Well, it looks like shimmer ink happened to me. And I have Diamine Starlit Sea to thank for that.
I didn’t think it would happen in all honesty. While I always appreciated the look of a good shimmer ink, I had no desire to use one for more than a test run, much less keep it in the rotation. I was scared of them, rightfully or wrongfully. If you don’t have good fountain pen hygiene and maintenance, any fountain pen ink can cause problems in your pen. Why would anyone in their right mind risk adding sparkles into what is often a finely-tuned writing machine?
Because they are awesome.
I began seeing swatches of Diamine Shimmer inks in 2015, and like other popular shimmer inks - J. Herbin for example - I loved how they looked. Still, I had zero desire to use them. But as the lineup expanded, and the color selection exploded, I could no longer contain myself.
Starlit Sea had two things going for it when I chose to use it: An interesting base color, and silver sparkles. The second part is almost mandatory for me personally. Just like with fountain pen hardware, gold is a much higher bar to clear and has do be done just right for me to choose it. Silver sparkles and rhodium trim are my jam.
The first part, the underlying blue black ink color, was kind of a chicken move on my part. I could have gone more experimental, like with Neon Lime or Citrus Ice, but I played it safe this time around. It was the right call too, because this shade is more than interesting enough. There is a bright, turquoise-like tone under the dark blue when the ink first goes down and prior to the sparkle taking over. It’s really fun to watch go down on the page, and the color does peek out from time to time in the finished product.
And that finished product is full of sparkles! Like, a lot of sparkles. I think by coming in at this juncture of the shimmer ink product cycle I’m getting the best version of this style of ink. The particles are super-fine, don’t clog any part of the pen, and have a very high dispersal rate throughout the ink on the page. The more I think about it, the more impressed I become.
So count me in. I’m on the sparkle ink bandwagon. Better late than never, right? I see a future where I have at least one shimmering ink inked up at all times, just for the fun and fascination it provides on the page. And isn’t that what it’s all about?
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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