer for crafting!

With the Brother MFC-J895DW, your limited living space won’t stand in the way of your passion for crafting anymore. It’s an insanely compact and lightweight printer that will cover your crafting needs if you work on a small scale!

With plenty of printing options and a maximum print size of 8.5″ x 14″, the MFC-J895DW makes the most of its small footprint. With a compact ink tank design, you also get a relatively low cost-per-print. Along with the now-standard WiFi and wired connection options, the MFC-J895DW also has Near-Field Communication (NFC) support – meaning you don’t need to set the printer or device to the same network for sending over designs, a quick and handy solution.

However, there are some reservations with the MFC-J895DW. The build quality is a little poorer than some other models reviewed here, and some features such as the input tray are inconveniently placed. The small size of this printer does seem to hamstring it slightly, as on top of these quirks, the printer can only produce 12 prints per minute.

However, a small printer results in small disappointments, and the MFC-J895DW is still a capable printer for those working on a limited budget and space – another great printer from Brother!