while I'm at it, another fountain pen question

[swan_tower]

How the hell do you use a shimmer ink in a fountain pen without it clogging up the moment you look away?

I have tried this precisely once, and the results were so bad that for the first time in my life, I purged the ink out of a pen rather than using it up. I don't know if the answer is "the pen you used is clog-prone" (Pilot Vanishing Point; I haven't had issues with non-shimmer inks) or "only ink with shimmer if you're intending to write a bunch immediately, because six hours later it will be causing problems" or "use a dip pen" or what, but it seems like other people are able to use shimmer inks more successfully. Is there something I'm missing?

Comments

[cgbookcat1]

The particulate size matters along with the nib. I grade in multiple colors of shimmer ink and rarely have an issue with clogging even in fine nibs. A sample of a De Atraminis shimmer did give me a terrible clog, so I stay away from that brand. Most of my shimmer inks are Diamine or Colorverse. The Jacques Herbin 1798 Cornaline d'Egypte is a personal favorite.

TWSBI Vac 700R is fairly wet even with a fine nib and I've had good results with it -- I have more than 1. Plus, it's a demonstrator so you can see the shimmering ink through the side. I've used the same shimmer fill in the TWSBI for a couple of weeks, as long as it's capped properly for storage and I roll the pen around before use.

[swan_tower]

It was a Diamine ink. Maybe I'll try it in a different pen, like the Platinum Preppy, and see what happens.

[cgbookcat1]

Good luck! Switching pens does make a difference.