Ink Review: Diamine Kensington Blue

[Chrissy]

My latest ink is Diamine Kensington Blue

 

I'm reviewing two similar Diamine blue inks separately, this one, Kensington Blue, and Florida Blue. They are quite similar, but Kensington Blue is a more general blue, a more muted colour. I would call it an everyday blue ink.

 

Kensington Blue is a very good blue ink. It flowed beautifully while I was writing with it, and lubricated the nib so well that it wrote smoothly across the page. I really enjoyed writing with it. Although it felt nicely wet to write with, it was a quick drying ink.

 

• Although this isn't a waterproof ink, it shows good water resistance, as do many Diamine blue inks.
• Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib, this ink only took 5 secs to dry. That's very quick on this paper.
• It flows through the pen very well and lubricates the nib very well. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.
• It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles, 30ml plastic refill bottles or International sized cartridges.
• Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
• It's a reasonable price.

[Chumango]

It has been several years since I used mine but I recall a teal cast to it on some paper.

[dcwaites]

Yes, this is a nice ink. A little restrained, but that's what you would expect in an ink to be used in a palace.

[Chrissy]

Yes, this is a nice ink. A little restrained, but that's what you would expect in an ink to be used in a palace.

 

 

Restrained: yes. I wish I had bought of that word, rather than a 'standard every day blue ink'

 

There may be times when you want to write with a 'restrained' ink though.

 

I wonder if any of the current occupants of Kensington Palace use it? It would be interesting to know.....

[dcwaites]

I think they're Parker users. From the pictures others have mentioned, the Queen seems to have Quink on her writing desk.

[The Good Captain]

Originally names WES Kensington Blue, I believe. For the Writing Equipment Society - possibly a special 'anniversary' but I can't exactly remember.

[tmenyc]

 

I wonder if any of the current occupants of Kensington Palace use it? It would be interesting to know.....

Chrissy,

And, to make a point they would use Royal Blue?

 

Tim

Edited January 22, 2016 by tmenyc

[JulieParadise]

For the #50shadesofbluechallenge (link to the hashtag on Instagram), a challenge over at the German PenExchange forum for July & August 2020, I inked up all my pens with all the 50+ blue inks I have. The snapshots might also be of interest to some here.

Diamine Kensington Blue is a nice blue with some greyish cast to it. It does not look grey in itself, but somewhat muted. This one should be named *Misty Blue* or *Foggy Blue* within Diamine's line-up.

Overall it is a fairly standard blue, neither too light nor very dark, mildly saturated, well-behaved, easily washed out the pen, not water-resistant. It will not excite you when writing but will not disturb either. It is nice, just the kind of "boring" but universally usable blue ink that you need for most of everyday writing.

[TheDutchGuy]

This ink is growing on me. Like most inks, how much I appreciate it greatly depends on the pen and the paper. Some pen/paper combinations make this ink look rather generic, others are really nice.