Anyone else mess around with shimmers?

[scripturess]

I've added some very fine mica to my pilot ink cartidges and they turned out very well. They're very easy to see in my Pilot Parallels.

I used a different kind of mica in the red ink that had larger particles- it made it not so much a shimmer but gave an occasional sparkle which I still thought was nice.

The bottom ink I decided to use Noodler's black in a China cheapie with a different kind of gold but also a smaller amount.

 

I'm excited to try more! I think I might add some more to the red and the Noodler's.

[A Smug Dill]

50 minutes ago, scripturess said:

I've added some very fine mica to my pilot ink cartidges and they turned out very well.

 

https://www.pennonia.eu/pennonia/shimmer-powders-at-pennonia-make-your-own-shimmering-ink/

[scripturess]

20 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

https://www.pennonia.eu/pennonia/shimmer-powders-at-pennonia-make-your-own-shimmering-ink/

Cool! Thanks!

I really wanted to find some holographic glitter but they don't have it in nano sized particles- well I couldn't find any on the internet anyway.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I used to formulate mine with eye shadow.  🤣

[txomsy]

Cool!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Black with gold works really well.

[scripturess]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I used to formulate mine with eye shadow.  🤣

That's a great idea- I wonder if there's holographic eyeshadow or something!
How'd it work out for you?
 

1 hour ago, txomsy said:

Cool!

It's a lot of fun!

[Sailor Kenshin]

12 minutes ago, scripturess said:

That's a great idea- I wonder if there's holographic eyeshadow or something!
How'd it work out for you?
 

It's a lot of fun!

 

 

My Dollar Tree eyeshadow worked out exactly as well as the expensive artist pigment I later bought.  

[scripturess]

1 minute ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

 

My Dollar Tree eyeshadow worked out exactly as well as the expensive artist pigment I later bought.  

Lol that's amazing. I'm definitely going to do some testing!

[mail_snail]

I have been wondering about DIY shimmer for some time, as I have an indecent amount of Jacquard Pearl-Ex powder. What kind of mica powder did you use, exactly, @scripturess? And do you remember how much you added to a certain amount of ink?

[Inunu]

On 3/30/2021 at 2:44 AM, mail_snail said:

I have been wondering about DIY shimmer for some time, as I have an indecent amount of Jacquard Pearl-Ex powder. What kind of mica powder did you use, exactly, @scripturess? And do you remember how much you added to a certain amount of ink?

I use Pearl-Ex as well, Aztec Gold and Sky Blue.

Powder is added directly to the holding section of pen, and then mixed with ink in the converter / piston chamber.

I also steal the steel balls from used cartridges, and put them into converters.

 

Dosage I like is about 1:10 in volume.

This gives a very in-your-face amount of shimmer, no hide and seek.

I don't get anywhere near this when filling from an ink bottle.

Yes I have to deal with hard start and clogs from time to time.

This is usually due to glitter build up / dry up at end of the feed.

Some inks (MB Royal Blue, Sailor Yamadori, Edelstein Aventurine...) work better than others (Edelstein Topaz and Mandarin).

With the bad ones I have to get the ink flow going, and then can feel it getting drier and drier as I write...

 

Also, the powder is a bit loose on paper since we don't have much bind agent.

It will transfer a bit to whatever it touches.

I've seen small amount getting ping-pong'ed between pages and ended up glittering everywhere.

 

You should really experiment with a pen that you can pull out the feed and clean.

It tends to make ink flow relatively drier, thus becoming less picky about the paper.

[mail_snail]

Thank you for sharing your shimmer info, @Inunu! Those details about volume etc. really help as I wouldn't know where to start. I wouldn't have dared try 1:10 volume if you had not suggested it. I'm glad to hear it works, cos in-your-face-glitter is what I'm looking for. 

I've got Interference Gold, Solar Gold, Super Copper, Antique Copper, and Blue Russet. Can't wait to try it out and see how the shimmer colors mingle with the ink colors.

[txomsy]

Let us know how it turns out.

[Inunu]

"Inconsistency" is probably the best description when you reach certain amount.

 

These particles are settling down all the time, which makes the normal writing position less ideal.

The concentration of particles around the inlet of the feed gets higher and higher, and down goes the ink flow.

So far I haven't had a clog at the inlet side of the feed, but I can easily feel as it writes drier and drier on paper.

If you flip the pen a bit, it becomes wet again.

 

All the clogging I have happen at where feed meets the nib, and this happens gradually all the time.

This also gives some sort of build-up / flush cycle.

When building-up, there will be less and less shimmer coming out.

Once that build-up is loosen, shimmer comes out like flood.

This is quite perfect as I like variety and messing around with inks.

Not so ideal if you want a pen that is ready to work.

[jandrew]

I just gave it a quick try --- used some turquoise mica powder and a blue ink in a free Muft eyedropper with a flex nib. Actually, quite a bit of mica powder, but I didn't measure relative amounts:

 

 

The pen choked three times doing the above   

 

In all honesty, I'm not really interested in glittery writing, just had to try it ... the mica powder jar goes back on the shelf for inlay duty and the pen has already been dumped and having a bubble bath now.