[Will]

I noticed that Diamine have a new WES ink (presumably named after the recent pen show in London). Where does this ink lie in the Diamine line up? I've seen the swatch on the website but there is nothing like someone who has it describing it. Any help would be gratefully received. I was at the pen show but didn't notice this particular ink - what a shame!

Cheers

[dcwaites]

Under fluorescent light, it is a medium blue, tending towards light blue, but under natural light it is almost indistinguishable from Parker Quink Blue-Black in a medium to dryish pen.

[piembi]

Received my bottle of Kensington blue last week and like it very much.
I will make a comparison of various Diamine blues later today.

[encremental]

Sorry - didn't see this when I was posting about this ink in the bespoke thread.

I'd say this is another go at Penman Sapphire. I have a page of each in front of me, and it is very close. Maybe the shading does not pool to quite such depths, but it's not a bad attempt. I can't say I'm seeing any Quink BB teal undertones in daylight myself, but there is not the slightest hint of purple either.

In a wet Pelikan M400 F nib there's very attractive shading and the saturation and flow are both similar to Penman, i.e. lots of both!

John

[piembi]

This is the scan of various Diamine blues. I have dipped a Lamy 1.1 nib.
Second page is a writing sample of Diamine Kensington blue, Rohrer & Klingner Permanent Blue and Diamine Presidential Blue. The R&K and the Diamine Presidential do need wet nibs. Otherwise it looks a bit pale.
I like the Kensington very much. It is a tad brighter than the other two inks. It is a medium blue, neither turquoise nor with purple hues.

Kensington blue is not picky. Works perfectly with the Sheaffer Snorkel and I will try another pen next time.

http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh474/piembi/Ink%20Samples/DiamineInks1.jpg

http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh474/piembi/Ink%20Samples/DiamineInks2.jpg

[Will]

Thanks everyone. That's great. It looks like I NEED to try this one!!!!

Thanks for the scans

[Thornton]

Love the name, love the color. I'll be picking up a bottle of this one. Thanks for the scans.

[saintsimon]

My Kensington is not nearly as dark. It is a light-medium blue.

[dcwaites]

saintsimon, on 08 November 2009 - 05:53 AM, said:

My Kensington is not nearly as dark. It is a light-medium blue.

Same here. There is no way the colour of my bottle of Kensington is anywhere near the colour of my Penman Sapphire. It is much closer to the colour of slightly faded Parker Quink Blue-Black.

Are there two batches of this ink out there, with different colours?

[stedders]

Spooky!

My Diamine WES Kensington Blue isn't like the above descriptions. It is a dinstinctly greenish blue ... not unlike Noodler's Navy.

Andy

[piembi]

dcwaites, on 07 November 2009 - 11:30 PM, said:

saintsimon, on 08 November 2009 - 05:53 AM, said:

My Kensington is not nearly as dark. It is a light-medium blue.

Same here. There is no way the colour of my bottle of Kensington is anywhere near the colour of my Penman Sapphire. It is much closer to the colour of slightly faded Parker Quink Blue-Black.

Are there two batches of this ink out there, with different colours?

It is darker than the first three samples (Meditterranean, Florida and Royal Blue) and lighter than Presidential blue. It is a medium blue. The scan is somewhat darker than the inks on paper. Maybe the comparison does help.

Coming out of the Sheaffer Snorkel the ink is considerably darker than with the 1.1 Lamy nib. Since the pen has been fitted with a new sac it has been filled with Kensington Blue. No mix with any kind of ink residue. Well, maybe pen and ink are a perfect match :)

[dcwaites]

Some scans.
First off, some reference inks --
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/SvY6WS9KbwI/AAAAAAAAATc/pfke7aixDt0/s640/New%20Reference%20Inks%202c.jpg

Next, 4 Diamine inks --
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/SvY6Qw4zS0I/AAAAAAAAATY/Q__leDpPy3Y/s720/New%20Diamine%20Inks%202c.jpg
Note that the Havasu Turquoise is a little greener than shown, and the Kensington is a little bluer.

Finally, a blend of 9 parts Majestic Blue and 50 parts Havasu Turquoise --
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/SvY93l6BdRI/AAAAAAAAATk/RV4g1AudTO0/s720/HavasuMajestic.jpg

The scanning settings and final brightness were adjusted so that what came out on my screen (iMac 20") was as near as I could get with my scanner. As noted above, the Havasu and Kensington should be visually separated a litte more. I think that there is a green component in the Kensington that is fluorescing.

All samples were written with an E.S. Perry Osmiroid #1 Stub Italic on Stora Enso 4CC paper.
The scanner was turned on and left to warm up for one hour before scanning.

[encremental]

Well, thanks for that David - I think we can definitely say that there are different batches floating around. I've got the Visconti, Penman, Quink, Havasu, Sailor Majestic and Midnight, and they all look right in that scan to me, but the Kensington Blue - not even remotely similar. I'm sure piembi will say the same. In fact, your colour looks a lot more like the new Diamine Marine than anything else! Now I wonder...

John

I really like your Majestic Havasu! It seems to have captured Majestic's astonishing shading and donated it to that cheerful blue. I wonder if one could pull off the same trick by using it in a green or purple?

[Will]

You've all totally confused me now!! Now do I get so I can see what i think or do I wait and see what eveyone over time thinks over time?!?!?!?!

Yours,

Totally Confused

PS Of course this is the fun thing about this network - everyone views things differently

[JakobS]

To me, this looks like a matter of one's person's written samples coming from a more wetter writer than the others. Perhaps if we can have some standardization, same pens/nibs, paper etc., a better idea of the ink could be had. This does not look like a matter of different batches, just how the ink looks when used with a finer wetter nibbed pen, and a more drier medium nibbed pen.

This post has been edited by JakobS: 08 November 2009 - 05:08 PM