Diamine Announce Their 10 New Shimmertastic Inks!

[Eccles]

The silver ('silver-grey' perhaps) and 'spring' green are both good.

The orange is not a colour I'd use, but it looks good and would surely have happy buyers.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my order to arrive from Cult Pens; our local price is scary (A$30 ea.)

Glenn.

[fuchsiaprincess]

The silver ('silver-grey' perhaps) and 'spring' green are both good.

The orange is not a colour I'd use, but it looks good and would surely have happy buyers.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my order to arrive from Cult Pens; our local price is scary (A$30 ea.)

Glenn.

 

Have you considered ordering directly from Diamine (http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?catid=90)?

[Jamerelbe]

 

Have you considered ordering directly from Diamine (http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?catid=90)?

 

Let me second that: given Australia's policy of not applying GST or other import taxes to small orders (<$1000, I think?), ordering Diamine inks direct from their UK website is cheaper than buying locally, or via US (or even UK) distributors. At least, it was for me when I ordered a few 30ml bottles!

[dcwaites]

Definitely. Order directly from Diamine.

[ian1964]

 

Let me second that: given Australia's policy of not applying GST or other import taxes to small orders (<$1000, I think?), ordering Diamine inks direct from their UK website is cheaper than buying locally, or via US (or even UK) distributors. At least, it was for me when I ordered a few 30ml bottles!

 

I second that!

[Ste_S]

Tips for getting these inks to 'shimmer' ?

 

Gave the bottle (Night Sky) a good shake before filling, and on initial writing it was indeed 'shimmertastic'. A few days later and I'm not getting any shimmer. I've started shaking the pen before writing to no effect.

Lamy Safari M that's moderately wet, on Rhodia, Leuchtturm and plain copy paper.

[Mishka5050]

Just turn your pen in hand before you write

[Beechwood]

You should be aware that the particles in these inks can cause blocking of the feed channel, resulting in hard starting or stopping all ink flow.

 

I have an email from Diamine acknowledging the problem.

 

The remedy according to Diamine is to flush the pen through when there is a blockage but, of course, leaving you with an unusable ink.

[fuchsiaprincess]

Tips for getting these inks to 'shimmer' ?

 

Gave the bottle (Night Sky) a good shake before filling, and on initial writing it was indeed 'shimmertastic'. A few days later and I'm not getting any shimmer. I've started shaking the pen before writing to no effect.

Lamy Safari M that's moderately wet, on Rhodia, Leuchtturm and plain copy paper.

 

I actually tip the bottle upside down (make sure the cap is on tight) and let it sit for a minute, before turning it over and quickly filling my pen, to ensure that the fill does have a lot of the shimmer particles in it.

 

I have been using the inks in my demonstrator pens, so I can see where the shimmer particles have settled. That way, I roll the pen to allow the particles to float evenly in the ink before writing with it.

 

What I have found is that the shimmer is best when the nib is drier, so perhaps you could try it in some of your drier pens?

[Chrissy]

 

The remedy according to Diamine is to flush the pen through when there is a blockage but, of course, leaving you with an unusable ink.

 

It's not an unusable ink as many people use it successfully.

[Beechwood]

The following is a quote from a Diamine email following a request for information from me on why two of my pens clogged during the first use of Shimmertastic inks.

 

'Shimmer ink particles can collect in the feed of the fountain pen but can be cleared by flushing with water'.

 

Therefore the pen clogged and would not allow the flow of ink soon after the first fill of the pen.

 

The ink was thrown away, the problem of the pen becoming blocked outweighed any benefits of using the ink.

 

No other ink had blocked these two pens, a 51 and a 146.

 

Other peoples experiences may vary and well done to all those who have not had an issue, although others have also reported clogging problems and it is a known issue to Diamine.

 

To give the company all due credit, because they were aware that the ink could not be used as intended, they gave me the option of a refund of the purchase price of the ink or to replace the Shimmertastic ink with their more conventional ink.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Beechwood

[Chrissy]

The following is a quote from a Diamine email following a request for information from me on why two of my pens clogged during the first use of Shimmertastic inks.

 

'Shimmer ink particles can collect in the feed of the fountain pen but can be cleared by flushing with water'.

 

Therefore the pen clogged and would not allow the flow of ink soon after the first fill of the pen.

 

The ink was thrown away, the problem of the pen becoming blocked outweighed any benefits of using the ink.

 

No other ink had blocked these two pens, a 51 and a 146.

 

Other peoples experiences may vary, although others have also reported clogging problems and it is a known issue to Diamine, to give the company all due credit they offered to refund the purchase price of the ink or replace the Shimmertastic ink with their more conventional ink.

 

I didn't say it had never clogged any pen. All I said was that it isn't 'an unusable ink' since I use it, and so do many others. So it isn't an unusable ink for all. Maybe it is an unusable ink for you and that's your choice. That's fine.

[ian1964]

 

It's not an unusable ink as many people use it successfully.

Chrissy, I have the utmost respect for Ink Reviews and have purchased many a Diamine Ink as a result. But, the Diamine Shimmer-tastic inks are in my opinion awful. For me, dare I say unusable. The particles bind together in seconds and lay anything but a Shimmering-Tastic effect. In fact, so easy is it to get the glitter to bind, that I turned each bottle upside down for a day and allowed a glittery blob to congeal inside the cap, which was then removed and put straight in the bin. I now have 3 beautiful colored inks that cause me no stress.......just like every other ink I have by Diamine.

[fuchsiaprincess]

Chrissy, I have the utmost respect for Ink Reviews and have purchased many a Diamine Ink as a result. But, the Diamine Shimmer-tastic inks are in my opinion awful. For me, dare I say unusable. The particles bind together in seconds and lay anything but a Shimmering-Tastic effect. In fact, so easy is it to get the glitter to bind, that I turned each bottle upside down for a day and allowed a glittery blob to congeal inside the cap, which was then removed and put straight in the bin. I now have 3 beautiful colored inks that cause me no stress.......just like every other ink I have by Diamine.

 

On the other hand, I feel that there isn't enough glitter in mine - you could have sent your glittery blobs to me