Creation: My own Shimmer Ink...

[Detman101]

I have decided to decant a portion of my bottle of "Kaweco - Smoky Grey" ink and combine it with finely ground silver shimmer particulate used in the fashion industry for body-glow effects. 
I am currently deciding how to blend the particulate into my sample of fountain pen ink so that clumps are not created. 

I hope to post photos of the process once I get everything started later. 
I am hoping even more to post positive results!! 
I think i will try it in an alternate pen...my PenBBS 385 should work nicely. If it survives without getting clogged, I'll repeat the process in my OPUS-88 Demo with "Caffe Crema" and I'll be good to go!

 

I know you're probably saying "Well Detman, there are tons of grey shimmer inks out there for purchase, why not buy one?"
Well, they either don't match my shimmer-color needs...or the main ink is too dark....or they're too expensive...or they are just not easy to find.
Such being the case wiith "Diamine - Moon Dust" being so dark and not light enough...and "Pelikan - Moonstone" becoming hard to find
All of these factors have led me to try to make my own light-grey\silver-shimmer ink.

 

More to follow...

My inspiration: 

 

-DM-

[Penguincollector]

 My last bottle of Moonstone wasn’t even very shiny, so I get it. I use both body safe extremely fine grey holographic mica and Wearingeul Silver shoes for shiny greys. The last one was a combination of the former with Diamine Earl Grey, and I added Silver Shoes to the not shiny Moonstone for some panache. These days it’s much easier to find a color that you like and add whatever color shimmer additive you prefer. I look forward to seeing your blend and results. I have to keep my results to myself until I give some to a friend for their birthday next month, but it gives me time to make up more. 

[Detman101]

On 8/25/2025 at 3:02 PM, Penguincollector said:

 My last bottle of Moonstone wasn’t even very shiny, so I get it. I use both body safe extremely fine grey holographic mica and Wearingeul Silver shoes for shiny greys. The last one was a combination of the former with Diamine Earl Grey, and I added Silver Shoes to the not shiny Moonstone for some panache. These days it’s much easier to find a color that you like and add whatever color shimmer additive you prefer. I look forward to seeing your blend and results. I have to keep my results to myself until I give some to a friend for their birthday next month, but it gives me time to make up more. 

Nice! Thanks for the information! While the shimmer in my bottle of "Golden Lapis" is fantastic...there are so many other plain inks I have that would be great if they just had some shimmer. As great as the shimmer in "Emerald du Chivor" is...I don't favor the color of the ink, and that just kills it for me. The shimmer in that ink is phenomenal, however.

I had to refund and re-place my order as I picked the wrong item on Amazon initially.
I have the "Sparkle Gold" Pearl-Ex coming in today, and the "White Pearl" Pearl-Ex coming in tomorrow.
I'll be testing the "Sparkle Gold" with "Caffe Crema" tonight...

...and the "White Pearl" with "Smoky Grey" on tomorrow.

 

-DM-

[Penguincollector]

14 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

I have the "Sparkle Gold" Pearl-Ex coming in today, and the "White Pearl" Pearl-Ex coming in tomorrow.
I'll be testing the "Sparkle Gold" with "Caffe Crema" tonight...

...and the "White Pearl" with "Smoky Grey" on tomorrow.

 

    Oh nice, I would love to see your results! 

[Mechanical]

On 8/25/2025 at 4:54 PM, Detman101 said:

I hope to post photos of the process once I get everything started later.

Yes, please!  

[USG]

2 hours ago, Mechanical said:

Yes, please!  

 

+1 what he said....😀👍

[inkstainedruth]

@Detman101 I'll be very interested in seeing your results.  
My issue with shimmer inks, though, is that (in addition to having to be careful as to what nib to use, for fear of clogging the feed) is that while sometimes the ink is quite attractive, in the long run the shimmer particles don't stay on the page when the ink has dried.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Detman101]

Testing delayed as Amazon has sent the wrong items...  

 

-DM-

[Detman101]

Okay, it is complete!!

I received the shimmers on this morning from Amazon after much delay and rerouting.
The wrong items were sent in the first shipment, and then the replacement shipment experienced delays.

The Shimmer items being used with "Kaweco - Smoky Grey" are:

• Pearl-Ex - Sparkle Gold
• Pearl-Ex - Pearl White

I started out with the "Pearl-white" shimmer and added a knife-tip of it to  a decant vial of "Smoky Grey".

The ink took on a shiny purple tint in the vial and you could see the shimmer running through the ink and mixing VERY well.
I would say that this mica powder is finer than most of the shimmer I've seen in the actual shimmer inks I've purchased in the past.

I did have to add a "Wettener" to the mix as the "Smoky Grey" is a very dry ink and needs to have the surface tension reduced to flow properly with or without shimmer added.

The shimmer sits well in the ink and doesn't cause any clogs in my Opus-88 Demo with FPR Ultraflex nib.
In fact, the "Sparkle-Gold" shimmer actually imparted some kind of viscosity to the "Smoky Grey" ink and made it flow smoothly.
After cleaning the pen of the "Pearl White" ink load....I did not have to add any "Wettener" to the ink load with the "Sparkle-Gold"

 

I did notice a few things about the performance of the two shimmer items:

• "Pearl-White" flows through the ink much smoother and you get some with EVERY stroke. Highly visible in writing without angling the page
• "Sparkle-Gold" flows VERY heavily at the start of writing and appears to taper off until there seems to be very little visible without angling the page.
• "Sparkle-Gold" acts as a "Wettening" agent when mixed with the ink...allowing for better flow and smoother writing!!! *BONUS*

 

I think that I will stick with the "Sparkle-Gold" as it gives the Grey ink a beautiful contrasting shimmer.
Don't get me wrong, In spite of its slower performance compared to the "Pearl-White"...the "Sparkle-Gold" is just BETTER looking!!

Please enjoy these photos of the experiment.
My apologies....the scan photo doesn't show the shimmer at all for some reason...I can tilt the paper and see massive shimmering in the writing...odd.
I'll have to figure out how to get video of the shimmer on here...

I hope this is as interesting for you as it is for me. 

-DM-

Edited August 30, 2025 by Detman101
Scan photo failed...

[Detman101]

[Detman101]

On 8/27/2025 at 4:52 PM, inkstainedruth said:

@Detman101 I'll be very interested in seeing your results.  
My issue with shimmer inks, though, is that (in addition to having to be careful as to what nib to use, for fear of clogging the feed) is that while sometimes the ink is quite attractive, in the long run the shimmer particles don't stay on the page when the ink has dried.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

That doesn't appear to be an issue with these shimmer products. I have tested them in my work journal on today, documenting progress on a few projects we have going for DoD Medical and none of the pages appear to have smeared shimmer or any transfer whatsoever.  I have experienced what you reference with other products in the past, I'm remembering a brown Diamine Shimmer ink with large gold particulate in it that just got e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e!!!  I gave that bottle away a few days after receiving it. Not only did it not flow well in any pens...the shimmer got EVERYWHERE when the ink dried. 

 

-DM-

[Mechanical]

@Detman101, thanks for laying this out so nicely.  Loved the pictures of the mixing process and your nice writing.

 

Does Jacquard give you any information on the particle sizes of these pigments?  I checked their website, but no luck.

[Ron Z]

As a pen mechanic, this thread makes me very nervous.  I assume that you have a good ultrasonic cleaner...

[Detman101]

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

@Detman101, thanks for laying this out so nicely.  Loved the pictures of the mixing process and your nice writing.

 

Does Jacquard give you any information on the particle sizes of these pigments?  I checked their website, but no luck.

Unfortunately, I am unable to find any information regarding the size of the particulate.
 
 

-DM-

[Detman101]

3 hours ago, Ron Z said:

As a pen mechanic, this thread makes me very nervous.  I assume that you have a good ultrasonic cleaner...

Lol...I understand your concerns.  However, no worries here....
I have multiple backup "FPR Ultraflex Nib" units for my pen.
Should anything go wrong, I simply extract the nib unit and replace it.
The Ultraflex Nib Units from FPR are high-quality/low-cost and allow for...experimentation...without breaking the bank or adding stress to life.
 

 

-DM-
 

[Detman101]

Small update:

 

I experimented and added a little "Wettener" to the latest  experimental ink load and it's now smudging shimmer after the ink dries. I should have left it alone. I will delete using "Wettener" from the builds.

I also definitely put too much shimmer in this latest ink load.

It's almost no "Grey" now because the gold shimmer comes through in EVERY stroke heavily lol. I will probably dump this and restart with half the amount I used.
I still want to see the beautiful "Grey" of this ink...lol.
It's great to know, however, because that means that I won't have to buy another bottle of this shimmer for many MANY years to come!

 

-DM-

[Detman101]

On 8/30/2025 at 2:40 PM, Mechanical said:

@Detman101, thanks for laying this out so nicely.  Loved the pictures of the mixing process and your nice writing.

 

Does Jacquard give you any information on the particle sizes of these pigments?  I checked their website, but no luck.

Found this info...

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wc-prod-pim/Asset_Documents/Jacquard Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments SDS.pdf

 

-DM-

[Penguincollector]

On 8/30/2025 at 12:42 PM, Ron Z said:

As a pen mechanic, this thread makes me very nervous.  I assume that you have a good ultrasonic cleaner...

  No worries on my part, I have the same FPR nib unit and I have a rule about nice pens and shimmer inks- the only ones that get it are c/c, open nibs, and they have easy feeds to clean. Otherwise I use really inexpensive pens and dip pens Sailor made for sheen and shimmer inks. 

 

 

[Penguincollector]

44 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

Small update:

 

I experimented and added a little "Wettener" to the latest  experimental ink load and it's now smudging shimmer after the ink dries. I should have left it alone. I will delete using "Wettener" from the builds.

I also definitely put too much shimmer in this latest ink load.

It's almost no "Grey" now because the gold shimmer comes through in EVERY stroke heavily lol. I will probably dump this and restart with half the amount I used.
I still want to see the beautiful "Grey" of this ink...lol.
It's great to know, however, because that means that I won't have to buy another bottle of this shimmer for many MANY years to come!

 

-DM-

  “Wetteners” are the most difficult thing to work with in these inky experiments, I find. You could keep this as the “mother,” like a sourdough or kombucha starter, and add more ink to your preferred level of shimmer and wetness. I was working with Kiri-Same and had a similar issue, but ended up with something I like by adding drops of distilled water and Pilot Blue. 

[Mechanical]

4 hours ago, Detman101 said:

Found this info...

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wc-prod-pim/Asset_Documents/Jacquard Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments SDS.pdf

 

 

Thanks for persevering, @Detman101.  So it looks like the particle size of these pigments ranges from 5 to  60 microns.