Diamine Shimmer Inks....

[ladyinthemists]

In looking around at some of the wonderful ink reviews I came across the Diamine Shimmer reviews. In one such review an FPN member, Bhavna, made the following post:
https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/296280-diamine-shimmer-set-red-lustre/
The title, "Diamine Shimmer Set" in her posted graphic was written in what looked like a gold shimmer ink. Can anyone please tell me the name of this ink? I am, naturally, assuming that it is one of the Diamine shimmer inks but can't pinpoint it to properly identify it. I LOVE it!

[D B Holtz]

Golden Sands. If you zoom in (the 'reverse pinch' move on my tablet) it is written to the right of "Diamine Shimmer Set".

[sanphoemo]

That's "Golden Sands" by Diamine. Look for pictures of it via google and have a look at the ink reviews here. Then you can see more of it

Edited May 19, 2019 by sanphoemo

[ladyinthemists]

Thanks so much, D B Holtz & sanphoemo, for the info on that wonderful golden ink. I think that now I absolutely MUST buy myself a bottle!

[ladyinthemists]

I have now ordered a bottle of Diamine's "Golden Sands" ink. Can't wait to try it out!

[ladyinthemists]

I received my Diamine "Golden Sands" ink and it is really beautiful. Since it is a "shimmer" ink I can only assume that it must have some sort of sparkly particles in it to make it shimmer. So....is it safe to use in all pens or should I avoid using it in my more expensive pens (Pelikan, Montegrappa, etc.)?

[sanphoemo]

Well, I don't own Montegappas, but Pelikans aren't fussy. Mine write just fine with shimmer inks. They rarely get clogged, even after 2 weeks of not using them. They just write.

Apart from that, shimmer inks aren't harmful and are easy to clean out from pens.

[Noihvo]

 

[A Smug Dill]

So....is it safe to use in all pens or should I avoid using it in my more expensive pens (Pelikan, Montegrappa, etc.)?

 

I'd say it is equally safe to use in all fountain pens, but that does not imply there is zero risk, especially if you allow the ink to dry out in the feed or filling mechanism.

 

I have both cheap and expensive pens that are extremely resistant to ink drying out when capped and unused for a while, and I have both cheap and expensive pens that are not so good in that regard. (I use Platinum Carbon Black and Sailor souboku, both of which are also particle inks, in cheap pens such as the Platinum Plaisir and expensive pens such as the Pilot 'Hannya Shingyo', and have not had any problems with ink drying or clogging.)

 

How easy it is to clean shimmer and/or particle inks from piston-fillers, irrespective of price, is a different question. Right now I have Diamine Golden Sands in a ($4) Wing Sung 3008 piston-fill demonstrator, and (another shimmer ink) J.Herbin Amethyste de l'Oural in a ($400) Aurora 88 Minerali piston-fill demonstrator, both of which I know how to disassemble completely for cleaning, and am gung-ho about doing so; so, again, I don't see price of the pen being a significant factor in assessing the likelihood dimension of risk, in relation to using shimmer inks; it only matters to the impact (or consequence) dimension should the risk manifest itself in time as an actual issue.

 

If you can and are prepared to completely disassemble (say) a Pelikan 8xx but not a cheaper (again, say) Sailor Profit Realo piston-fill pen, then I'd say avoid using it in the pen you cannot or don't want to disassemble for cleaning.

[sirgilbert357]

I won't use shimmer inks in anything I can't take apart for cleaning, but unlike A Smug Dill, I also won't put them in any pen I don't consider disposable. For that reason, Wing Sung 3008's get all of my shimmer inks...

[A Smug Dill]

... unlike A Smug Dill, I also won't put them in any pen I don't consider disposable.

 

*ahem* I consider my Aurora 88 Minerali Amber quite disposable when push comes to shove; I don't like it that much, being a demonstrator (no bonus points there from me) and a piston-filler (definitely no bonus points there from me). That's why I'm gung-ho about fully disassembling it, even though it isn't designed to be user-serviceable and requires some special tool to unscrew the piston mechanism from the barrel. If anyone wants to assert I'd be wasting money to 'dispose' of the pen, I consider the money to already have been 'wasted' when I placed my initial order for the item; not recouping (some of) that expense from someone else who might want the pen is a different matter.

 

My point was the the price of the pen is not what makes it disposable or not disposable — and therefore the impact/consequence of any risk that may (in the worst case) require me to write it off completely — in my regard, so let's look at other characteristics of the pen and/or dimensions of risk assessment.

Edited June 5, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[ladyinthemists]

hmmm.....thanks for the responses, everyone. I think that I would much rather be safe than eventually sorry. Therefore, I will seriously consider using any shimmering/sparkly inks in my much less expensive pens to stay on the safe side. I, personally, particularly like all of my more expensive pens and would be very upset if I were to cause any potential damage to any of them.

[sirgilbert357]

 

*ahem* I consider my Aurora 88 Minerali Amber quite disposable when push comes to shove; I don't like it that much, being a demonstrator (no bonus points there from me) and a piston-filler (definitely no bonus points there from me). That's why I'm gung-ho about fully disassembling it, even though it isn't designed to be user-serviceable and requires some special tool to unscrew the piston mechanism from the barrel. If anyone wants to assert I'd be wasting money to 'dispose' of the pen, I consider the money to already have been 'wasted' when I placed my initial order for the item; not recouping (some of) that expense from someone else who might want the pen is a different matter.

 

My point was the the price of the pen is not what makes it disposable or not disposable — and therefore the impact/consequence of any risk that may (in the worst case) require me to write it off completely — in my regard, so let's look at other characteristics of the pen and/or dimensions of risk assessment.

 

Did I phrase that wrong? I don't know...maybe what I mean is "I wouldn't put shimmer inks in any pen unless I consider it disposable, which may be different from A Smug Dill's point of view."

 

Yes, I think that's more clear...but, of course, even that statement has as assumption built into it -- I thought you liked that Aurora and wouldn't consider it "disposable." But that was the ONLY assumption built in with regard to you.

 

Maybe that word should be "cheap" or something...anything can be "disposable", after all -- and most people would say the price is certainly a factor when deciding what to consider "disposable". What's more likely considered disposable: a Preppy costing a couple of bucks or a Pelikan M800? Almost everyone that knows the prices of these two pens - even if they have never written with either one of them - would say the Preppy, no?

 

Anyway, all I'm saying is that I would only use shimmer inks in pens that I don't care about. If one of my 3008's is somehow damaged by a shimmer ink, I'll just shrug and toss it in the trash and reach for another. It's cheap, therefore disposable - to me. It won't sting financially to buy several more.

 

I agree that the money has already been "disposed of" in a way though, LOL. However, you have at least something to show for the trade when you have the pen in hand. It always makes me laugh when people say they refuse to sell off an unused pen because they will "lose money" on it. The irony is funny to me. They fail to realize that money has already been lost and they would actually be gaining some of it back if they sold the pen!!