Sheening Fountain Pen Inks: A Beginner’s Guide
If you’ve ever seen a handwritten line that looks blue… but also somehow metallic pink when you tilt the page? That’s sheen—one of fountain pen inks’ most delightful little magic tricks.
At its simplest: a sheening ink has a base color, plus a second “hidden” color that appears as a reflective, metallic-looking layer when the light hits it just right.
What is “sheen,” exactly?
A sheening ink is (usually) a dye-based ink formulated so that—under the right conditions—it leaves behind enough dye on the surface of the paper to create that shiny, color-shifting effect. Octopus describes their sheeners as water-based, dye-based inks where the sheen is made possible by a very high dye content. Other manufacturers may add particles, similar to a shimmer ink, to get a highly reflective sheen effect.
Think of it like this:
- Normal ink soaks into the paper and looks… normal.
- Sheen ink partly sits on top and dries into a thin, reflective layer—so you get a second color sheening back at you.
Use the right paper
Sheen is picky. It depends heavily on:
- Fountain Pen Friendly Paper (smooth, coated, less absorbent paper is best for showing off sheen)
-
Ink flow / How much ink hits the page (wetter pens and broader nibs dump more ink onto the page, leading to more dramatic sheen)
On rough, uncoated, absorbent paper, the ink's dye sinks too deep—so the sheen can’t really form.
Sheen Ink Considerations
1) Use the right paper
If you want sheen without fighting your setup, start with fountain-pen-friendly paper that’s smooth and well-sized. Octopus specifically recommends high quality, very smooth, coated writing paper and even calls out Clairefontaine paper as a great everyday choice.
2) Pick a wetter pen (or a broader nib)
More ink on the page means more sheen. The effect depends on enough ink getting onto the page, which means generous ink flow and/or a wide nib will give you the best results. If you only have an EF/F nib, don’t worry, you’ll still see sheen with the right paper but it may be a subtler effect.
3) Accept the trade-offs: dry time + smudge
Sheen inks often:
- take longer to dry
- can smudge more easily, even after they feel “dry”
Beginner tip: if you’re a lefty overwriter/side-writer or you highlight your notes, pick sheen inks for letters, journaling, and “fun pages,” not your fastest meeting scribbles.
4) Cleaning is still easy — your pens might just need a little more of it
That high dye load means you may need extra rinsing. Octopus recommends warm water and notes that cleaning simply takes more flushing than a typical ink.
5) Sheen is not shimmer (and that’s a good thing)
Some inks marketed for “wow factor” use glitter/shimmer particles—and those can build up in feeds and cause issues if you’re not careful. Wearingeul is famous for having shimmering ("glistening," as they call it) inks which use particles added to the ink to get the reflective shimmer/glitter effect.
With pure sheening inks, you’re getting a two-color reflective effect primarily from dye saturation—not suspended sparkle.
Fun Sheen inks you’ll find at Bottle & Plume
I've made a whole "sheening fountain pen ink" section here at Bottle and Plume, so you can easily find a sheening ink you like. Here are some of my own favorites:
Wearingeul - For Whom the Bell Tolls
Wearingeul - Phantom of the Opera
Wearingeul - Pride and Prejudice
Diamine Stargazer – Underrated (not as famous as Diamine's Polar Glow) and amazing.
Caution: sheening ink in clear fountain pens ("demonstrators")
Octopus notes that their Phoenix and Gryphon sheening inks contain a dye that can discolor very light-colored or transparent pens if left in a pen a long time (especially piston fillers/eyedroppers). That doesn’t mean "never use it," it just means "don’t let it camp out in your clear demonstrator for months without cleaning."
I personally love sheening inks, preferring them to shimmer inks when I want a wild, fun effect. But I don't use them in my fanciest clear/demonstrator pens, out of an abundance of caution. It's not just sheeners that I avoid in those pens, though – I also shy away from using super-saturated inks and red inks, which are more prone to staining clear plastics.
That said, go wild and enjoy the fun effects that you can get with sheening fountain pen ink! It's one of those things that makes people call you up to say "wow" when you send them a fun thank-you card or a letter.
Happy writing!