Oh sheen, where art thou?

[Claes]

I am puzzled.

I own a "few" inks, a "few" fountain pens, and a "few" paper qualities.

Despite that fact, it is not so easy to make sheen visible in normal writing.

 

Evidently, Iroful, Mitsubishi Bank, and Cosmo Snow are presently considered 

the best for fountain pen ink. Unfortunately, the last two are not manufactured

any longer.

 

That leaves me with Iroful , and yes, that paper works fine for me.

Lamy Blackberry ink dries into a nice golden sheen using <XF>, <F>, and <M> nibs.

 

But really, ought there not be many, many more paper qualities that would be able to show sheen?

How do you handle sheen? What combinations work for you?

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

 

[LizEF]

Some scientist will probably show up eventually and correct me, but my understanding is that sheen requires "excess" ink drying atop the page.  This yields something "crystal-like" that reflects the light (or a different portion of the light).  Therefore, you need a non-absorbent paper and a wet pen.

 

...So, are your pens dry?  Are your papers absorbent?

[Mercian]

21 minutes ago, Claes said:

What combinations work for you?

 

Back in the early 2000s, Parker Penman Sapphire dispensed by a Parker Vector 'M' and Parker Jotter 'M', on Basildon Bond writing paper, and on some of the glossier paper we had in the office (I have no idea of its identity).

 

More recently, on the previous version of Oxford 'Optik' paper (I have yet to try their newer, 'Optik+'), I have seen sheen from:

Lamy 'Dark Lilac' (from 2016) in Safaris with 'F' and 'M' nibs;

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite in my Pelikan piston-fillers and my Lamy 2000 'F';

Pure Pens 'Saltire' in a wettish Parker 75 'M'.

I'll add more if I remember them.

[Mercian]

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Therefore, you need a non-absorbent paper and a wet pen.

 

Yes, ↑ this.

 

I would add that sheen is probably only obtainable when writing an ink that has a heavy dye-load.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

ink that has a heavy dye-load.

Yes!  The high concentration is required.  Also, I forgot to mention the angle of the light - you might see sheen regardless of the angle from super-sheeners, but otherwise, you really need the light to come at the paper from an angle (or within the proper range of angles).

 

(Super-sheeners will give you the lovely experience of leaving invisible flakes of dried ink in places you didn't know existed and those flakes will multiply and migrate around your home, car, office, etc. and reveal themselves decades after the fact when something ever so slightly damp comes into contact with the flake, thus causing confusion to all present. (It's possible there's a tiny bit of hyperbole in that statement, but not much.))

[Claes]

The last few days I have been sheen grading a few (37) of the paper qualities that rest peacefully in my playroom.

 

Ink: Lamy Blackberry.

Pens: Lamy Safaris with <M>, <F>, and <XF> nibs.

Grading: from 0 = no sheen up to 5 = Wow.
No fancy measuring machines were used, just eye-balling.

 

Addendum: the order within each group is strictly alphabetical, it has nothing to do with better/worse...

 

Results: sheen_250317_small.pdf

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, Claes said:

Results

This is actually really useful!   Thanks for collecting the data and sharing it!

[Penguincollector]

    The best paper that I have found for sheen is MUJI High Quality Paper. Fabriano EcoQua is very good, as is Cosmo Snow, Midori, and Iroful. I think it’s definitely coating dependant, because I get sheen from Waterman Serenity Blue and Quink Washable Blue on some papers. I have pictures in my gallery of the ink tests that I’ve done, although the picture of the MUJI needs to be retaken to show the ridiculous amount of sheen.

[Claes]

Here's a difficult shot of today's sheen play.

Paper = Iroful. 

• Top ink = Lamy Blackberry, 
• Middle ink = R&K Alt-Goldgrün, and 
• Bottom ink = something dried up in an italic Parker 51, brought to life with a few drops of water.

 

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

[Claes]

Today's blob, straight from the pen...

 

[lamarax]

On 3/12/2025 at 6:46 PM, Claes said:

Oh sheen, where art thou?

 

I'm certainly *not* to be found anywhere near Maruman Mnemosyne, or OK Fools (Tsubame etc.)

 

Signed,

 

The Sheen 😛

[Claes]

Today's play, using Lamy Blackberry on Maruman Loose Leaf

@lamarax: I do not know how my Loose Leaf differs from your Mnemosyne, though.

 

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

[SashK]

Hi @Claes Good to see you around! Same goes for everyone else! 

 

OK, when it comes to sheen, I would say that with the above mentioned I would also include Graphilo paper. That can really take some ink abuse and it will show sheen like crazy. 

 

Another paper which I have not heard come up is a pretty rare paper from Japan that I have only found at Pen-House, but I believe it is not a house brand it's just the one I found. Well, that's my guess. 

 

The paper is neue gray. Which, while confusing to spell is available in loose leaf and most standard notebook sizes. It is not a pure white, but more a near white, as the name implies. I like it very much, though in the past year I've been keeping to creme paper for long writing sessions, it's just gentler the eyes. 

 

https://www.pen-house.net/item/45683.html this is their big notebook

 

https://www.pen-house.net/item/45698.html starter pack 

 

Among the papers mentioned, I would say that Neue Gray is somewhat similar to Iroful, but still different enough to warrant testing both. 

 

They have more on the site, you can translate to your language of choice to navigate. 

 

Other papers I like are Midori MD and Life Noble Note. Both are wonderful candidates and much easler to source and you can get some real sheen off of them in the right conditions. 

[antares1966]

I had just posted this on another thread, but Midori MD has brought out sheen in inks that I’d never seen it on other papers.