9 DIY Shimmer Inks, but some don't work

I mix up 9 different ink and shimmer combos.
This one is long. Please let me know if you like these longer and more spontaneous videos, or if you like the shorter, tighter edits.

[@K_rye]

This video was interesting and a lot of fun. (Found your site when looking at sheening ink videos). Appreciate that you show the fails as well as those that worked. I like the Brown, the Flame and the Fuji best. For anyone experimenting with mica powders, one brand Ranger Perfect Pearls, has a binder in it that has a resin, no idea what kind. I don't know if I would be willing to chance this in a fountain pen. Coincidentally I did a single experiment with Bay State Blue and Citrine PearlEx a few weeks ago. It worked well, even in a fountain pen. I did not experience any clumping. Yes it does stain, but it cleans up nicely using a standard bathroom bleach spray (1.84% Sodium Hypochlorite). I rinse well after. Safer than alcohol for a pen.

[@lilbluefreak]

Ps.. I absolutely loved the video montage! 🤩

[@Severus34564]

So many cool experiments again in this video, thank you. My favourites probably are the Fuji with the Shimmer and Flame or the Autumn Oak with the ludicrous Shimmer amount.

[@pensinfocus]

Glad you like them. I plan on grabbing some time to do the Hogwarts Legacy inks this week. Likely as a short.

[@Severus34564]

@@pensinfocus Looking forward to that video. Do you mind showing a little more what kind of shimmer you use for these inks and experiments?

[@pensinfocus]

Do you mean a closer look at each powder before I mix it in? Or a look at the powder set/product itself? If it's the latter, I have a link to a set of the shimmer powder in the description of kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIG5aGqbo7enjac

[@Severus34564]

@@pensinfocus Actually I meant the latter. Thank you. Though as you put it, I think it would be interesting if you'd include a more close up look of the powder before mixing it in.

[@apontutul]

You're right. Not all work. I'm too trying to get glitters into my unused inks. Not sure which color glitter to buy

[@pensinfocus]

Can’t go wrong with a gold or silver. I personally like the cool ink (that is to say: blue, green, etc) and warm gold, so if I could only have one powder, it would be a nice medium gold.

[@tracyverberkmoes4818]

Love these! Big question for me is: Does the shimmer rub off the page after it dries?

[@pensinfocus]

A little bit... if you rub at it, some will come off, but some remains.

[@sgtsillyass1575]

That's' what she said. @@pensinfocus

[@ryansullivan3081]

I also had issues getting turquoise to break up. It seems to be very cohesive for some reason. Yellow floated and clumped on me too.

[@pensinfocus]

What is your favorite combination?

[@ryansullivan3081]

@@pensinfocus my favorite mix so far has to be Diamine imperial purple with 2 parts duo blue green to 1 part micro pearl.

[@lilbluefreak]

Hey, thanks for the vid! I literally just discovered your channel like 20 mins ago, lol. I was wondering if you've ever tried using those duochrome pigments or like the chameleon colored ones that are really cool looking in your inks and if it worked out ok? Aliexpress currently has a sale going on right now and so I was gonna buy some pigment powders to try mixing in some ink but I wasn't sure if the chameleon kind actually works in fountain ink or not. Thought I'd ask you and see if you've ever tried it before and how it went. If not, maybe try it in a future vid and see what happens?? The stuff on aliexpress is stupid cheap so I always try there first before buying anything, it's kinda silly not to. Idk, I keep seeing all these AWESOME sheening and shimmering inks on KZbin but I just don't have that kinda money to be spending on them all like that so I'm on a quest to hopefully make my own awesome blend. Any recommendations you've learned so far for stuff to maybe lean towards or to avoid when mixing? I'm shocked at how little content there is on this subject, hence how I ended up finding your channel today, so thank you for existing! Lol. Most of what I've seen is geared towards creating resin and alcohol inks, but not a whole lot of content for mixing fountain pen inks. Any bit of wisdom you could impart would be greatly appreciated! Thanks man! 💙✒

[@pensinfocus]

I tried two different "duo" powders in this video, and I don't think the special-ness of those powders came through once they were mixed with ink. My guess is that you need a higher concentration of the powder - more than a fountain pen can reliably feed. I haven't tried the chameleon powder, specifically, but I'll see if I can pick some up and do a short on it, but it will be a few weeks. I'm on vacation right now and I bit off more than I could chew when filming the video I plan to release next (tweaking and smoothing nibs) and I've been having a hard time getting the edit to come together in a way I like. The things I've learned so far: 1. some pigments and inks just don't work for this: the yellow pigment clumped and Baystate Blue obscured any pigment I mixed with it. 2. The metallic powders (gold, copper, etc) require less powder to be visible than the colors (and usually work better) 3. "Wetter" inks tend to be more accepting of higher powder concentrations. If you don't mind cleaning pens and want to play around, mixing your own shimmer inks is a fun branch of the hobby. But a bottle of shimmer ink you purchase from a reputable manufacturer is almost always going to be more reliable. The professional inkmakers have information and materials that aren't available to us hobbyists, not to mention experience.

[@pensinfocus]

I purchased some of the chameleon powder from AE to try, but it's not scheduled to arrive until late June. So I guess subscribe and wait until then :D

[@spiderwrangler4457]

I know it would have meant more editing on your part, but it would have been nice to have some scope stills while you were describing the shimmer's appearance as you went along.

[@pensinfocus]

I'll keep that in mind. The ring light makes the ink look different under the scope than it does to your eye, which is why I typically default to the wider shots. I have another light I can use with the scope, but it's a little bit of a pain to set up. Next time I do this, and it should be in the next few weeks, I'll be sure to include some microscope shots with that light when I'm talking about it.