Diamine Inks

[Charles Skinner]

This is a question about Diamine inks. When I first "got off into ink colors," ---- after many years as a black ink only man ---- I bought more than a few Diamine colors, and enjoyed all of them, and still do. ---- Now, since then, I have really branched out and started buying some other brands. Since Diamine has such a HUGE number of different inks, I am surprise that there is not more "talk" on FPN than I usually see about these inks! Is the brand just considered to be "yesterday's inks?" Are they too "plain" and ordinary, ----- oh, I don't know. Just your thoughts about what seems to be a lack of interest in Diamine inks, please! I hope I am wrong. I really like the colors that I have.

 

C. S. (trying really, really hard not to drop any more on the carpet! Trying to "keep peace" in the family!)

[ParkerDuofold]

Hmmm.... I don't know.... I kind of think Diamine is pretty well represented here... but that's just me.

 

- Anthony

[OMASsimo]

Interesting question. I'd think it depends a lot on local availability. I've never seen a bottle of Diamine in a stationary shop outside the UK. Also, it's not an ink of any of the major fountain pen brands. My observation is that usually you find the ink of the most popular fp brand most easily in each country. Of course the fp aficionados know it all over the world.

[T4TEXAS]

Be calm. Try searching fpn for "Diamine".

Edited February 18, 2017 by T4TEXAS

[macaddicted]

I've used several diamine inks over the years. They are beautiful, well behaved inks, but seem to lack the depth of color in other inks. For me they lack the punch and pizzazz of Noodler and PR inks. That being said I don't use noodler or PR inks anymore. Iroshizuku inks have filled the gap of usefulness and pizzazz for me.

[Misfit]

The Pen Place, a retail pen store in Kansas City, MO, has some Diamine inks, but not the full range. Once I found out they sell 30ml plastic bottles, I've tried more colors. I really like Soft Mint, and want two from the 150th anniversary line. Under the ink forum the second choice has an index of ink reviews but isn't all inclusive of every review here. But there are still a lot when you search under D and find the Diamine listings. I used those reviews to pick 5 colors for my brother when Massdrop had an offer on buying 5 of the 30ml bottles.

[Bhavna]

I am a long time fan of Diamine inks. I really love the range of colours they have and their recent forays into the 150th Anniversary, Shimmer, Music and Flower sets they produced. I have found the vast majority to be incredibly well behaved. Having done some of Amberlea's CRVs earlier, I found a number of my Diamine inks to be pretty similar, if not identical to the likes of Sailor, which was very pleasantly shocking!

 

If you are not in the UK, they will ship inks out to you and it's not that prohibitive.

[Erik Dalton]

Diamine inks are considered safe, clean up easily, are readily available, and come in a huge range of colors. Like J Herbin they have been around a long time and are well thought of.

The reason you don't see a lot of chatter other than reviews of new colors, is there is pretty much nothing to complain about.

Let's face it. People start threads looking for assistance with concerns, complaints, or help with mechanical problems, rarely to lavish praise. Imho, that's why we don't see reoccurring threads on Diamine inks...not many problems.

[Barkingpig]

I bought most of my Diamine inks when I was "new to the game," & confess that I have branched out into different brands as I discovered them. But I keep one pen filled since it's purchase with one of my favorite Diamine inks, Wagner, which I saw here & purchased their "Music Set" to obtain. Some time after wards, perhaps 6 months or perhaps closer to a year they began offering individual bottles from both the Music & Flower's Set, & I have been able to ensure a "good supply. I am not crazy about the "sparkly" inks but have tried a couple & am happy they made them as it is always good for a company to remain innovative.

 

I am also very happy to have found their inks "made for specific sellers or market," Rolf Thiel's "Racing Green" & the two inks for the Philippine market, besides Dr. SBRE Brown's ink. I think they may well be "taken for granted," by many users, but I don't know of anyone who has made such an interesting ink as their "Salamander!"

[yoshipen]

Im a big fan of Diamine inks too- just in my 4 or so years getting into fountain pens. They seem to have a good reputation & Ochre is my favorite brown of the several now that I have tried; might be my favorite ink yet.

 

As far as perceived community interest goes...

I have had an interesting time googling "image" searches of various diamine inks- when I have viewed the "source page- whatever" for some of the images featuring the inks, I have been surprised to discover several very thorough ink/paper review websites that I had not found when I simply googled "diamine XXX ink review."

 

The interest is out there- though I cant speak to how recent those reviews all are- maybe try the image search thing?

Edited February 18, 2017 by yoshipen

[KKay]

I have several Diamine inks. I love them, and they are reasonably priced.

[Charles Skinner]

A question --- Do you pronounce Diamine ---- Die-a-mean (as he is "mean" to me) or Die-a- mine (as the pen is "mine.")

 

C. S.

[Chrissy]

Mean as in your first example

[Tweel]

I had always pronounced it to myself as "MEAN", but then learned some time ago that Phil Davies, the Company Director of Diamine, pronounces it "MINE":

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/182370-diamine/?p=1837378

Edited February 18, 2017 by Tweel

[KKay]

I have wondered about that pronunciation, thank you!

[dan in montreal]

They seem to be well talked about here and on other boards. In recent years, they've become easier to find, at least where I live. My experience has been the opposite of Charles Skinner's. I started with PR and Noodler's and have since moved on to Diamine, for many reasons (from SITB with PR inks, inconsistent batches from Noodlers, to bothersome political stances from Nathan Tardif). Not all of my Diamine purchases have been without issues. For instance, I love Majestic Blue as a color, but have problems with the way it behaves in certain situations. All in all, I've been moving away from super saturated inks and have been steadily moving towards more "traditional" inks, by Waterman and Herbin. And when I want to get something that is a little out of the ordinary, I go for Diamine.

[KKay]

I think Majestic Blue is the only one that gave me some clogging/hard start issues with certain pens. (I was using a sample, and didn't buy it) Sargasso Sea is gorgeous, but hard to clean. I cannot remember any other Diamine ink that I've tried that was a problem other than those. I have tried a lot of samples from them too. As I said I have several bottles of ink from Diamine, and they all have performed well for me.

Edited February 18, 2017 by KKay

[dan in montreal]

I think Majestic Blue is the only one that gave me some clogging/hard start issues with certain pens. (I was using a sample, and didn't buy it) Sargasso Sea is gorgeous, but hard to clean. I cannot remember any other Diamine ink that I've tried that was a problem other than those. I have tried a lot of samples from them too. As I said I have several bottles of ink from Diamine, and they all have performed well for me.

On the whole, I quite agree. As I wrote, I still use Majestic Blue on occasion, even if it is somewhat problematic. Also some of their orange inks, which tend to develop crud on nibs - I just don't let these inks sit in pens for too long to avoid either clogging or the crud issues.

[chromantic]

I use mostly laser copy paper so minimal show/bleed is a prime concern. I've found Diamine to be a mixed bag, some are quite good in this regard, others decidedly not.

[Noihvo]

On the whole, I quite agree. As I wrote, I still use Majestic Blue on occasion, even if it is somewhat problematic. Also some of their orange inks, which tend to develop crud on nibs - I just don't let these inks sit in pens for too long to avoid either clogging or the crud issues.