How could I make it so ferrofluid drops do not coalesce?

[Grey2312]

TL;DR

Looking for a way to suspend droplets of ferrfluid in a clear liquid in such a way that they do no coalesce.

Hello! I've been brainstorming on how to prevent a lot of ferrofluid droplets that are in the same container. This is for an art idea that I have (I absolutely love it when science and art come together) where I want it to look like a murmuration of starlings. Here's a link of what they look like:

How could I make this happen? The only way I can think of to achieve the desired effect is to have varying droplet sizes of ferrofluid suspended in a clear viscous liquid. Im hoping for the smaller droplets to move slower than larger droplets when a magnet is applied. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to go about achieving the desired effect?

 

[Rive]

I'm no expert in ferrofluids, but based on their composition I think it would not work. Even if you manage to disperse it into some uniform drop cluster, they can still stick together without coalescing.

What I would try is to embed some iron dust particles into transparent epoxy beads, and then immerse them to some transparent oil. With setting the density and refraction of the oil/epoxy right it may work.

It's kind of similar how ferrofluids themselves work, but with larger, transparent and guaranteed separation between the particles.