My buddy at the pen shop insisted I add a single drop of Photo-Flo to my shimmer mix, and now it flows perfectly in my vintage Sheaffer.

I was ready to give up on my 'Midnight Storm' recipe after it kept clogging, but that one drop in 15ml made all the difference, so has anyone else found a specific surfactant ratio that works for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez2mo ago

Wait, are we doing chemistry experiments now? It's just ink for a pen (you know, to write stuff). I get wanting it to work right, but mixing in random photo chemicals feels like a lot. My grandpa used that same Sheaffer for years with basic ink and it never clogged once. Maybe the shimmer recipes are just too fussy to be worth the hassle.

simonbell15d ago

Exactly the same thing happened with my 'Galactic Storm' mix. I was stirring in so much extra lubricant trying to unclog it that the ink got way too wet. A single drop of Photo-Flo 200 in a 10ml sample bottle saved it. Now it writes smooth as butter in my Parker 51 with zero hard starts. You really only need that tiniest amount, more than a drop and it gets too runny.

derek_dixon782mo ago

Understand that Photo-Flo is just a gentle surfactant, not a random harsh chemical. It's basically fancy soap that breaks surface tension. Elizabeth_Gonzalez, your grandpa's basic ink worked because it didn't have glitter particles in suspension. That's the whole issue. Adding a tiny drop to a shimmer ink helps those particles move freely instead of clumping and clogging the feed. It's a known trick for getting problem inks to behave.