Thoughts On These Two Color Schemes

[KKay]

Purple: I have to make a decision between Diamine-Imperial Purple, or Diamine Grape. I have tried both inks, and like them both. But I have to put one of these on my wish list. I still need to try the Grape in a wider nib. I know some people have said the Grape may clog their pen. I kept it in my Prera F nib pen for several days, but it did not clog it.

 

Blue: The same issue is with the blue inks: Diamine-Sargasso Sea vs. Midnight. I have tried both. The Midnight still needs to be tried in a wider nib. I read that the Midnight may mess up the pen sac. Other than that I don't know anything bad about either of these inks. The Sargasso Sea is lovely, but it is hard to clean out of a pen. The Midnight seems very well behaved in my Pilot Prera F nib pen.

 

I wish to only choose one from each color. I like all 4. So if you have experience with these inks, please let me know. I am not really asking which color you prefer. I am asking about behavior in a pen, clogging issues, or anything you may know from experience. All of these are samples, and sometimes you can learn from what others have to say.

[ENewton]

The only one of the four that I've tried is Grape, and I had clogging problems in several pens, including a Pilot Prera Fine, but the ink has given me no problems in my Monteverde stub. I have also read that Grape stains, but I have not observed that problem myself--possibly because I don't leave ink in any pen for very long, and I flush with distilled water after every fill.

 

Is there a reason that you are considering only Diamine inks?

[KKay]

Thank you for your thoughts. That was helpful. I am afraid of clogging issues, even though I did not have it with the sample here. Since I will only get one blue, and one purple, I want the best of the ones I narrowed it down to. There is no reason I am looking at just these finalists as Diamine ink. These two blue actually seemed to be the best two, of the colors I looked at. Now for purple, I have tried several color samples. I am also a Sailor ink fan, and I didn't think Shigure was better than the Diamine. I have 4 Sailor inks, and 4 Diamine inks. I have other brands too, but these are my top two ink makers, thus far. Diamine is supposed to be a safe brand to use, and I love their reasonable prices, color choices, and these inks have done well for me. I looked at so many different inks online, it was ridiculous. I've read reviews. But sometimes someone may have experience with an ink, and maybe they haven't done a review. Maybe that person can share something about their thoughts. I have about bought about 13 ink bottles so far. 2 have been given to me. I am going to try to not go above 20 bottles. So that leaves a total of 5 more to go. I cannot buy any more ink, paper, or pens at this time. (long story, but I cannot spend any money at all on anything but necessities for quite some time) But I want to have my choices on a wish list. Maybe I can get a bottle of ink for my birthday, or Mother's Day or something like that.

[Abner C. Kemp]

I can only speak to Diamine Imperial Purple which I had a sample of -- absolutely loved the color, deep rich royal purple, incredibly interesting -- however, it smeared like crazyyyyy for me. I know it's super saturated so some smearing was expected but this was like still smearing an hour after writing bad. I'm sure it depends a bit on the pen you use though, perhaps in a drier writer it would be good.

[OCArt]

You should take a look at the Chesterfield inks from http://xfountainpens.com Chesterfield is rebranded Diamine and I have really enjoyed their inks. Free shipping with a $15 order.

 

(The usual disclaimers apply; I am not related to this company and have no financial interest in them.)

Edited April 25, 2016 by OCArt

[KaB]

I"ve been using grape for a few years now. In different pens. Lamy studio EF (actually writing M), Sheaffer legacy I with factory stub, Lamy Al-star 1.1 stub. Never had any clogging issues. I read about staining so I'm not using it in any demonstrator. Haven't tried to clean the Al-star converter yet (it constantly gets refilled).

[KKay]

Thank you for the people who spoke up so far. I will take this all under consideration, before making my final choices.

[mhguda]

I have tried all four inks you mention, and have the Grape, Midnight, and Purple in small bottles. The Sargasso I have an 80ml bottle of - I think it really is my favorite blue. But I use it sparingly because of its saturation, and I tend to mix my Diamines with similar Parker Quink hues for that reason: they are so saturated they take a long time to dry, and may smear even after having seemingly dried. This counts for all of the four you mention.

I mix them with equal parts of the other ink, or even less, and then they are wonderful.

The Chesterfield inks, which I have also tried and like a lot, are, I think, less concentrated. Those I use in many pens and they behave well, even if some of the colors are less - interesting! - than their Diamine counterparts. XFP is having a sale right now and their Chesterfield inks are now very inexpensive. It might be worth it to check them out.

[evyxmsj]

Yeah, Sargasso is such a lovely blue. But my main pen is a demonstrators and it was a pain to clean it out. I may make a non demonstrator ED (or use a Preppy) just so I can continue with it.

 

(spelling edit)

Edited April 25, 2016 by evyxmsj

[KKay]

For the people who said that the ink smears, or takes a long time to dry.....was this in high humidity? If so that may be a problem for me. I have not tried these inks in the summer, only in a relatively cool temperature here. (so far) I think Sargasso Sea was a bit longer to dry than most inks. I will go back over my notes. Thanks for replying.

[VivienR]

I have Imperial Purple and Grape too, although I rarely use Grape, Imperial Purple is one of my top favorite. I stated, that it can be unfriendly in certain conditions: don't let it dry to the pen. Its left some nasty marks on one of my Sonnet Stainless Steel nib. Except that, its safe to use, not necessarily hard to clean, but it can stain some plastic for sure. It didn't do anything with Parker converters, but it capable to stain a Parker cartridge a bit for sure, similar happened with Sailor and Pelikan cartridge too, currently filled in a Sailor converter, for now, I can't say about it, that it will or will not stain. I use this ink daily in the past 3 years, except the dry up issue, I didn't find anything problematic with it. Yes, its smells like a fermenting grape or such, but there are far worst smelling Diamine inks out there. Thinking about you Syrah...

 

I have a few sailor ink. To be honest I think they are better than Diamine. Although they have strong phenol smell, I can smell it as I write. One of my pen is filled with Shigure.

[KKay]

Thank you. I am actually leaning towards the Imperial Grape for purple. The Shigure was just okay for me, although it did have nice sheen. I did not like DoYou it at all. But everything else I've tried from Sailor, I've loved. Funny, I've never noticed a smell from Syrah at all. My ink bottles are pretty new, so maybe they smell over time? Either that or my nose just doesn't find it offensive, or Sailor inks. Sailor inks I have are Yama-dori, Tokiwa-matsu, Miruai, and Oku-yama. I also loved a sample of Grenade I have too. But I don't have a bottle of that. I love high shading inks the most. I found the Sargasso Sea to be lovely, but very hard to clean. I had to be careful cleaning it out in the sink too. The blue color will probably be my least used color. My favorite colors seem to be green, maroon/burgundy, turquoise, then brown. I really don't want ink crud, or too much of a stainer, and certainly not a clogger. If the ink isn't waterproof, that is fine. I do have a black carbon sample to try for later. I may use that for times when I need something more water resistant. I like color, shading, flow, and lubrication. Sheen is nice, but not necessary. It is an added plus. I don't like feathering or bleed through. I usually use a med cursive italic, italic stub, or a fine nib. I only have one Japanese fine, and I doubt if I will buy another. It works perfectly for my Field Notes notebooks, and that is all I use that pen for. I mainly write on Tomoe River journals. I have others as well, but that one is my favorite.

Edited April 26, 2016 by KKay

[KKay]

Okay, well I guess that will be all the replies. Thank you to those that replied. I appreciate it!

[VivienR]

Thank you. I am actually leaning towards the Imperial Grape for purple. The Shigure was just okay for me, although it did have nice sheen. I did not like DoYou it at all. But everything else I've tried from Sailor, I've loved. Funny, I've never noticed a smell from Syrah at all. My ink bottles are pretty new, so maybe they smell over time? Either that or my nose just doesn't find it offensive, or Sailor inks. Sailor inks I have are Yama-dori, Tokiwa-matsu, Miruai, and Oku-yama. I also loved a sample of Grenade I have too. But I don't have a bottle of that. I love high shading inks the most. I found the Sargasso Sea to be lovely, but very hard to clean. I had to be careful cleaning it out in the sink too. The blue color will probably be my least used color. My favorite colors seem to be green, maroon/burgundy, turquoise, then brown. I really don't want ink crud, or too much of a stainer, and certainly not a clogger. If the ink isn't waterproof, that is fine. I do have a black carbon sample to try for later. I may use that for times when I need something more water resistant. I like color, shading, flow, and lubrication. Sheen is nice, but not necessary. It is an added plus. I don't like feathering or bleed through. I usually use a med cursive italic, italic stub, or a fine nib. I only have one Japanese fine, and I doubt if I will buy another. It works perfectly for my Field Notes notebooks, and that is all I use that pen for. I mainly write on Tomoe River journals. I have others as well, but that one is my favorite.

 

Maybe my smells a bit funky because they are from older batch. While the smell isn't nice, especially noticeable in the bottle it performs well. I have 8 different bottle of Sailor, really like them all. Surely Shigure isn't a shining champion. Greanade is amazing, I didn't tried Oku-Yama yet. For me purples are the true favorites with Sailor Kobe Sannomiya Panse and Diamine Imperial Purple's lead, than the reds, and all the others. I using nibs between the Japanese fine till Lamy 1.9mm, but mostly my daily writers have fine nib. If you think black Carbon as Platinum Carbon Black I find it to be safe even if it has particles. Surprisingly easy to clean, but absolutely waterproof after they dry.

[KKay]

Well I decided to clean out the Prera F nib pen today. It had the Diamine-Midnight in it. I was looking through my samples, to see what I would put in there next. I came across a Diamine-Majestic Blue. I forgot I had it. So I have 3 blue inks to compare. I had no hard starts, or issues with Midnight. But for some reason I will get a slight hard start with the Majestic Blue in that F nib pen. The lubrication isn't as good as Midnight either. But the sheen....the sheen was spectacular, even in a Japanese F nib. I did a color test by dipping a Q-tip and applying it to my paper. The sheen was incredible. So I do like this color, maybe more than Midnight. Both of these two will have to be tried in a wider nib, to know which I will select for the wish list.

 

When I said I had a hard start with Majestic Blue, I should have said a mild/hard start instead. (if there is such a thing) Once you put the first line down, the rest flowed smoothly. I ran a brass sheet through it once. Then I wrote with it, and put it away. Picked it back up, and the same thing happened. I doubt if this would happen in a wider nib, but it is possible.

Edited April 27, 2016 by KKay

[KKay]

 

Maybe my smells a bit funky because they are from older batch. While the smell isn't nice, especially noticeable in the bottle it performs well. I have 8 different bottle of Sailor, really like them all. Surely Shigure isn't a shining champion. Greanade is amazing, I didn't tried Oku-Yama yet. For me purples are the true favorites with Sailor Kobe Sannomiya Panse and Diamine Imperial Purple's lead, than the reds, and all the others. I using nibs between the Japanese fine till Lamy 1.9mm, but mostly my daily writers have fine nib. If you think black Carbon as Platinum Carbon Black I find it to be safe even if it has particles. Surprisingly easy to clean, but absolutely waterproof after they dry.

Thanks for the reply. No, the black ink is Sailor Kiwa-guro. Maybe I will get a sample of the Platinum carbon black to compare, in the future. Thanks for the comments.

[VivienR]

Thanks for the reply. No, the black ink is Sailor Kiwa-guro. Maybe I will get a sample of the Platinum carbon black to compare, in the future. Thanks for the comments.

 

Oh, I thinking of getting Kiwa-Guro too, but as I saw they are really close to each other, especially in color. There were some comparison review about black inks here... More concerning that I already over 60 bottles.... even if I use at least two bottle in a year...

[KKay]

Thank you. Yes, I do understand. The only thing holding me back from much more ink, is the money of course...lol. But I am going to have to limit myself for the current time. I think I have a total of 15 ink bottles. I am going to try to not go above 20. There are two I definitely want. Add a blue and a purple, and I will have just one more to pick. That is going to be rough.

[VivienR]

Thank you. Yes, I do understand. The only thing holding me back from much more ink, is the money of course...lol. But I am going to have to limit myself for the current time. I think I have a total of 15 ink bottles. I am going to try to not go above 20. There are two I definitely want. Add a blue and a purple, and I will have just one more to pick. That is going to be rough.

 

As I came to realize lately that I acquired so many bottles of ink, but I hardly use many of them. So, having smaller but better utilized collection not necessary a bad thing. Certainly financial limit can be a barrier. Yes, some inks can be pricey, but if that ink is in use, and not just member of a bunch, than it kind of a well spend money.

[KKay]

Well said!

 

Oh, and I picked up the Majestic Blue twice, since I first talked about it. Both times it started right up, without a hiccup. If I had a sample of Diamine-Blue Velvet, or De Atramentis-Indigo Blue, I'd probably compare them too. Anyway, I will keep using the Majestic Blue to see what I think. That sheen is killer though.

Edited April 27, 2016 by KKay