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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?
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elizabeth_gonzalez6mo 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.
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simonbell3mo 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.
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derek_dixon786mo 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.
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