[tnmike1]

A while back I made the decision to get rid of Noodler Inks and use Diamine inks exclusively for my vintage pens and more expensive Pelikans. I sold my Noodlers, but hated giving up on Zhivago, which was my favorite green ink. I spoke to Christine at Diamine to see if they had a green like Zhivago and she referred me to Phil. I told him of my search and he said "let me see what I can do" About a week later, I received in the mail two 30ml bottles of experimental colors. The first was a green very close to Umber. The second, though, was code-named 40 and was exactly what I was after. Not as olive as Zhivago, but that dark almost-black green that is also water=resistant.

I told him I loved it, and he said "OK, give it a name." So I chose "Sherwood Forest."

I was told this morning by Phil that Diamine will now produce what Phil called "bespoke" ink. They will be specially=made colors and SHerwood Forest is one of them. Phil said this will not be a mass-produced item, but only as they have time to produce.

The bespoke listings are on the website, I'm told, with a color chart to follow. So far only Sherwood Forest and Amazing Amethyst are shown and no colors as yet. Phil said he'd add the little color swatch tomorrow. Available only in 30 ml. plastic bottles

So the folks at Diamine--many thanks.

I'll leave it to someone else to post a review of the ink since I don't have the necessary equipment==scanner, etc--to doa proper review. Suffice to say it shades moderately well, is a very pleasant dark green, holds its own to raindrops (Phil said he soaked a page for five minutes and could still read the writing) great flow and in a Pelikan demonstrator does not "stick" to the walls of the pen barrel.

Very happy with the ink and honored that Diamine chose my name for it.

This post has been edited by tnmike1: 05 November 2009 - 01:37 PM

[piembi]

OH NO! I did not like Umber but this story made me order the next Diamine ink

I like the colour of Zhivage but it has stained my Lamy Vista when leaking from the converter twice and I am not very enthusiastic about filling this ink into one of my vintage pens. The Lamy Vista is used to Noodlers inks - that's what the pen is for - and this is the first one to stain my pen! Neither the blue Noodlers inks nor any kind of MB, Visconti or Rohrer & Klingner green, red or purple ink did stain the pen the slightest bit or has leaked from the converter.

Hope the Diamine Sherwood Forest comes close and I can say goodbye to my staining green ink.

[tnmike1]

Take this for what it's worth, but have had a little Pelikan 215 demonstrator and a larger 800 demonstrator filled with this ink and so far, no staining, no creep no NOTHING. Now I don't know how long it takes for staining to come into existence, but they've been filled for about four days with no staining in evidence

[piembi]

Well, it did NOT stain the section with the feed inside. It stained the threads of the section and the barrel when leaking. Maybe the threads are not as smooth as the rest of the pen. Think it should be ok if it does not leak. So far I could not find the reason for the leaking (yes, I doublechecked if the converter was correctly positioned). Pen and converter did ok with any other ink I have used in it.

Now I have a Vista with greenish threads

[Jared]

I've had great luck working with Phil, which influenced one of Diamine's new colors--Midnight. I'd like to see a nice burgundy/bordeaux, an antique dark brown like R&K Sepia, and some greens with nice olive tones like Noodler's Zhivago, Army Green and El Lawrence. I've already made these suggestions, which Phil seemed quite willing to accept. However, I am mindful that Diamine appears to be rapidly approaching Noodler's in number of inks. I expect that Phil is quite busy.

[tawanda]

I'm with you Jared!

I'd like to see an olive green-gold like PR Avacado, something akin to PR's Burgundy Mist, and a brown-black like Noodler's Walnut. (I did want an Iroshizuku Ku Jaku lookalike, but discovered Diamine Florida Blue is a great substitute).

If that worked out, I'd never buy anything but Diamine again. Are you listening Phil?

tnmike, can I ask how much a 30ml bespoke bottle costs?

Cheers

[tnmike1]

Price of the bottle is on the website under the dropdown for "inks". can't remember offhand but the same pricing as the other 30 ml. bottles

[saintsimon]

I think their new approach is very sensible. They cannot mass-procuce an endless numer of different ink colours just because we ask for more shades every time. I doubt all their colours sell equally well and the mumber of fountain pen enthusiasts to soak up enough ink (or even more than they actually need) is limited.

[Deirdre]

Okay, now I can get an ink that's pretty much exactly my favorite color.

[MikeW]

This is probably a silly question but will Diamine have any copyright or other legal problems if they use ink names that are similar to those used by other ink manufacturers? For example, Private Reserve has a "Sherwood Green" (actually, there are two - regular and fast drying). Not trying to create a big fuss - I love that they are willing to do this and might very well ask them to do something for our pen club - just curious is all.

[GreenVelvet]

MikeW, on 06 November 2009 - 12:48 AM, said:

This is probably a silly question but will Diamine have any copyright or other legal problems if they use ink names that are similar to those used by other ink manufacturers? For example, Private Reserve has a "Sherwood Green" (actually, there are two - regular and fast drying). Not trying to create a big fuss - I love that they are willing to do this and might very well ask them to do something for our pen club - just curious is all.

Yeah, I was wondering about this, too, at least for the confusion factor.

[saintsimon]

There is Tropical Blue from PR and Diamine, too. But Diamine was first in that case.

[JakobS]

MikeW, on 06 November 2009 - 12:48 AM, said:

This is probably a silly question but will Diamine have any copyright or other legal problems if they use ink names that are similar to those used by other ink manufacturers? For example, Private Reserve has a "Sherwood Green" (actually, there are two - regular and fast drying). Not trying to create a big fuss - I love that they are willing to do this and might very well ask them to do something for our pen club - just curious is all.

A great question, and it maybe relevant for some of the more creative names out there, but for something like sherwood forest, which is an actual forest in England, I don't think it is a name that can be copyrightable.

It is interesting that many are going for colors that ink companies are already making though, and not for unique colors that have yet to be represented in the market. This is what I would do in creating a bespoke ink, but other than different colored iron gall inks, I have yet to think of a color that I would want to be specifically made for me, but surely this will come to me with time!!

This post has been edited by JakobS: 06 November 2009 - 03:11 AM

[Jason Oliver]

This all sounds really, really cool. The more bespoke, the better !

[Jimmy James]

I think one aspect of any intellectual property dispute of that nature is consumer confusion. If the name were the same and the second company took pains to put the ink in a bottle that looked just like the first company, marketed it in the same manner, etc, there would be more danger of a problem. To use a clearer example:

We know Noodler's created an ink called Borealis and that it has similar attributes to Aurora Black (same color, not bulletproof, very dark, etc). If instead Nathan had called the ink Noodler's Aurora Black, put it in a bottle just like the Aurora one with a label that looks just like the Aurora label, and marketed it to the same customers in the same manner, the chances would be increased that there might be an infringement.