This is not an attempt at calligraphy, just samples of some Diamine inks I have just purchased.
As a newcomer to this "inky" subforum, I hope that it is of some interest.

This was written on 90gsm Kodak Bright White Ink Jet paper with a Manuscript Fountain pen fitted with a square edged nib.

caliken

Very helpful to me, Caliken, as I have been over at the Writing Desk trying to determine the differences between and among several inks, and in particular the Diamine Vermillion vs. its seeming match of Coral, and one or two of the Reds.

Your scan shows the variation very well, and I am most likely going to buy the Vermillion, of which I have a small sample.

Are you favouring any one over the others?

And many thanks for the clarify of these comparisons.

Zoe

Hi Zoe,

For what it's worth...The Orange and the Coral look almost identical to me, so I don't use them on the same page of writing since it would look as though it was the same ink (both behave very well.)

The Vermillion shades so very much so that, to me, it looks washed out in the areas where it's the lightest. Maybe you'd be using it in pens in which it didn't have that effect.

Best, Ann

P.S. Caliken--what a good way to show the inks!

Very nice sample! The colours are wonderful and seem particularly suitable for italic writing.

Off topic: Where do you get Manuscript fountain pens? They have been mentioned here, but I haven't been able to find them.

The Imperial Blue and the Saddle Brown both strike my fancy. Does anyone know how Imperial Blue compares to Waterman Florida Blue, or how Saddle Brown compares to Waterman Havana Brown?

Ann, many thanks. Do you favour one of the three: Vermillion, Coral, Orange.

The Vermillion seems to be more toward the red family than the orange, but it can be a question of the online scans and not true to the colours themselves.

The small sample of the Vermillion I have behaves well in a dip pen, but I haven't tried it in a traditional fountain pen to see if it holds up and displays any variation.

Zoe,

I understand that the Diamine Vermillion is like a Cadmium Red light/Medium in painters' terms. To me, that makes it a cool and unusual ink -- Ink manufacturers almost never use this shade for red inks, preferring crimson reds instead.

The sample I have does seem more like Holbein's Vermillion (in watercolour) than I would have imagined. I'll have to compare it to the Cadmiums later today.

I love the colour vermillion-it has such a richness.

Do you have it, QM2?

Zoe : Ann

I agree that Orange and Coral are virtually identical. I find the Vermillion to be red with a touch of orange- a really attractive colour. I haven't found any of the washed-out effect you mentioned....but my experience is limited.

Of the colours I've tried, so far, I don't expect to have much use for Damson - it's just too dark, Blaze Orange is just too insipid and Dark Brown isn't dark.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, Umber is a good, strong colour but seems odd as a green, and steel blue, whilst attractive, looks more green than blue.

Otherwise, I find this range of colours well worth the reasonable cost and I'll probably add others, in due course.

Lastly, I really like your Kelly Green, Ann - it shades beautifully.

caliken

Thank you, QM2 :

Manuscript pens are easily available from their site at http://www.calligraphy.co.uk.

caliken

If we are talking purely pigments (as opposed to commercial names of paints), then Vermillion and Cadmium Red are actually the same colour. The original true Vermillion Red pigment (which is too expensive to be manufactured today by most companies, so even paints that have "Vermillion" in the name, are usually not actual vermillion) is made of cinnabar, which is highly toxic. So eventually, Cadmium came into use as a replacement. Cadmium is also highly toxic, but less so than Cinnabar (Vermillion).

I do have Holbein Vermillion in my studio in Boston, but not here with me in Vienna. Take a look at the ingredients -- I do not think it is "real" Vermillion, i.e. cinnabar. I am guessing it is a Cadmium or a synthetic equivalent.

By the way, Holbein is the best watercolour and gouache maker in my opinion! I use Old Holland for oils and Holbein for water media. Holbein has a special Japanese watercolour set s well, have you seen it? The colours are out of this world.




Thanks caliken!

Zoe, I favor the Orange--because it is such a true, spot-on shade (and it has great flow but still dries quickly.) I like it so much that I stopped using my own orange mix!



caliken, I'm so glad you like the Kelly Green! I wondered (and hoped) when Phil decided to add it to the New Century line if folks would buy it and if it would stay in productiion, since so many people seem to prefer darker shades of ink.

Best, Ann

Thanks, caliken, Ann and QM2 for all the good information.

I went ahead and bought the Vermillion. I think I am more than set on inks for a life-time.

Have a good weekend all.

It is a really nice sample of Diamine inks - thanks for posting it Ken - especially as it must have taken you pretty long time to cleaning and drying the pens in between... Zed

Imperial Blue is, like Florida Blue, yet another purplish blue (this is really noticeable if you put it next to a true blue), though it's darker and a bit more purple than Florida Blue - I prefer it. (If you get some on a damp paper towel, the result is a purple center with a halo of pale true blue; do the same with PR American Blue or Tropical Blue or a mix of the two and you get no halo - just blue.)

I'm pretty sure Havana is a bit more red, and shades better, than Saddle Brown, but I've less experience with it.

(The trouble with Caliken's samples is that his writing is so beautiful it would make any ink look attractive!)

Simon

Ann :

I think of colours like Meditteranean Blue, Vermillion and Kelly Green as "optimistic" colours with a strong feel-good factor, reminiscent of the glorious colours of a warm Summer. They contrast and balance perfectly with darker shades and IMO are every bit as important.
Personally, I wouldn't want to be without either, and am enjoying writing with them all.

Kelly Green looks almost good enough to eat!

caliken

Holbein Vermillion is made from cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide. Vermillion made from cinnabar comes from China and is used for Chinese brush painting. Diamine's version is a very good approximation of the color including the translucency that is part of Vermillion's charm.

Caliken, you've really set the bar high for ink comparisons. Beautiful job!

Thank you, Zed, simonrob & Margana

I wrote these samples with a Manuscript pen fitted with a 3B straight-edged nib.

I was tempted to dip the nib for each change of colour, but I felt that this might not give an accurate picture of the shading and flow, so I filled the pen for each colour in turn, washed it out and dried it off with a hair dryer before filling with the next colour.
This should have been very tedious as it took the best part of an hour, but I actually quite enjoyed the experience and found it quite relaxing.

caliken

Simply an incredibly display! Oh, yeah, the inks look nice too

(superb handwriting and thanks for the look at some nice inks . . . for which I shall bill you when I get the invoice).

Fantastic Diamine ink sampling there, Ken. Thanks! I didn't realize how vivid the colors are; can't dispute that now, seeing your demonstration. How well do they hold up to moisture resistance?
~Gary

Thanks, southpaw & MYU,

I used a fairly broad nib for this exercise as I thought that this would best illustrate the characteristics of the colours. On my screen, the colours look like a very good match to the originals.

I'll do a simple test this afternoon on moisture resistance, and will post again this evening.

caliken

Kelly Green? What's Kelly Green? Why don't I have it?

Kelly green is a lovely light green. A relatively new colour...about two months old i guess.

I believe that Diamine Kelly Green was produced and named by Ann Finley.

Gary :

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

As you can see, the short answer is - not very well, as the above "before & after" illustrates.

To be fair, I don't think that these inks were expected to be water resistance.

It was immersed in water for 2 minutes.

caliken

Its a great comparison - thanks for that. I'm interested to see that some of the colours look much darker than I get them from my pens, namely the Emerald, Damson, Imperial Purple and Teal. It reminds me that different nibs bring different looks - thank you