An ink jet printing apparatus for producing a non-emissive display having a plurality of pixels on a substrate and the pixels being defined by intersecting electrodes includes a plurality of reservoirs containing fluids including solid-phase field-driven particles; a print head located in a printing position having at least one nozzle connected to a reservoir; and producing a signal associated with the position of the substrate relative to the print head. The substrate is moved in a first direction to the printing position in response to the signal. The signal causes the print head to eject drops of the fluids from the nozzles at the intersecting electrodes on the substrate and for providing relative movement in a second direction between the print head and the substrate for fluids to be transferred to subsequent intersecting electrodes. The field-driven solid-phase particles in the fluid transferred to the substrate change optical density in response to an applied electric voltage between the associated intersecting electrodes to produce the desired optical density in the non-emissive display.