Nib Suggestions For Diamine Shimmer Inks?

[Arkamas]

I recently got a sample of Diamine Golden Sands and it has turned out to be quite the majestic ink, however I'm having difficulty getting any worthwhile flow with any of my pens. Would nibs like a Falcon or Noodler's nibs or perhaps any good stubs work? What are your thoughts?

[Jan2016]

The more ink they put down, the more shimmering you will get.

 

See link for example of Golden Sands

 

Dip Pen Brause Dip 361 (Blue Pumpkin) Fine, but a lot of ink --> a lot of shimmering)

and Pelikan Souveran 1000 with BB, in the picture with lines you see the difference in shimmering with different amounts of ink.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/329796-diamine-golden-sands-compact-review/?p=3953350

[Chrissy]

I recently got a sample of Diamine Golden Sands and it has turned out to be quite the majestic ink, however I'm having difficulty getting any worthwhile flow with any of my pens. Would nibs like a Falcon or Noodler's nibs or perhaps any good stubs work? What are your thoughts?

 

People say that broader nibs work better with all shimmer type inks.

 

Some are wetter than others, so it will still depend on the combination of ink, pen and paper.

[BT_Summers]

I recently got a sample of Diamine Golden Sands and it has turned out to be quite the majestic ink, however I'm having difficulty getting any worthwhile flow with any of my pens. Would nibs like a Falcon or Noodler's nibs or perhaps any good stubs work? What are your thoughts?

 

 

I have only tried three of the Diamine Shimmer inks, I also have problems on ink flow and have tried every nib from fine through broad and even a 1.1 stub. Tired all sorts of paper, including cheapest copy paper to Rhodia and Tomoe River. Tried it in Montblancs and Parkers and most filling systems.

 

The flow is good when I first fill the pen but by the time I get to the bottom of a sheet of A4 the pen has dried up or if I put the pen down and come back next day there is some flow there but it is really very very dry.

 

I just let the shimmer particles settle at the bottom of the bottle, syphon off the ink and throw the shimmer away.

 

A few of us were talking about this at a pen show on sunday and they thought that these inks were a bit of a joke and not to be taken seriously and not to be used in any decent pen.

 

On a seperate subject there was an article in the Daily Telegraph about glitter glue being banned becuase of the harm it does to the environment

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/11/17/children-banned-using-glitter-nurseries-due-harm-does-environment/

Edited November 27, 2017 by smiffy20000

[Chrissy]

 

 

I have only tried three of the Diamine Shimmer inks, I also have problems on ink flow and have tried every nib from fine through broad and even a 1.1 stub. Tired all sorts of paper, including cheapest copy paper to Rhodia and Tomoe River. Tried it in Montblancs and Parkers and most filling systems.

 

The flow is good when I first fill the pen but by the time I get to the bottom of a sheet of A4 the pen has dried up or if I put the pen down and come back next day there is some flow there but it is really very very dry.

 

I just let the shimmer particles settle at the bottom of the bottle, syphon off the ink and throw the shimmer away.

 

A few of us were talking about this at a pen show on sunday and they thought that these inks were a bit of a joke and not to be taken seriously and not to be used in any decent pen.

 

On a seperate subject there was an article in the Daily Telegraph about glitter glue being banned becuase of the harm it does to the environment

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/11/17/children-banned-using-glitter-nurseries-due-harm-does-environment/

 

The later issued inks seem to me to be wetter than the earlier issues, so maybe try samples of those if you have any problems.

 

I can easily write several A4 sheets with Diamine and Herbin Shimmer inks when I'm writing to my penpals, and have done so many times. And I'm still writing with the same ink fills, in the same pens, as when I reviewed the latest batch of Diamine Shimmer inks, without having experienced any problems at all with starting or drying out.

 

Crafting glitter isn't the same as the micro shimmer particles that are used in inks.

[BT_Summers]

It would seem that experiences vary. The OP and myself have trouble with the ink flow on Diamine shimmer inks and 4 of the people I was talking to thought very little of the product. I have only been using fountain pens for three years so I dont have the experience of others but I would doubt if people like Richard Binder and others would think much of any ink that had any particles in it, it stands to reason, to me anyway, that anything which might block narrow ink channels has got to be a bad thing.

[Jan2016]

I use a lot of different inks and pens, never had any problems with the shimmering inks.

Some "dry" inks flow more difficult then the shimmer inks.

I have " old" shimmer inks and new ones, they all work.

If you do not trust it in you FP use a dip pen (very cheap) it lays down a lot of glitter

 

With respect to nature, I think we must treat nature with respect, but some people are close to suggesting to hold your breath so you do not expel CO2...

[ian1964]

I have never had flow problems but they just don't "Shimmer" for me. I too have removed the particles and am left with lovely colour inks instead

[Inkvisible]

I use shimmer inks on a daily basis. The best pen I have found for this is the Twsbi Vac700R with a 1.1 mm nib. An Eco with a 1.1mm nib works also. Next best is Caliart Ego demonstrator with a Pilot Plumix nib which has been flossed aggressively to make it wetter. I think the reason these models work well is that the distribution of glitter is visible. I shake or roll or rotate the pen between sentences, so the glitter does not settle. I have used a Jinhao 159 with success, but the ink reservoir is not visible, so I wind up shaking the pen more. I think the converter does not have much room for ink mixing.

 

If I owned an ultrasonic cleaner, I might try to see if the vibration would keep the glitter in suspension if I placed the pen on the top.

 

These strategies have worked well for me. Your mileage may vary.

[Chrissy]

It would seem that experiences vary. The OP and myself have trouble with the ink flow on Diamine shimmer inks and 4 of the people I was talking to thought very little of the product. I have only been using fountain pens for three years so I dont have the experience of others but I would doubt if people like Richard Binder and others would think much of any ink that had any particles in it, it stands to reason, to me anyway, that anything which might block narrow ink channels has got to be a bad thing.

 

Nano particles are available in shimmer inks as well as inks that are pigment based such as IG inks. People who use them are aware of the fact that they may need to take extra care to clean out their pens more regularly and more carefully than when using dye based inks.

 

They don't block feed channels permanently, and it's usually easy enough to clean them out of pens.

 

Some fountain pen users like using shimmer inks and some don't. Personally, my opinion is that if I'm going to have nano particles in my ink, then they may as well be shimmer inks because there are plenty of dye based inks I can buy without me having to use inks with bits of wood galls in them to write.

 

YMMV. If you don't like shimmer inks, then don't use them.

 

(I've answered in this Inky Thoughts thread because I think it's more of an ink forum question than your other thread that's in the Repair forum.)

[BT_Summers]

I agree its all about choice, these type of inks dont appeal to me personally but we are all different in what we like.

 

It will be interesting to see if people who do pen repairs and service have an opinion on whether they would use or suggest these inks to others.

[inkstainedruth]

I like some of the shimmer inks I've tried, but I do limit their use to specific pens. And they do better in wider nibs, to bring out the shimmer better. I have a Pelikan M100 with a 1 mm stub nib that works well, and the nib unit can be removed for thorough flushing if necessary.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Chrissy]

I agree its all about choice, these type of inks dont appeal to me personally but we are all different in what we like.

 

It will be interesting to see if people who do pen repairs and service have an opinion on whether they would use or suggest these inks to others.

 

Yes it would. Look at all of the pen repairers who said how much damage they had seen inside Parker pens when fountain pen users were using Parker Penman inks in them. Now they are cult inks that everyone wants regardless of what might happen inside the pens they fill with them.

[Arkamas]

Interesting thoughts. Normally I'm not really interested in these, like others have said, but the Golden Sands appealed to me for the sake of Christmas cards and the like, so flex (namely Noodlers) or stub nibs came to mind. Not something I think I would use on a regular basis so I don't think I'll get a full bottle of it, just Goulet samples. I think I'll try a TWSBI Eco out with it though. Brian Goulet has said the same thing about using it with these inks. I'm also long overdue for a stub in my collection.

[Runnin_Ute]

I usually use these in two or three pens. A Noodler's Konrad with a Goulet B nib that is very wet and a fat and wide (and wet) Parker 45.

[Doulton]

I have not had a lot of experience, but I like the Edison pens with stub nibs. They perform well with all kinds of inks.

[hh1990]

They've worked well with pointed and broad-edged dip nibs for me.

[Pen90rnAddict]

1> I recommend the 1.1, perhaps a B for variety in a Twsbi demonstator pens for all your shimmer inks. I happen to be a bit overly attracted to shimmer ink. Nemosine snowball for instance. I tried it in a Nemosine medium nib pen and couldn't get it to write without intermitently skipping. Hence as much as I would like to write with a medium nib with shimmer, I can't find a pen that can tolerate it.

 

2> I recommend putting shimmer in your flex pens. If they stop writing, dip the nib in a bit of water and flex the pen a bit to get the ink flowing.

[Intensity]

Watching this thread with curiosity. I have a bottle of Emerald of Chivor, and I usually have trouble getting more than a faint dusting of shimmer when I look closely. Do you shake EoC bottle well before filling? Ive read that shaking inks is not recommended for whatever reason, so Ive been apprehensive to do that with EoC and just give my bottle some swishy swirls in the air. Maybe thats the problem.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Intensity

[inkstainedruth]

Watching this thread with curiosity. I have a bottle of Emerald of Chivor, and I usually have trouble getting more than a faint dusting of shimmer when I look closely. Do you shake EoC bottle well before filling? Ive read that shaking inks is not recommended for whatever reason, so Ive been apprehensive to do that with EoC and just give my bottle some swishy swirls in the air. Maybe thats the problem.

 

Yes, inks with "shimmer" have particles which need to be redistributed throughout the ink bottle -- they will go out of suspension otherwise. The easiest way to do that is to shake the bottle (making sure the cap is firmly in place, of course ). For inked pens, it helps to agitate the pen somewhat every so often (but they don't have to be shaken as hard, because there will be a proportionately smaller amount of the particles).

Take a look at the bottom of your bottle sometime after it's sat for a while. You'll see all the particles at the bottom of the bottle.... Because they've gone out of suspension in the ink.

I don't have EoC (I don't like the underlying color) -- but I have Stormy Grey and Améthyste de l'Oural, a sample of reformulated Bleu Ocean [the original did not have particles] and old formula (i.e., with the big flakes, not the dust) of Rouge Hematite, as well as several of the Diamine Shimmer inks and a bottle of Nemosine Snowball Nebula (which I was reliably told is supposed to have smaller particles, so there is less potential for clogging).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth