Diamine Prussian Blue

[Chris]

My first impression is "Wow, what a lovely blue-black colour" and that is still my impression a penful later.

 

It is exactly the colour I was trying to achieve when using up some old Pelikan blue-black and blue by mixing them together - but I failed. I'll add some red to make that great mixers' stand-by --- brown

 

The colour, I read, is true Prussian Blue and it does remind me of the wonderful dark blue I had in a box of water colour paints I had as a lad

 

Flow is smooth and wet and generally does exactly as it should. Easy to use without and fuss or thought.

 

No feathering or bleed into decent (laser) paper though a cheap memo pad shows the furry mess every other ink also shows. Writes nicely in my Noto journal too.

 

I might be mistaken but it does appear to dry a little more slowly than 'average' because I noticed that I had to wait a moment or two before turing the page to continue writing. Not too slow though for me, a left-hander.

 

When dry, the writing is resistant to a vigorous rub with a hot finger :blink:

 

Again, as expected, the ink starts first time even when the pen (same MB 145 medium nib) is left uncapped to make a cup of tea.

 

The writing shows a nice bit of shade variation but not so much as to disappear in places, even when writing quite quickly.

 

It is much more water-resistant than the black I wrote about earlier this week. Even though a lot of blue washed off under the tap, the remaining writing was dark, clear and legible. I also tried to write on the damp paper after the water test, and it worked perfectly and no feathering.

 

I really like this ink - much more than the black in all honesty - and I can safely say it is now an ink of choice. I can see me using it quite a lot.

 

 

Chris

[Inkanthropist]

I agree with you entirely, Chris. I'm not normally a lover of blue inks, but Prussian Blue really grabbed me when, quite by chance, I tried it out. I now use it regularly in a couple of pens. Looking forward to reviews of the rest of your recent haul.

Neil

[Ray]

Prussian Blue is nice. I also like their Indigo.

 

Ray

[RichardS]

I'm a big fan of Diamine's Prussian Blue, and always have at least one pen inked with it. I've also found that its free-flowing qualities make it great for problem nibs. My Sheaffer Balance II has a broad nib that can be very temperamental in flow; with Prussian Blue it behaves perfectly - and the broad line really shows off the ink's shading.

 

It's also a nice ink with flexy nibs, with the line variation and colour working together to look like something you'd find in a document from the 19th century

[KCat]

yup - it's become my favorite blue. DC blue and Cobalt are still way up there on the list but Prussian has taken over a couple of my pens.

[Maja]

Dang! I knew I should have bought a bottle of Diamine at the Portland Pen Show last year

 

Thanks for the review!

~Maja

 

P.S. Pendemonium is carrying Diamine again---see my post in this thread

[saintsimon]

A year ago, I chose the Prussian Blue as my favourite Blue and used it regularly in my Omas with EF nib. I especially like the colour as a colour swatch. It has no green hues, compared e.g. to Waterman Blue-Black.

 

But when I write with another blue besides EF Prussian lines, it seems rather grayish on paper compared to others, with only a faint blue tone, and some (real?) faintest green hue... you have to imagine (!) hard to get a blue out of that.

 

Now I'm changing over to Diamine Presidential Blue (LE), where I have more obvious dark blue line on paper.

 

So, if you want to enjoy Prussian Blue, don't use it with an EF.

Edited November 6, 2005 by saintsimon

[Roger]

You might want to try Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Saintsimon. Though I don't have a clue how it'll look with an EF nib, with other nib widths it has really lovely shading characteristics.

 

I've largely given up on manufacturers' color swatches presented on a computer screen. The nuances do not come over. Hell, ink is still fairly cheap, so I'm just buying more all the time. Good scans though, of writing samples here on FPN don't do a bad job presenting the colors and their permutations. Look through the various Ink Reviews.

 

Welcome to you. It appears that you are a golfing type, so tee it up here, and grip it and rip it!

[saintsimon]

You might want to try Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Saintsimon.

 

Welcome to you. It appears that you are a golfing type, so tee it up here, and grip it and rip it!

Can you read my mind? Ottoman Azure is next on my wishlist, sooner or later...

I actually hoped that I ordered it, because the last time I ordered at Bertram's Inkwell, among others, they gave me the online choice of 'Ottoman', but no 'Rose' or 'Azure' - and it turned out to be 'Ottoman Rose' - a kind of wonderfull lip-stick colour.

 

Anyway, thanks for your welcome - the golfball is just a temporary filler, I've been never golfing.

 

PS: KCat's opinion is consistent with my impressions: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...p?showtopic=283

Edited November 7, 2005 by saintsimon

[Chris]

Saintsimon's note about the colour and extra-fine nibs made me re-look at some scribblings in the back of a notebook I have. All I do is write the name of the pen and the ink I'm using.

 

I don't like fine nibs - they show up my writing flaws - I but prefer medium or even broad nibs - though they drink ink . Perhaps it is the fine nibs that don't like me.

 

What I saw was a clear difference in colour, not just the intensity but the actual colour, when looking at samples written by pens with different nibs and flow rates. So, coupled with different papers, it means we each must continue to see what works best for us.

 

 

Ink is cheap I heard say, but I realise I seem to have bought an awful lot of it this year

 

Chris

[tomandeva]

My first impression is "Wow, what a lovely blue-black colour" ...

 

It is exactly the colour I was trying to achieve when using up some old Pelikan blue-black and blue by mixing them together

How does it compare to Diamine's Presidential Blue?

 

Thanks!

[southpaw]

Thanks for the review.

 

Pendemonium is carrying Diamine again---see my post  in this thread

Yes, but it's still not in stock.

[KCat]

ask at Pen Lovers Paradise. They didn't have it in stock 2 weeks ago but I haven't checked since. Their pricing and service is as good as Pendemonium.

[saintsimon]

How does it compare to Diamine's Presidential Blue?

 

Thanks!

The Presidential is more a darker Navy blue without green hues and less grayish than Prussian. Presidential gives you a true medium dark blue also with a F or EF nib, where Prussian looses colour to gray. Thats why I changed from Prussian to Presidential in my favourite OMAS Cinema with an EF nib. Presidential is nice but not spectacular.

[Chris]

Thanks for the comment on Diamine's Presidential Blue. Always another one to try...

 

Chris

 

ps I think I'll post my almost unused bottle of Diamine Black for sale or swap - I really am not likely to use it again and I've only taken about 2ml out of the very full bottle.

[emrecan]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the review!Its always nice see other review around here

 

Take Care

Emrecan C