Diamine Delamere Green

Up today is a fun green from Diamine Ink. It is Diamine Delamere Green. I’m not big on green inks, but I quite like this one. I think it is because of its blue undertones (I’m a sucker for blue-green inks). Make no mistake, it is definitely more green than blue.

My husband has to use a green ink for work, and this is one of his favorites to use. He usually uses a Lamy Safari with a fine nib or a Faber Castell Basic with a fine nib. He is a lefty over-writer, and he reports no issues with smearing.

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding on good paper
• Great flow and lubrication
• Drying time is average with a normal sized nib, but was a bit extended with the fat stub on this Estie. There was no point in even trying to get a calculation. The time was well in excess of 30 seconds.
• Shading is good especially with a fat juicy nib on a coated paper like Rhodia, et al.
• Not waterproof or water-resistant.

This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine ink. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Chocolate Brown

My attraction to brown inks is a fairly recent one. I used to detest them. Why? I’m not really sure. I suppose I just built up a sort of brown ink block. Boy have things changed now. I recently reviewed Diamine Saddle Brown, it is one of my favorite brown inks. Well, Diamine Chocolate Brown is my second favorite Diamine brown ink and probably one of my all time favorite browns, up there with Caran d’Ache Grand Canyon Brown and Noodler’s #41 Brown (old formula). Now, I generally don’t care for browns that lean toward another color. Chocolate Brown, like milk chocolate leans a little toward red. It is subtle enough to not bother me, but not so subtle that you can’t notice that there is just a little something different about Diamine Chocolate Brown. This is definitely a good dark brown ink.

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding.
• Very good flow and lubrication.
• Fast drying time.
• Some shading on coated papers.
• Not waterproof and really not very water-resistant either

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This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine Ink Co. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Imperial Purple

Here is another great purple: Diamine Imperial Purple. This is another ink that is “just purple” to my eye. It is very similar to its label-mate: Majestic Purple, except that Imperial Purple has just a touch more red to it, and I find it to be a more vibrant color than Majestic Purple. As compared to the newest love of my life, PR DC Super Violet, Imperial Purple is similar, but a bit more red and somehow a bit less exciting. Still, when it comes to purples, this is also a very good choice.

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding
• Good flow and lubrication
• Average drying time. This Lamy Studio is a very wet writer.
• Shading is ok on coated papers and pretty much nil on absorbent papers.
• Not waterproof. Some measure of resistance if you are quick to clean up any spill.

 

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This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine Ink Co. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Registrar’s Blue, An Iron Gall Ink

Up today is Diamine Registrar’s Blue. This is one of very few Iron Gall inks on the market. I have previously reviewed two other iron gall inks: R&K Salix and R&K Scaboisa.

Iron gall inks have been in existence for many hundreds of years, but most were for dip pens only. However, with the advent of the fountain pen, at the turn of the last century, came fountain pen safe iron gall inks as well. Iron gall inks are waterproof, and have been proven to stand the test of time despite their acidic nature (can eat through some papers over the course of several decades). Diamine Registrar’s Blue is a fountain pen safe traditional blue-black. It goes down blue and quickly begins to color shift to a very dark almost black sort of color. Here is a picture of the color shift:

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When I first attempted to use this ink I experienced a near immediate clog. When I filled my pen, I had dipped it all the way to the bottom of the bottle. Iron gall inks tend to have a lot of sediment in comparison to  conventional modern fountain pen inks, so I likely sucked some of that sediment into the pen. I flushed the pen without much difficulty, and filled it again with this time not dipping the pen too deep into the bottle. The second time worked out just fine, and I had no clogs. This potential for sediment and the acidity of the ink put iron gall inks in the high maintenance category. In my opinion, this ink is worth the extra effort.

 

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding. This ink performs admirably on poorer quality papers.
• Flow and lubrication are pretty good, but iron gall inks tend to run a bit dry. This ink is no exception.
• Drying time is a bit long with a wet writing pen.
• Excellent shading.
• 100% waterproof!

 

This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine Ink Co. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

PS: I just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prays. I have made it back from my trip to see my grandpa. He is stable, but not doing well at all. I’m just glad I got a chance to spend some time with him before it was too late.

Diamine Saddle Brown

Hello all! I just got a new monitor. I’ve been messing around with the color calibration. I think I’ve got it right, but I’m not all the way sure. If my scans start looking really off please let me know. This has been really frustrating!

Up today is Diamine Saddle Brown. This is one of my favorite brown inks. To me, it is a true medium brown with very slight reddish undertones. It doesn’t lean heavily one direction or the other. It’s also quite well-behaved with a little water resistance as well.

This is the ink I chose for my first fill of my newest pen: the Pilot Custom 823 in Amber with a Medium nib. These two inks love each other!

The Details:

• Minimal to no feathering depending on the paper.
• No bleeding.
• Good flow and lubrication.
• Average drying time at 5ish seconds.
• Very good shading on coated papers like Rhodia. Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot of shading.
• Not waterproof, but it is resistant. See image below.

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This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Sapphire Blue

This is an oft recommended ink, and I can understand why. It is  a very standard looking medium blue with a hint of purple. There are other similar colors such as Waterman Florida Blue, J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir and Quink Washable Blue. But, what this ink has that those don’t is higher saturation. That fact makes this my favorite purplish blue ink of the bunch.

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding.
• Great flow and lubrication
• Average drying time
• No shading
• Surprisingly water-resistant

Now, last week I reviewed Noodler’s Baystate Blue. In my opinion, this is the closest BSB sub that I have seen. Of course it isn’t perfect. When you are trying to come up with BSB subs there are certain concessions that must be made. Firstly, you aren’t going to be able to get that trademark vibrancy that BSB is known for. There really aren’t any other inks on the market that will glow like BSB, so if that is the most important characteristic to you, then you might as well stick with BSB. Secondly, you aren’t going to get the same level of waterproofness from any sub. You can get some water resistance, but not 100% waterproofness.

In my opinion, Sapphire Blue is  a very similar blue with a bit more purple thanBSB. It is not as vibrant, but it still jumps off the page. It is almost as saturated. It has a pretty high level of water-resistance.

This sample was sent to me by the good folks at Diamine. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Evergreen

Diamine Evergreen is one of those colors that many hoped would replace the now discontinued Montblanc Racing Green. Alas, this isn’t it. While this is a nice dark green it lacks the olive tones and antique appearance of Montblanc Racing Green. Really, I’d say this is a more obviously green version of Noodler’s Zhivago. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of Racing Green, then this color will probably appeal.

Honestly, I’m not much of a green ink sort of person, but even I’m kind of fond of this ink (but not fond enough of it to use it on any regular basis).

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding
• Flows very freely and has decent lubrication. Not a dry writer at all.
• Dries pretty quickly on the papers tested.
• Not much shading at all. It’s a bit too saturated/dense for that.
• Definitely not waterproof and really not very water resistant. If you are quick you can salvage a faint trace of your writing.

(Click to enlarge and sharpen the image. Scan appear slightly more yellow than in reality.)

This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine Ink Co. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Syrah

In my review of Parker Penman Ruby I mentioned that I thought its closest current production ink was Diamine Syrah. Now, I thought I had already posted my review of this ink, but apparently I did not. Well, better late than never! Here it is.

Diamine Syrah has got to be one of my absolute favorite Diamine inks. This ink is apparently based on Richard Binder’s “Binder Burgundy”. I don’t know if Syrah is a true representation of that ink, but either way it is truly fantastic. I’d describe this ink as an exceptionally gorgeous “glass of burgundy wine” sort of color. It is very close to the color of Parker Penman Ruby. Syrah is just a bit deeper, and it doesn’t shade as well as Penman Ruby.

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding
• Very good flow, but it could be a bit more lubricating
• Average drying time of about 7 seconds
• Shading is pretty good
• Not waterproof, but it shows some water resistance.

(Click to enlarge and sharpen)

This ink was sent to me for review by the good folks at Diamine Ink. I am not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Oxblood

Earlier this week I reviewed Diamine Red Dragon. Today’s ink, Diamine Oxblood, is cut from the same clothe so to speak. As a matter of fact, if someone told me that Red Dragon was stumbled upon while trying to manufacture Oxblood I’d believe it. The differences, however, are obvious. Oxblood is much darker, and has a bit more brown in it. It definitely has the look of blood.

The ink itself is exceptionally well-behaved. Further, although I’m not one to use red ink for everyday tasks, this ink would be perfect in that role. It is a very subdued color, and it’s very easy on the eyes. I like it!

The Details:

• No feathering or bleeding
• excellent flow and lubrication
• Average drying time
• Minimal to no shading
• Not waterproof, and only minimally water-resistant.

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This bottle of ink was sent to me for review by Diamine. I’m not otherwise affiliated with them.

Diamine Red Dragon

This is one of the more recent additions to the Diamine line up. It’s also one that was proved to be quite popular. Red Dragon is a dark red color, but it’s not at all brown. It’s actual very similar to another recent Diamine release–Diamine Oxblood–, but Red Dragon is lighter and redder. Red Dragon also seems rather similar to Diamine Monaco Red, but it does not appear as brick red / red-brown.

All in all, I quite like this red. It’s vibrant, but not cloyingly so. It’s pretty well-behaved. This would make a great red for editing or for use in the workplace. I definitely recommend it.

The Details:

• No feathering except for poorer quality papers, but even then it isn’t significant.
• No bleed through.
• Excellent flow and decent lubrication.
• Drying times are average
• There is some shading, but it isn’t extraordinary.
• Unfortunately, no water resistance.

(Click to enlarge and sharpen the image)

This bottle of ink was sent to me for review by Diamine. I’m not otherwise affiliated with them.