Ferris Wheel Press 28ml Calligraphy Ink, Port Pirouette

Ferris Wheel Press’s calligraphy inks (which are used for dip pen and not to be confused with their enormous line of fountain pen inks) have such a desirable consistency. In general, they’re thick, creamy, smooth, matte, water-resistant, quick-drying, and very opaque. I purchased my first calligraphy ink from them years ago, and have since purchased nearly every color they have available (which isn’t as many color options as I’d like just yet, but seems to be growing steadily through the years). Their shimmer calligraphy inks are a bit of a different beast than their non-shimmer calligraphy inks, however. They’ve got less opacity to them and their shimmer comes from individual pieces of glitter that reside in the ink. This means that these shimmer inks won’t always 100% conceal whatever pencil lines or markings may be underneath them, and they will require constant stirring to be shimmery. The ink’s thick enough that the glitter pieces do not sink to the bottom of the jar super quickly, but it does get annoying feeling like I have to clean, cap, and reshake every few dips and also contributes to a sense of urgency when writing. The glitter pieces are also bigger than I prefer—which causes the overall shimmer to appear spotty (and conversely noticeably bland if enough of them aren’t incorporated). I much prefer shimmer inks like Dr. Ph Martin’s, where the shimmer is so fine that the entire ink shines—not individual pieces that can be seen floating about. My overall impression of Ferris Wheel Press’s calligraphy shimmer inks is that it literally does look like someone threw a bunch of craft glitter into colored matte ink, but some of the ink/shimmer combos are really beautiful. And—as I said—the texture, consistency, and coverage of these is generally pretty great compared to other inks I’ve used. The fact that they’re waterproof allows them to be compatible with water-friendly media and have a greater sense of permanence—plus dry time only takes a minute or two. As far as feedback pertaining to this specific color of ink goes: this is one of the more disappointing ones. I haven’t gotten a ton of usage out of it yet, but the golden shimmer is hardly detectable against the super opaque maroon base color, no matter how much I shake it. Additionally, the maroon is so dark, it almost looks like a brown, which was a bit disappointing to me (was hoping for something that more closely resembles red). Will still continue buying any new colors they release—just wishing this one delivered a bit more in the color and shimmer departments.