Diamine Majestic Blue

[vistafan]

Hi everyone,

This is my first ink review. I purchased by first two bottles of ink, in Diamine Majestic Blue and Waterman Havana Brown, so I thought I would do a quick review. Hope it is useful.

 

Majestic blue.pdf

Edited August 17, 2011 by vistafan

[lapis]

Great review. Thanks! Nothing quite like a a whole page of handwriting in a review. I like this ink myself, use it oftern and am still in the process of trying to judge if it is (well, possibly) a sort of middling thing between D's Sapphire Blue and their Imperial Blue (WES).

 

I only have about 2/3 or their inks. I guess I'll soon end up with all 100 of 'em.

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/MoneyMouth.png

[kareth]

Hi,

how does it compare with ASA BLUE?

[Tennessee Dave]

Thanks for the review. I really like the Diamine blues.

[The Good Captain]

Great review. It's a colour I love but have found that it's really prone to smearing, even after some time, close on two months actually. Stuff I wrote in a notebook in June has smeared just now, using my finger only dampened by 'breathing' on it! The Diamine Midnight is a great colour too but not quite such a problem.

I believe that diluting them with some distilled water will help reduce their stickiness but I don't know exactly how much. Someone recently suggested diluting to 80% meaning adding 20% distilled water. I think this is correct but trials of my own are in the pipeline.

The Imperial Blue, with its purple tinge, is really well behaved and I might try to increase the blueness. The Blue-Black is great and their Prussian Blue which I got this morning seems fabulous; that's always assuming you like the grey blue-black colour you see on some old documents. I think that considering it's not an iron-gall one (I believe) it looks like it and that's straight out of the bottle.

Sorry, I wandered there a bit. Must have got the blues.

[meowmda]

Nice handwriting! I particularly like your capital A and capital I.

 

The ink looks nice, but my taste is toward darker blues.

[lapis]

... Sorry, I wandered there a bit. Must have got the blues.

Captain, I think we could use a blue-black subforum here ... or, at least a blue-black club. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/worship1.gif

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/hidden-171.gif

[The Good Captain]

... Sorry, I wandered there a bit. Must have got the blues.

Captain, I think we could use a blue-black subforum here ... or, at least a blue-black club. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/worship1.gif

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/hidden-171.gif

OK. Do you want to start it or shall I? We've both got the gall!

[lapis]

... Sorry, I wandered there a bit. Must have got the blues.

Captain, I think we could use a blue-black subforum here ... or, at least a blue-black club. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/worship1.gif

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/hidden-171.gif

OK. Do you want to start it or shall I? We've both got the gall!

Fine! now all we need is something to iron it out with...

 

Mike

[CatBookMom]

Great review. Thanks! Nothing quite like a a whole page of handwriting in a review. I like this ink myself, use it oftern and am still in the process of trying to judge if it is (well, possibly) a sort of middling thing between D's Sapphire Blue and their Imperial Blue (WES).

 

I only have about 2/3 or their inks. I guess I'll soon end up with all 100 of 'em.

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/MoneyMouth.png

 

Newbie question: What does the WES mean? Thanks.

[CatBookMom]

Hi everyone,

This is my first ink review. I purchased by first two bottles of ink, in Diamine Majestic Blue and Waterman Havana Brown, so I thought I would do a quick review. Hope it is useful.

 

Majestic blue.pdf

 

Nice review and very nice handwriting. I think you'll enjoy the Havana Brown ink; Waterman inks are so well-behaved.

[adyf]

Newbie question: What does the WES mean? Thanks.

 

UK Writing Equipment Society

[vistafan]

Thanks everyone.

 

Thanks Lapis, are both those inks as deep as Majestic blue??

 

Kareth, I'm not sure how it compares to Asa blue as this is bottle is one of my first purchases.

 

The Good Captain, thanks for letting me know about the smearing as I was planning to use it when I go back to Uni to make notes, but may rethink now. I used to use Lamy Blue - Black, do you know how Diamine compares?! I'm really tempted to order a few 30ml bottles of other blue inks now. I love the richness of Majestic Blue - I will never use washable blue cartridges again (once I finish my 10 Lamys )

 

Thanks Meowmda, I still think it could do with some improvement! Majestic blue is a lot darker in real life than it appears to be on the scan. I'm not a fan of royal blues, but Majestic blue is so deep - I love it.

 

Thanks CatBookMum, I think I read WES stands for Writing Equipment Society. I swabbed Havana Brown and loved it - it is a lovely colour. Can't wait to fill a fountain pen with it.

[CatBookMom]

Newbie question: What does the WES mean? Thanks.

 

UK Writing Equipment Society

 

Somehow that sounds so perfectly British; apparently these were special colors?. Thanks.

[CatBookMom]

Thanks everyone.

 

Thanks Lapis, are both those inks as deep as Majestic blue??

 

Kareth, I'm not sure how it compares to Asa blue as this is bottle is one of my first purchases.

The Good Captain, thanks for letting me know about the smearing as I was planning to use it when I go back to Uni to make notes, but may rethink now. I used to use Lamy Blue - Black, do you know how Diamine compares?! I'm really tempted to order a few 30ml bottles of other blue inks now. I love the richness of Majestic Blue - I will never use washable blue cartridges again (once I finish my 10 Lamys )

Thanks CatBookMum, I think I read WES stands for Writing Equipment Society. I swabbed Havana Brown and loved it - it is a lovely colour. Can't wait to fill a fountain pen with it.

 

I believe the smearing factor of an ink may be different with different papers. You might check your sample after a few days and then a week or two, if you've written it on the sort of paper you'll be using for university.

 

For a nice daily-use blue, you may want to look at Waterman's Florida Blue; nothing like the richness of this Diamine color, but here in the US it's less expensive than Diamine. You can also check the Ink Reviews pages for comments on smearing of various inks.

 

And check the swabs at Goulet Pens or Pear Tree Pens - Goulet has the option to look only at blue inks, so you may find another ink close in color to your Majestic Blue.

[The Good Captain]

... Sorry, I wandered there a bit. Must have got the blues.

Captain, I think we could use a blue-black subforum here ... or, at least a blue-black club. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/worship1.gif

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/hidden-171.gif

OK. Do you want to start it or shall I? We've both got the gall!

Fine! now all we need is something to iron it out with...

 

Mike

There's nothing pressing I can think of...

Nigel

 

 

[The Good Captain]

I've just posted some images of soak tests I've done. Worry not - Busby Berkeley wasn't involved in any way.

The link is here.

[lapis]

Thanks everyone.

 

Thanks Lapis, are both those inks as deep as Majestic blue??

 

Kareth, I'm not sure how it compares to Asa blue as this is bottle is one of my first purchases.

 

The Good Captain, thanks for letting me know about the smearing as I was planning to use it when I go back to Uni to make notes, but may rethink now. I used to use Lamy Blue - Black, do you know how Diamine compares?! I'm really tempted to order a few 30ml bottles of other blue inks now. I love the richness of Majestic Blue - I will never use washable blue cartridges again (once I finish my 10 Lamys )

Just for fun here's a little comparison of the above-mentioned inks, using 100 µl on a swab, a 200-µl pipette tip alone, and a Pelikano M.

Id' say that in comparison with Diamine's Majestic Blue…

■ D's Sapphire Blue is noticeably lighter, bluer, less green.

■ D's Imperial Blue (WES) is somewhat darker, more red than green, easiest to see in the Pelikano lines.

■ D's Asa Blue is in any case lighter, much greener.

■ Although hard to relate, I find that Lamy's Blue-Black (in the bottle, which is an iron-gall thing) is at most a bluish grey here.

 

Now if you think this photo is weird, take a look at the scan below.

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/4blues_1blue-black_photo.jpg

Photo of the inks on paper.

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/4blues_1blue-black.jpg

Scan only, no photo.

 

As usual, you need your pens and your papers to see more.

 

Ahoi!

[Watercycle]

this ink seems like a more shadey pelikan royal blue :hmm1:

 

it's awesome

[vistafan]

Thanks CatBookMom, I'm going to try a few different papers and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks Lapis - that table is great! It is making me want to try Lamy BB again - this website is not good for me!! The Asa blue looks nice too. I definitely like the darkness of Majestic Blue though.

 

Watercycle - it is actually a lot darker than the scan makes it out to be; actually like a navy blue. Nevertheless, it is a great ink.