Originally Posted by
Pterodactylus
I also own quite a bunch shimmering inks.
First, sheen and shimmering is not the same.
The shimmering inks have sparkling particles in it which shimmer.
Sheen is not produced from added particles, it‘s an optical effect caused by the ink dye or in combination of several dyes.
As a rule of thumb you can say:
As more saturated an ink is as more likely it will produce some sheen.
Sheen is more likely with nibs that have a very generous flow (broad gusher nibs).
Sheen is also highly depending on the paper used, very absorbent paper will most likely has no or very little sheen.
My experience with shimmering inks is that they tend to be problematic regarding flow and cloaking the pen.
Use them in pens with broad nibs and a generous flow to minimize these problems ( no fine nibs).
E.g. my son love the shimmering effects, he got this Christmas a TWSBI 580 with a fine nib, loaded it first with Diamine Golden Oasis, but it cloaked the pen very fast so that we had to change the ink.
These inks are show inks, they produce a “wow” effect writing a couple of words, but they are not consistent.
Means if you are writing more than a couple of lines the distribution of the shimmering particles will drop dramatically and will be not consistent.
You can try to mitigate or made it less obvious when you shake the ink in the pen quite often (every couple of words).
I would not recommend them for serious writing, mainly because of their not existent consistency (beside their problematic flow issues in fine nibs or nibs with a not very generous flow).
They are show inks, perfectly to write some words like greeting cards or similar.
Just to say it clear, they will not damage a pen, they might cloak it (temporarily), but when you flush the pen it’s fixed again.
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