Dr. Ph. Martin'sIridescent Calligraphy Ink, 1 Fl Oz (Pack of 12), Set 2 Colors

Wonderful, gorgeous iridescent inks. I use these for a variety of projects, including a nice extra touch on paintings and wedding invitations and keepsake vows.The weight of the ink is excellent. I have only ever used dip pens or brushes with Dr. Ph. Martin's inks (iridescent or otherwise), and I haven't had problems with running and the ink colors are true. What you see (once the ink is properly shaken/mixed in the bottle) is what you get when you write, and weeks later. The inks are waterproof once dry, (depending on the nib used) can stand nicely up from the paper, and unlike other metallic inks I've used, once dry if you rub the text or pattern, no metallic residue drifts across the page. Also, once shaken, the metallic part of the ink stays suspended and mixed far longer than other inks I've used which required constant shaking.That said, you have no idea how long iridescent inks have been in one position when you receive them. You may have to go in with a plastic rod (I use metal with a blunt tip so as not to scratch the glass, but I'm not worried) and mix very settled sediment in to the rest of the ink. My experience is that I have to do this once, but I should note that I have not gone more than a month without giving all my iridescent inks a light shake before replacing them.Overall, if you're looking for high quality metallic ink that you will NOT have to be shaking every ten seconds, and which will not leave silvery smudges once you're done, or if you just want something pretty to write with, I HIGHLY recommend this set.Pictures are from my tests with a 512 Speedball nib on ordinary notebook paper.

Very happy with this ink and the variety of colors in this set! Yes, the mica/sparkles sink to the bottom, and you'll need to shake it up, probably a lot, every time to use it (make sure you shake it up until everything looks uniform in the bottle before using), but it's still more convenient than using a brush with metallic watercolors on your nib for a similar sparkly effect, and I haven't had to dilute it at all to get smooth flow from a dip pen straight out of the bottle. If you shake well, then decant a little into a dinky dip to use it, the little jar will be easier to shake up frequently while you work, too. It's acrylic-based, so make sure you wash your nib/etc. before it dries on completely if you don't want it to stay there! Some of my droppers didn't work (I'm going to try to contact the manufacturer about that, since at least three of mine were faulty in this set) but the ink itself is great.

The colors are amazing

All colors took only about a minute of consistent shaking to reincorporate the ink and mica (I'm supposing) dust together. None of them have been gummy or seeming like they were not sealed properly (no leaky bottles in my set). All droppers work, without any blockage (as some inks I've ordered from Amazon have been) having to be cleared out first. Colors are reasonably vivid, but not a dark as I had hoped. Amethyst is especially pale - lavender or lilac comes to mind more than a true deeper Amethyst color. These inks will bleed through regular weight paper slightly, so either use absorbent ground on your lighter weight papers, or get thicker paper - 90lb and up. I use these for both dip pens and painting, and it washes from my brushes and nibs just fine, using either Speedball or Dr. P.H. Martin's Bombay pen cleaner. For DIP PEN users: consistent flow can be an issue, especially with flex nibs. Practice with these first.

Deep pigments, vibrant colors, great color punch to watercolors. Quality, heavy glass bottles with quality droppers. Tremendous amount of product available for projects. I love to own ever single set. Only the price holds me back. If your sitting on the fence, move this set up your wish list. I’m not sorry I did.

The media could not be loaded. I used these inks in several illuminated letters I made as gifts. They shimmer and shine magnificently! And the color and shine varies with different viewing angles! I have even purchased other colors that are available but not included in this 12 pack.

Received an older set, contacted customer service and they sent a newer set with more than enough glass mixing beads and droppers for both the old set and new set and even added watercolor paper too! No questions asked! Can't wait to use more of their products, I had been eyeing this set for a while and I'm more than happy I bought it. Next on my wishlist is the hydra watercolor set!!!

So I bought these in 2018 to try out, along with PH Martin's Bombay inks. I am reviewing this now in 2022 after much usage and testing. For the amount of money you pay for this set, I don't think it's worth the trouble when it comes to unclogging, unclumping, or just general use.I had bought both set 1 and 2. Different colors from both sets were had clumps, clogged the dropper, or luckily remained as they were when I first bought them: liquid and easily reconstituted when shaken.I included a picture of one color from each set, one and two, that showed one that was clumping really bad, really goopy. The other one had remained perfectly fine.This seem to be a common occurrence amongst all the bottles, with some being perfectly fine and liquidy and others just being beyond fixing. The main common problem amongst all the bottles was clogging of the eye dropper, which, once I was done using, I squeezed out all the liquid and put it back inside so that was empty. Whether that was correct or not I'm not sure but I didn't think that filling the eye dropper with liquid was going to keep it unclogged.19R Rose Lane was really clogged and took some time to get the plug out.