Tiny grains in Sailor Sei Boku bottle

[DomInkIk]

Hello,

I have just pulled out bottle of my Sailor Sei Boku ink and I have noticed some tiny grains sticking to the walls of the bottle.

 

I am not sure whether these are actual grains or the ink forming droplets on the wall of the bottle, but I have never seen such behavior with any other ink.

 

The ink does not smell and I did not notice anything floating on the surface apart from an almost unnoticeable oily stain.

 

So, is there a reason to be worried about using the ink? The bottle is already opened, but I think I have filled from the bottle only once and then it lied for the last 5 months in a drawer.

 

Below are photographs of the ink.

 

Thank you for your opinions!

[LizEF]

I believe this to be normal for certain inks, particularly pigmented inks.  I doubt there's anything to worry about.  I have some inks that do this (can't remember if Seiboku is one, probably is, but it's been a long time since I used it), and none have gone bad or grown mold, and I've had them for years.

[DomInkIk]

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

I believe this to be normal for certain inks, particularly pigmented inks.  I doubt there's anything to worry about.  I have some inks that do this (can't remember if Seiboku is one, probably is, but it's been a long time since I used it), and none have gone bad or grown mold, and I've had them for years.

Thank you for your fast reply!

 

This is my first pigmented ink, so I did not know what to expect. I have spotted several similar spots in my Sailor Chushu ink, which is quite saturated, but there was several orders of magnitude less of them.

 

Anyway, it is good to know that the ink is safe to use. Thank you.

[arcfide]

I can confirm that this sort of thing happens with pretty much all of my pigmented inks, and a good shake does plenty for them. Additionally, I find that if left for a long time, the ink settles down and very little if any of those little "globs" are left on the glass to be seen. 

 

With Seiboku, I notice that it can show off some shading at times, and I think what you're seeing here is tied to the particular surface tension of the ink and its viscosity. My theory is that the pigments and the way they are suspended creates a more drastic transition from thick areas to thin, and these little spots tend to pool in the ink, thus showing this effect. 

[DomInkIk]

3 hours ago, arcfide said:

With Seiboku, I notice that it can show off some shading at times, and I think what you're seeing here is tied to the particular surface tension of the ink and its viscosity. My theory is that the pigments and the way they are suspended creates a more drastic transition from thick areas to thin, and these little spots tend to pool in the ink, thus showing this effect. 

 

This is what I am suspicious of too.

 

Actually, a good shake creates an even layer of ink on the walls of the bottle. What creates these tiny blobs - which mostly look like blue grains of sand  - is when I slowly rotate the bottle. It almost gave me a feeling as if it was floating on the surface and then getting deposited on the glass. Below I add another photo to show what I mean by these "blue grains of sand" - it was not that visible in the previous photos.

 

Anyway, thank you all for your replies. I guess that IF there would be something solid floating in the ink, then it would stick to the wall no matter how strong or weak I shake.

 

As you both said, this effect completely normal, so I will happily use the ink now.