Diamine Wild Strawberry

[DanielCoffey]

INK : DIAMINE WILD STRAWBERRY

 

PAPER : RHODIA #16 A5 white lined

 

PEN : Onoto Magna 261 Medium nib tweaked for wet flow by John Sorowka (Oxonian).

 

Scanner : IT8-calibrated Epson V600 flatbed

Colour Space : Adobe RGB

Matte : 50% grey and 100% white

Post-process : Unsharp Mask

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewWildStrawberry.jpg

 

 

Here is a close-up of the swab. Folks have reported a metallic sheen in this ink. It is present but it is difficult to capture....

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewWildStrawberrySwab.jpg

 

 

And a close-up of the shading. This ink is only a moderate candidate for shading. Maybe reviewers with different nibs will be able to show better results...

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewWildStrawberryShade.jpg

 

 

As expected, this ink is in NO way water resistant but then Diamine never said it was...

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewWildStrawberryWater.jpg

 

 

DRYING TIMES : The writing tests above were done in a very wet medium nib that had just been cleaned. Drying times on Xerox 90gsm was around 10s. Rhodia and G Lalo Vergé were around 30s. Clairefontaine Triomphe took a good 45s to dry.

 

SMEARING : None on any paper. This ink bonds nicely with the paper and noes not sit on top, even on Clairefontaine Triomphe. A careless wipe with a damp finger, however, will result in the colour moving.

 

BLEEDTHROUGH : Since the ink is so saturated, some bleed through may be expected on copy papers with wet or fat nibs. I would not expect bleeding on dry or fine nibs or when the ink is used on a good quality paper. Given the wet nib I used above, I recorded the following... Xerox 90gsm had high bleed through and moderate feathering. Rhodia had no bleed through and no feathering. Clairefontaine Triomphe had no bleed through or feathering. G Lalo Vergé had no bleed through or feathering.

 

FLOW AND LUBRICATION : Flow for this ink seems to be high. I suspect even a dry fine nib will put down a good line. The ink seems "wet" and is not reluctant to penetrate the paper. Lubrication was excellent in the pen tested (my medium above). The writing experience was very enjoyable.

 

CLEANING : There were no colour residues left on the converter and this ink washed out nicely. It did not cling to the pen insides and a simple fairy/water then rinse was all it took to get the pen clean. I found a few gaps in the converter that some red had crept into but it soon got the idea who was boss. Easy to clean.

Edited May 25, 2012 by DanielCoffey

[vistafan]

Another great review! Another ink to add to my list.

[DanielCoffey]

Yay! Another point towards my "Enabler" badge!

 

Actually you might want to hold fire before ordering because I am about to ink up with Matador then Sunset. Matador looks like it may have a touch of crimson but I can't be sure through the bottle. Sunset seems to have a hint more orange. So much for my career as the Reverse Alphabetical Reviewer... Z... nope. Y... nope. X... nope. *peers* Aha! Wild Strawberry. Then.. Sunset! Yes!... Oh... Matador. Damn!

[vistafan]

I'm planning to order next week, so I'll keep watching! I'm waiting for the new inks to be released on 1st June

[senzen]

Great review, thank you! That's an interesting ink... It does look just like strawberry to me!

[Amandaa]

I have this one on my "to sample" list. Thanks for the review!

[lapis]

Great review! Thanks!! As our good captain once said, very concise, very succinct.

The colour does in fact remind me of wild strawberries, as does the name of the movie.

 

Mike

[DanielCoffey]

Aha, you must mean Smultronstället

[lapis]

Aha, you must mean Smultronstället

Daniel, yup, you're absolutely right. My favourite movie (see my profile). I'm really glad to hear that there are other Bergman freaks out there. An that on this forum!

[DanielCoffey]

I have to confess that I am not a Bergman freak but it certainly seems he is well respected on the wiki... providing you don't get your Ingrid and Ingman mixed up of course.

 

I have made a small edit to the Wild Strawberry review up top - specifically the CLEANING section. I found the ink VERY easy to clean from the pen. Surprisingly so. Since I am about to put Diamine Matador throughout the same pen I wanted it to be spotlessly clean. Given a short rinse in running water, a dunk in soapy water while I dealt with the converter then a rubber bulb flush, almost no red/orange was released when it went into the ultrasonic. A second clean flush ran clear immediately. I am very impressed!

Edited May 25, 2012 by DanielCoffey

[lapis]

Thanks again. That's a good thing to add. Is it just as easy to clean as Poppy, Pumpkin, Monaco, Red Dragon, Oxblood? Now those are certainly not all that comparable in colour but I have the feeling that many reds are in general easy to clean because they aren't as saturated a solution and/or don't contain a more insoluble dye as those in as bluish inks.

 

Mike

 

 

[DanielCoffey]

Hmm... out of those I have only owned Pumpkin and I didn't have the ultrasonic bath back then. I certainly remember that the Pumpkin was happy to go down the sink with nothing more than the aid of the bulb syringe and I do remember being frustrated with the darker inks staining the kitchen paper long after I had thought the nib was clean... but some of the inks that did that were in the purple family rather than blue. I suspect it comes down to chemistry in the end.

 

As a quick comparison my the way, Wild Strawberry has more shading than Diamine Matador and has a touch of the orange/peach to it whereas the Matador is a flat true red. Both wash off the paper very easily.

[lurker]

Great review!

[lahlahlaw]

Great Review! When I first got into fountain pens I didn't think I'd ever buy a red ink - bad flashbacks to highly edited papers in school .

 

I'm looking for one and this strawberry seems more subdued than a straight red, I wonder what color this is in Chesterfield...

[jmccarty3]

My favorite red at the moment, with just enough orange. If you like a little more orange, try Iro Fuyu-gaki.

[lizncats]

I'd like to add that I also found this to be a very wet ink. I initially put it in a Noodler's Konrad and writing in my Leuchtturm 1917 there was significant bleedthrough - even spots on the following page - much worse than another favorite in the same pen, QSH. Also, the color was darker than I was expecting. When I switched to an EF Al-Star, things were much better; some ghosting, no bleedthrough and the wild strawberry color I was expecting. Always interesting how a pen change can turn an ink from an "eh, not great" to a "really like this one". I've added a column to my ink spreadsheet so I can track which inks need a finer nib.

[Venator]

I was not a fan of this red at first, I was expecting it to be brighter based on the samples I saw. But a large piston fill later I have decided that I really like it. The flow is gorgeous through a JoWo F, a real pleasure to write with.

[mehandiratta]

Love your handwritten reviews....

 

Thank you...

I love this ink...

[Abner C. Kemp]

Wow, this ink is VERY bright -- cool!! Perfect for someone marking papers or making edits.

[baik12]

I was looking into ink.

Thank you for the review!