the colored pigments this ensures that the ink traveling down the polyester filler into the nib and onto the writing surfaces is metallized without the anti settling agent the aluminum flakes would separate very quickly from the colored pigments the resulting system will be one that writes very non uniform by with colored lines appearing with no metallic appearance the anti settling agent utilized in this invention is ionic in nature and derived from a polycarboxylic acid examples are phtalic acid adipic acid and tri metallic acid a percentage of 0 25 to 1 5 by weight is utilized an example of this agent is byk105 from byk chemie a humectant is utilized in this invention to keep the finished writing instrument from drying out on extended storage in warm and humid conditions polyglycols are particularly adept in these applications although glycerin may be utilized this invention uses polyglycols of molecular weight of 400 to 725 at about 5 to 10 by weight examples are carbowax 400 and carbowax 700 distributed by pride chemicals with many water based ink systems the surface tension is very high a surfactant helps reduce this property so that proper flow through the filler and wetting on different surfaces are achieved this ink composition has a surface tension of about 37 to 40 dynes cm and utilizes a fluro chemical surfactant similar to one provided by 3m fc 170c and zonyl fsn supplied by dupont chemicals a percentage of 0 5 to 0 75 by weight is used in this invention to discourage improper use of the marker.