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Thread: Shimmering ink?

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    Senior Member mreeveshp's Avatar
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    Default Shimmering ink?

    I finally decided to try a shimmering ink, Colorverse Ham #65 glistening. I inked up my pilot metropolitan with stub nib figuring it would be better than my medium, fine, or extra fine nibs(don't have many choices). After a few hours I tried to write with the pen and when I could get ink on paper I couldn't get even one letter wrote without it stopping on me. I shaked the bottle for a good 10 or 15 minutes before filling the converter with a pipette. Also noticed quite a bit of crud building up on the underside and top of the nib which has never been a problem.

    Any tips or advice on what I can do to maybe get better results or anyone that has had problems with metropolitans and shimmering ink. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
    Matt

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    I've never tried any of my shimmering inks in a Pilot Metropolitan but I tend to use all of my Diamine shimmering inks in my Jinhaos as well as Lamy Safaris, Al-stars etc. without any problems. While in Houston I filled a TWSBI Eco with an experimental ink made by KWZ and that stopped writing once shortly after filling. However, I capped the pen and gave it a couple of shakes and it's written beautifully without stopping since then.

    I bought two shimmering inks by Colorverse - Bane and Butterfly Nebula - but so far I have so many filled pens I haven't used either of them.

    If you can unscrew the nib of a Metropolitan it might be worth trying that then giving it a quick clean out in water before drying it off and replacing it. You need to use pens that write a wet line and that can be very easily cleaned out. Although I can remove the nibs off of the feeds of my Lamy pens that's all they need in order to be cleaned out. I never pull out the feeds.

    The most basic premise is that the feed channels need to be wide enough to allow good flow of inks that contain particles so pens with really fine feed channels might not work satisfactorily with shimmer particles. It starts off as trial and error.

    Someone recently advised that pens should always be stored nib up to prevent drying out and that's something I haven't done in the past but I'm trying out as an experiment.
    Last edited by Chrissy; July 31st, 2023 at 02:09 AM.
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    Senior Member mreeveshp's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I've never tried any of my shimmering inks in a Pilot Metropolitan but I tend to use all of my Diamine shimmering inks in my Jinhaos as well as Lamy Safaris, Al-stars etc. without any problems. While in Houston I filled a TWSBI Eco with an experimental ink made by KWZ and that stopped writing once shortly after filling. However, I capped the pen and gave it a couple of shakes and it's written beautifully without stopping since then.

    I bought two shimmering inks by Colorverse - Bane and Butterfly Nebula - but so far I have so many filled pens I haven't used either of them.

    If you can unscrew the nib of a Metropolitan it might be worth trying that then giving it a quick clean out in water before drying it off and replacing it. You need to use pens that write a wet line and that can be very easily cleaned out. Although I can remove the nibs off of the feeds of my Lamy pens that's all they need in order to be cleaned out. I never pull out the feeds.

    The most basic premise is that the feed channels need to be wide enough to allow good flow of inks that contain particles so pens with really fine feed channels might not work satisfactorily with shimmer particles. It starts off as trial and error.

    Someone recently advised that pens should always be stored nib up to prevent drying out and that's something I haven't done in the past but I'm trying out as an experiment.
    Thank you Chrissy, hope you have doing well.

    I tried my pilot because normally it does write fairly wet, but I might try to pull the ink out of the metropolitan converter and put it in my Lamy Al-Star fine nib and then use one of my bulb syringe to flush water through the nib and feed of my metropolitan.

    I always heard store pens feed up but then some may take a few minutes to start writing while the feed gets saturated. So in one of the goulet pen videos I saw they said storing your pen on its side is perfectly fine and keeps the feed a little more saturated and I've been doing it that way for quite some time without any issue.

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    I find flossing the tines to be necessary. I use the thinnest metal strip from those anti-theft devices found on electronics, and in tags attached to small items.

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    I never floss the tines of any of my pens unless it is absolutely essential because the nib needs fixing or straightening. I can always tell when tines have had brass shims pushed down them as the slits are no longer 100% perfect when viewed under a loupe. Some pen photos even show the slit lines to be jagged as a result of excessive flossing. It might just be me but my tines have to cope with a wipe from a piece of kitchen towel.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I never floss the tines of any of my pens unless it is absolutely essential because the nib needs fixing or straightening. I can always tell when tines have had brass shims pushed down them as the slits are no longer 100% perfect when viewed under a loupe. Some pen photos even show the slit lines to be jagged as a result of excessive flossing. It might just be me but my tines have to cope with a wipe from a piece of kitchen towel.
    Most people floss with those brass shims you get from places like Goulet. These are crazy thick compared to what I use. But yes, one should decide for oneself after researching. I haven't noticed any ill effect from the ones I use, but then, I rarely use glitter ink, and not all glitter inks require flossing (e.g. Diamine flow really well in my experience).

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    I have quite a thin one but I no longer remember the numbers that applied to the small pieces of brass I have. Most of my shimmer inks are Diamine so that might be why I don't need to floss the nib tines.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    I have to second Chrissy. I've got Diamine Shimmering Sea a navy with gold shimmers, which I bought by mistake. The ink is amazing in properties. It's smooth, well lubricated and really fun for art work.
    I have Émeraude de Chivor, it's also a great ink. Though mine belongs to the 3rd generation.

    @mreeveshp, normally you should gently rock the bottle to left and right, and not shake it (it's not a martini ) The idea is not to have air bubbles in the pen

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by Yazeh View Post
    I have to second Chrissy. I've got Diamine Shimmering Sea a navy with gold shimmers, which I bought by mistake. The ink is amazing in properties. It's smooth, well lubricated and really fun for art work.
    I have Émeraude de Chivor, it's also a great ink. Though mine belongs to the 3rd generation.

    @mreeveshp, normally you should gently rock the bottle to left and right, and not shake it (it's not a martini ) The idea is not to have air bubbles in the pen
    I should have clarified that a little better, I just gently flipped it upside down and gack to straight up while I was watching a show. It wasn't ever hard shaking and when I opened it there wasn't any bubbles. I learned my lesson when I got my first bottle of ink and shook it real good but then couldn't get a pipette past all the bubbles.

    I cleaned it out of the metropolitan and put it in my Al-Star and so far it is writing nice a smooth but I haven't seen any of the glitter in the writing like when I actually got my metropolitan to write a line. I'm guessing a lot of that is the metropolitan being a stub while my Al-Star is a fine nib.

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by mreeveshp View Post

    I cleaned it out of the metropolitan and put it in my Al-Star and so far it is writing nice a smooth but I haven't seen any of the glitter in the writing like when I actually got my metropolitan to write a line. I'm guessing a lot of that is the metropolitan being a stub while my Al-Star is a fine nib.

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
    Most of the shimmer inks I use show off their shimmer much better in wet pens with broad or stub nibs. When you put more ink on the paper there is more chance of seeing shimmer particles in it.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Hello,

    Quote Originally Posted by Yazeh View Post
    @mreeveshp, normally you should gently rock the bottle to left and right, and not shake it (it's not a martini ) The idea is not to have air bubbles in the pen
    I always shake my ink as if it is a snow scene from a globe. ooops. Wont be doing that again, then, eh.

    Carpio
    Last edited by Carpio; August 1st, 2023 at 03:36 AM.
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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by mreeveshp View Post

    I cleaned it out of the metropolitan and put it in my Al-Star and so far it is writing nice a smooth but I haven't seen any of the glitter in the writing like when I actually got my metropolitan to write a line. I'm guessing a lot of that is the metropolitan being a stub while my Al-Star is a fine nib.

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
    Most of the shimmer inks I use show off their shimmer much better in wet pens with broad or stub nibs. When you put more ink on the paper there is more chance of seeing shimmer particles in it.
    The few lines I actually got my metropolitan stub to write had absolutely amazing shimmer and now the ink I put in my metropolitan has quite a bit of shimmer so I'm guessing most of the glitter particles stuck to the rubber converter. I'm probably going to try my medium nib cross with a different shimmer ink, maybe diamine blue lightning once the cross is ready to be refilled.

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by mreeveshp View Post

    I cleaned it out of the metropolitan and put it in my Al-Star and so far it is writing nice a smooth but I haven't seen any of the glitter in the writing like when I actually got my metropolitan to write a line. I'm guessing a lot of that is the metropolitan being a stub while my Al-Star is a fine nib.

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
    Most of the shimmer inks I use show off their shimmer much better in wet pens with broad or stub nibs. When you put more ink on the paper there is more chance of seeing shimmer particles in it.
    So I decided to try diamine blue lightning in my cross with a medium nib (unknown model I'd like to find out and it's writing nice and smooth, sometimes I get a lot of shimmer sometimes you have to look at it a little more but at least I found a pen that might work with the others

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    Default Re: Shimmering ink?

    Quote Originally Posted by mreeveshp View Post
    So I decided to try diamine blue lightning in my cross with a medium nib (unknown model I'd like to find out and it's writing nice and smooth, sometimes I get a lot of shimmer sometimes you have to look at it a little more but at least I found a pen that might work with the others

    Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
    That's quite normal. It depends on many things. How much shimmer you transfer from the bottle to the converter, and how well it's mixed in with the ink at any particular time during writing.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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