Diamine Crimson

[visvamitra]

Manufacturers since 1864, Diamine Inks relocated to this purpose built ‘state of the art’ factory in Liverpool in 1925, where they successfully carried on using the traditional methods and formulas for ink production. Over the years the company has changed hands and are now located close to the world famous Aintree Race Course

Bottle

Ink splash

Diamine Crimson used to be one off my favorite red inks. Some time ago I bought new bottle and I’m just not sure what’s going on. The color lacks saturation it used to have. It feathers terribly on absorbent papers. Drying time is great but comes at a cost of significant bleedthrough.

I’m strongly disappointed with new batch(?) of the ink.

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

Color ID

Color range

Oxford, Platinum Plaisir, medium

Leuchtturm 1917, Platinum Plaisir, medium

Moleskine, Platinum Plaisir, medium

Edited July 15, 2017 by visvamitra

[lgsoltek]

The Dalek bottles! Maybe the Daleks exterminated the old Crimson.

[inkstainedruth]

The Dalek bottles! Maybe the Daleks exterminated the old Crimson.

 

Actually think I like this color (which is weird because I normally don't much like this shade of red). The feathering is definitely an issue, though....

Thanks for the review. This one goes on the "maybe" list....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Chrissy]

Thanks for your review.

 

Isn't Moleskine paper quite well known for it's ink feathering and bleedthrough issues? Mine was worse than Field Notes before I threw it away.

 

I think this looks best on the nice white Oxford paper.

[migo984]

Yuk! I thought Diamine Passion Red was bad, but this bottle of Crimson looks even worse :-(

[visvamitra]

Yes, sadly. Once I finished my 30 ml bottle I decided to buy 80 ml as I liked the ink a lot. What I received though looks different, behaves different and should be placed in the sink and not in fountain pen :/

Edited July 16, 2017 by visvamitra

[amberleadavis]

OH, man, what a bummer about the new batch.

[cleosmama]

The feathering is astonishing. Too bad, because I love the ink drop and splash.

[C-InPenmanship]

Thank you for this review. You just saved me money & anticipation. I do love the Diamine Orange, so maybe I'll try one of their blues in a small bottle since I've had luck with the orange. Take care.

[bobje]

Hey, Diamine! This is serious. When the Daleks come after your colors, you must fight back.

 

Live on, original Diamine Crimson! We support you!

[ErrantSmudge]

I absolutely love this hue. It reminds me of the Sailor Kobe Ijinkan Red, but without the price tag. But, the feathering scares me away.

[Kilrymont]

Resurrecting an elderly thread here...

 

I've only seen the crimson version that looked something like veinous blood rather than the previous pinkish one.

 

First buy was a 30ml sampler from Cult, which I liked enough to order an 80 ml bottle soon after.

All well so far.

 

I have pens such as Jinhao x450 which I use to sample nibs and get them set to how I like them to write. (For a short while I sold modified-nib versions on eBay) and TWSBIs and a smattering of others, nothing expensive.

 

But in the Jinhaos with their famously non-sealing caps, any one inked with Crimson would turn its ink a decided brown if left unused (but capped, of course) for varying periods.

 

These pens do dry out their nibs pretty quickly, but this isn't the usual mild darkening when an ink thickens up in that process. It's a colour shift that - if "writing it out" - lasts for several lines. At a guess I have maybe 20 inks all told. No other shifts colour like this in similar pens. The result with Crimson is a mid-rusty-brown.

 

Then I remembered that with older red painted cars, it's hard to get a colour match if touching-up the paint, and that automotive reds are known to be prone to colour shifts with UV exposure over time, even in something presumably intended to be as permanent as possible as factory-sprayed car paint.

 

Other Diamine inks don't seem to do this, including two other reds I have. Poppy Red and Claret, the first is an in-yer-face bright bouncy red while Claret is a mature strawberry. Those don't do similarly to Crimson, so it looks like there's nowt to do with its being red. Just thinking as typing here... (not always an excellent idea) I'm guessing these inks may derive their colouration from different sources from Crimson's?

 

It's a definite demerit with an ink that, otherwise, I like.

 

Afterthought, adding - since paper had a mention above - that I was given a Moleskine diary that, while very nicely made, feathered and bled with every ink I tried with it.. That was quickly binned. My other papers are either Tomoe River, Clairefontaine, or Black'n Red A5 notebooks. I don't see any bad behaviour on those with any inks in my little collection. In fact those are all a delight to use. Those notebooks were a pleasant surprise. They make excellent journals, & are sometimes available via Amazon in batches of 5, discounted.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Kilrymont

[Shevock]

Thanks for the review. The color is nice. That's a lot of feathering though.