Although the more traditional ink colors still make up the majority of the marketshare for fountain pen users, we have noticed that more and more people have been reaching out to ask for advice on other ink colors too. Due to this, we have decided to publish articles going over a few of these questions as the rarer ink color marker really can be a minefield.
One of the more commonly asked questions that we see asked each month is based around the best gold fountain pen ink. Although there are a few strong options, we feel that the Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink is the best option on the market at the time of writing as it offers a better writing experience with the majority of nib sizes without the issues of some of the compeating golden inks on the market.
Unlike most of the other golden fountain pen inks on the market right now, Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink has managed to earn itself an excellent reputation amongst penthusiasts that just keeps on getting better with each month that passes. Due to being the market leader, it has been used with a massive number of different fountain pen models too without any reports of serious issues such as feed or ink path blockages like some of the other inks have.
Is There Such A Thing As Gold Ink For Fountain Pens?
Although it was hard to formulate a gold ink that would perform well for a fountain pen for decades due to the limitations of both pigment and dye-based fountain pen inks, over the last three years or so, the spike in people looking for gold ink has encouraged ink brands to put more time and money into developing a decent gold ink. This is how the Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink product came about and since its release, it has seen steady growth as it dominates the compeating gold inks on the market.
One issue that you may have with cheaper fountain pens is if they only take ink cartridges as you will need a piston filler, a vacuum filler, a cartridge convertor or a piston convertor to load the golden ink into your fountain pen. This is common with cheaper fountain pens unfortunately and is close to unavoidable.
One work around that we have seen people implement with cheaper fountain pens who want to use the rarer ink colors is to get a cheap flush kit and in addition to using it to clean their pen, they will use it to clean empty cartridges. They then try their best to refill the cartridge with their new ink and refit it to their pen. Although this may work, it is not easy, and using a fountain pen with a piston filler will almost always be a better route to take.
The Best Gold Fountain Pen Ink On The Market!
As we touched on above, in our opinion, Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink is the best gold ink for fountain pens currently available on the market. Although its officially recommended with a broad nib size on your fountain pen for optimal coloration, the ink has been used with a wide range of different fountain pen models with different nib sizes without issue by the community.
Although the ink does cost around the $20 mark per bottle depending on where you purchase it from, this is a common price point for any rarer ink due to it being harder to formulate than a normal pigment or dye based ink. When it comes to gold ink specifically, Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink is actually towards the cheaper end of the price point with some of the higher price point gold inks actually under performing when compared to it.
Due to the ink coming from Diamine’s shimmering line of inks, it does have a shimmer to it that may not be suitable for your specific needs but the majority of golden inks on the market also have this shimmering effect so there is no real alternative available. Although there are some dip pen inks on the market that are gold without the shimmer, they are thicker and may cause blockages and inconstant ink flow in your fountain pens ink path so we always recommend that you avoid using dip pen ink with fountain pens.
Please also note that if you are using a thin paper with an extra-fine or fine nib size on your fountain pen, some people have reported that the ink will look yellow rather than gold. You may be able to correct this issue by using a cheap but high-quality paper or by ensuring that you have a fountain pen with a medium, broad or double-broad nib size as they will transfer more ink to the paper to get that gold look.
In our opinion, the only let down of the Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink is that it is not water resistant or waterproof but with this type of ink, this is unfortunately unavoidable and the competing gold inks on the market also have this issue. Thankfully, the majority of our readers will probably need need a waterproof gold fountain pen ink so this should not be too much of an issue anyway but we did want to make our readers aware of it.
How Do You Use Gold Ink?
Although the actual formula of gold ink is slightly different, the basic concept of using gold ink with your fountain pen is very similar to a traditional ink. You add it to your piston filler or convertor and then let the feed and ink path fill with the ink and write as normal.
Once the ink is flowing it is rare that you will have any issues with inconsistant ink flow too unless the ink path of your pen is dirty and has a build up of old, dried ink causing the issue. This is due to Diamine doing everything they can to formulate their rarer inks to flow just as well as a traditional ink to ensure that all of their customers get the best writing experience possible.
Does Gold Ink Feather, Bleed or Ghost?
No matter what type or color of ink we see questions about, we always see people asking if there will be issues with feathering, bleeding or ghosting when using the ink. As we always say, this depends on a number of factors and your ink is one of the less important factors.
The two main reasons that your ink may feather, bleed or ghost is due to the pens nib being too wet and transferring too much ink to the paper causing the issues or due to you using thin, low GSM paper. Thankfully, both of these can be fixed and we have an article online going over how you can fix a fountain pen that is too wet and if you are having issues due to your paper being too thin then you can purchase some cheap high GSM paper as it can easily stop issues such as bleeding or ghosting.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over what we feel is the best gold fountain pen ink on the market right now. In our opinion, Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink is the best option by far and is leaps and bounds ahead of what the competing ink brands are currently offering. We are confident that unless you need a waterproof gold ink that it should be able to meet your needs with ease and help you get the task at hand complete with its unique, shimmering gold look.
