Are Pigmented Inks Wet Or Dry ?

[The-Thinker]

Are pigmented inks or inks with particles (glitter), wetter or drier than dye based ink (like iroshizuku inks) ? and why so (scientifically) ?

[OCArt]

I don't think there is a blanket answer to your questions. Even within the same brand individual colors can have varying properties.

[The-Thinker]

I don't think there is a blanket answer to your questions. Even within the same brand individual colors can have varying properties.

 

but if we are gonna talk in general, should they be wetter or drier to provide better ink flow with the pigments

[inkstainedruth]

My experience with shimmer inks has been all over the map. For those, I think it depends a great deal on the properties of the base ink.

But I took the original header to mean specifically pigmented inks like the Sailor nano-particle inks Kiwa-guro, Seiboku and Souboku). I have found Souboku a little on the dry side but the flow is still okay. Kiwa-guro did NOT like being in a Preppy set up as a rollerball and didn't work at all well in it (haven't tried it in a fountain pen; nor have I tried Seiboku or the Storia line).

We are talking about two different things here, I think. The shimmer ink bottles have to be shaken up, and pens filled with those inks have to be regularly agitated so that the shimmer particles don't go out of suspension. I have not heard of that being the case for "normal" pigmented inks -- only that they take a little more effort in flushing them out.

I would not put a shimmer ink in a pen that is really difficult to flush, or in a pen with a sac. OTOH, I've put them in pens that have wider nibs to bring the shimmer out better, and have not throught twice about putting them in a 1980s era Pelikan M100 with a 1 mm nib -- because if necessary, I can remove the nib unit and soak/flush it separately.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ENewton]

I have not used pigment inks, but I have two shimmer inks: J Herbin Amethyste de l'Oural and De Atramentis Brilliant Violet with Copper.

 

J Herbin Amethyste de l'Oural is not notably dry but benefits from being used in a wetter nib. I first tried it in my Kaweco Sport but was much happier with its appearance and behavior in my Peyton Street Pen Works prototype pen, which has a JoWo nib ground to a medium cursive italic by Nivardo Sanchez.

 

De Atramentis Brilliant Violet with Copper is very wet and lubricated. To me, it is so glittery as to be gaudy looking, but it is the one ink I have found wet and lubricated enough to look and feel lush coming out of the Sport. I don't know whether it would be unruly in a wet pen.

[The-Thinker]

My experience with shimmer inks has been all over the map. For those, I think it depends a great deal on the properties of the base ink.

But I took the original header to mean specifically pigmented inks like the Sailor nano-particle inks Kiwa-guro, Seiboku and Souboku). I have found Souboku a little on the dry side but the flow is still okay. Kiwa-guro did NOT like being in a Preppy set up as a rollerball and didn't work at all well in it (haven't tried it in a fountain pen; nor have I tried Seiboku or the Storia line).

We are talking about two different things here, I think. The shimmer ink bottles have to be shaken up, and pens filled with those inks have to be regularly agitated so that the shimmer particles don't go out of suspension. I have not heard of that being the case for "normal" pigmented inks -- only that they take a little more effort in flushing them out.

I would not put a shimmer ink in a pen that is really difficult to flush, or in a pen with a sac. OTOH, I've put them in pens that have wider nibs to bring the shimmer out better, and have not throught twice about putting them in a 1980s era Pelikan M100 with a 1 mm nib -- because if necessary, I can remove the nib unit and soak/flush it separately.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

The inspiration of this post was from a sailor storia ink and J herbin emerald of chivor, i noticed that they glitter in the herbin are really pesky, and you have to keep on shaking the pen to keep the glitter suspended in the ink, i was surprised that the storia (clown) had dark green particles settle at the bottom and they are harder to shake them off but once they are spread in the ink, it takes more time to settle ( i didn't notice that in my carbon black ink, might be cuz the ink was black and couldn't see the particles) . I have noticed that as you said that the pigmented inks are drier than the particles but wanted to see if others had similar experiance

[The-Thinker]

I have not used pigment inks, but I have two shimmer inks: J Herbin Amethyste de l'Oural and De Atramentis Brilliant Violet with Copper.

 

J Herbin Amethyste de l'Oural is not notably dry but benefits from being used in a wetter nib. I first tried it in my Kaweco Sport but was much happier with its appearance and behavior in my Peyton Street Pen Works prototype pen, which has a JoWo nib ground to a medium cursive italic by Nivardo Sanchez.

 

De Atramentis Brilliant Violet with Copper is very wet and lubricated. To me, it is so glittery as to be gaudy looking, but it is the one ink I have found wet and lubricated enough to look and feel lush coming out of the Sport. I don't know whether it would be unruly in a wet pen.

i have notice my j herbin to be wetter than my platinum carbon black ink

[lgsoltek]

Speaking of Sailor's nano-pigmented inks (Sei-boku, Sou-boku and the whole STORiA line) only, I'd say they are not as wet as the dye-based Sailor inks in general.

 

However this is not something that can be generalised to all inks of different brands.