Diamine Shimmertastic Purple Pazzazz, Kaweco Classic Broad

[c_b_fox]

Hello, FP friends.

 

My wife gave me a bottle of Diamine Shimmertastic "Purple Pazzazz" for my birthday. I'd heard these inks can be finicky, so I didn't want to load it into one of my existing pens, all of which are unusual fillers or finer nibs. So, I bought a Kaweco Classic demonstrator with a broad nib, since it was inexpensive and I thought it would be neat as an eyedropper loaded with this shimmery ink.

 

I loaded the pen, and I have to say the experience has been disappointing. Initially, there was good distribution of the gold fleck onto the written page, at least for the first few letters in a sentence. Giving the pen a gentle shake would help "recharge" the fleck, and I could get a few more letters with shimmer. That was fine, as I really didn't expect this to be for everyday writing anyway.

 

However, now I get no gold fleck at all. no matter how I shake, rattle and roll the pen before writing. There's still gold fleck in the barrel, but none comes out of the nib in writing. It's just purple.

 

Any idea what might be wrong? I'm going to disassemble and clean the pen, but figured I'd ask. Did I choose the wrong pen for this shimmery ink?

 

Thanks!

[Kenlowe]

I have never used them myself but there are reports of a number of problems with these inks and that these problems are known to Diamine. You were very wise not to use the ink in a premium pen, one FPN member found that their MB was badly blocked after one fill of these inks and ended up throwing the ink away and having MB service the pen to remove traces of glitter from the inside of the barrel.

 

Other users have said that there is no issue with the ink and obtain passable results, but your results sound more realistic to me, personally the ink range does very little for me aesthetically and if I have to strip the pen down after every use then I would be asking the retailer to refund the purchase price.

 

Some older members may remember metalflake paint finishes for cars in the 1970s, metal flakes were stirred into the paint and then sprayed onto the bodywork of the car to reflect and bounce the light off in different directions, this sseems similar in concept to Shimmertastic inks. Paint sprayers used to despise doing such paint jobs because they knew they would have to strip the paint gun several times during each paint job.

 

The effect was similar to this image.

 

 

[c_b_fox]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I disassembled the pen, and sure enough it would appear the feed is clogged with gold fleck. I assume the result was only the liquid (purple) portion of the ink could travel all the way through the feed and nib and to the paper. The whole pen's sitting in a solution of warm water and dish detergent with a touch of ammonia now.

 

Too bad. It is pretty when it works, but this ink just seems like added maintenance.

[swanjun]

I actually have had trouble with the flow with Kaweco pens (all in the "sport" line) using even *regular* ink. On all three, I had to pull the nib and feed and widen the channel in the latter with a razor blade to improve flow.

 

I'd suggest some other wet-flowing pen with a nib/feed that are easy to pull. I have a broad-nibbed Jinhao 159 that would do a good job.

[amberleadavis]

Sorry I missed this post. I love these inks, BUT they have to be in a wet pen. My experience was like Swanjun's the Kaweko's feed was insufficient.

[ENewton]

Even without the sprinkles, Diamine purple inks can be challenging. Right now I am trying Grape again, in a wet pen, and at least once a day I have to spend a period of time at the sink, trying to revive the flow.

[bemon]

I grabbed two of these off a Massdrop purchase. The price was right, and in a little curious. At first I was thinking of using them in my Vanishing Point, which is my every day carry. I thought the click action required to expose the nib would lend itself well to the need to agitate these inks before use.

 

Now I'm not sure because I can't access the feed on this pen if it clogs.

 

Any thoughts from anyone?

[Kenlowe]

I grabbed two of these off a Massdrop purchase. The price was right, and in a little curious. At first I was thinking of using them in my Vanishing Point, which is my every day carry. I thought the click action required to expose the nib would lend itself well to the need to agitate these inks before use.

 

Now I'm not sure because I can't access the feed on this pen if it clogs.

 

Any thoughts from anyone?

 

Diamine is on record as saying there is a problem with feeds clogging and a number of FPNers have said that they have problems and have seen clumps of material in the bottle of ink. I wouldnt use shimmer inks at all, if you felt that there was some need to use the ink you have bought then keep it for pens that can be easily cleaned.

 

Noted as reported by ENewton that Diamine Grape caused an issue, I had a bottle other Diamine products forming a sort of jelly layer in the bottle, the ink was stringy when i filled the pen, I think that was either Grape or Bilberry

Edited August 14, 2016 by Kenlowe

[ENewton]

 

Diamine is on record as saying there is a problem with feeds clogging and a number of FPNers have said that they have problems and have seen clumps of material in the bottle of ink. I wouldnt use shimmer inks at all, if you felt that there was some need to use the ink you have bought then keep it for pens that can be easily cleaned.

 

Noted as reported by ENewton that Diamine Grape caused an issue, I had a bottle other Diamine products forming a sort of jelly layer in the bottle, the ink was stringy when i filled the pen, I think that was either Grape or Bilberry

 

I didn't mean to suggest that my bottle of Grape is contaminated. It's just a special-needs ink that I can't use in many business situations because it isn't always convenient to take the steps necessary to keep it flowing.

 

I agree with those who counsel using any high-maintenance ink only in a pen that is easy to disassemble.

[glorfindel]

I grabbed two of these off a Massdrop purchase. The price was right, and in a little curious. At first I was thinking of using them in my Vanishing Point, which is my every day carry. I thought the click action required to expose the nib would lend itself well to the need to agitate these inks before use.

 

Now I'm not sure because I can't access the feed on this pen if it clogs.

 

Any thoughts from anyone?

 

I don't have experience with shimmertastics in a VP, sorry, but I have used another shimmer ink in it - J.Herbin Rouge Hematite.

In a VP with fine nib none of the particles were leaving the pen, so I got scared (I thought that the particles were being stuck in the feed).

That ink wrote wonderfully in a wet pen previously.

However, after I cleaned the VP out and filled it up with a different ink there were no flow issues. None of the particles have ever come out of it, so now I think maybe I did not shake the bottle before filling the VP with it.

[bemon]

Thanks for the heads up! I ordered one in orange and one in blue. It's not really my style, but I am curious. I may just give them to my sister who will find a way to incorporate this style of ink onto done non fountain pen related art work.

 

 

 

 

Diamine is on record as saying there is a problem with feeds clogging and a number of FPNers have said that they have problems and have seen clumps of material in the bottle of ink. I wouldnt use shimmer inks at all, if you felt that there was some need to use the ink you have bought then keep it for pens that can be easily cleaned.

 

Noted as reported by ENewton that Diamine Grape caused an issue, I had a bottle other Diamine products forming a sort of jelly layer in the bottle, the ink was stringy when i filled the pen, I think that was either Grape or Bilberry