Little issues with Diamine Blue Black

[omasfan]

One of my favorite colors is Diamine Blue Black. A bold and dominant ink with wonderful shading and great drying behavior.

 

Here are two minor issues that haunt the ink:

1. it is much runnier/thinner than other Diamine inks. In my wet Omas pens this ink lays down an EXTRA WET line, a bit wetter than I usually like.

2. the ink, when used in a pen, will produce a slight caking of crystallized dye alongside the nib slit on top of the nib and often also underneath in the course of time (usually it takes a few days for it to build up).

 

Has any of you had a similar experience with this ink? Point 1 can be beneficial if you use a stingy pen to optimize the ink flow but for wet writers to start with it is not necessarily the best ink. Point 2 is not necessarily pretty but you can wipe the slight caking off without any residue/staining.

Edited February 8, 2008 by omasfan

[simonrob]

One of my favorite colors is Diamine Blue Black. A bold and dominant ink with wonderful shading and great drying behavior.

 

Here are two minor issues that haunt the ink:

1. it is much runnier/thinner than other Diamine inks. In my wet Omas pens this ink lays down an EXTRA WET line, a bit wetter than I usually like.

2. the ink, when used in a pen, will produce a slight caking of crystallized dye alongside the nib slit on top of the nib and often also underneath in the course of time (usually it takes a few days for it to build up).

 

Has any of you had a similar experience with this ink? Point 1 can be beneficial if you use a stingy pen to optimize the ink flow but for wet writers to start with it is not necessarily the best ink. Point 2 is not necessarily pretty but you can wipe the slight caking off without any residue/staining.

 

I haven't used it myself, but a friend/colleague has (perhaps she will chime in) and found that it feathered more than any other Diamine ink, presumably because of what you report in 1. The main point of this reply, though, is to point out that you can avoid those problems but retain the same colour by switching to Noodler's Navy. (At any rate, her Diamine Blue Black in a wet nib looks exactly the same colour as my Noodler's Navy in a wet nib.) It probably doesn't dry as fast, but dilution will fix that if you find it a problem.

 

Simon

[punch]

Diamine Blue Black is one of my favorite inks. I have noticed that it will cake up and even start to skip after a few days. I don't have this problem if I "flush" the nib periodically. The color and shading of the ink make it worth the slight problems that I have with it.

[girlieg33k]

I recall a similar thread about Diamine BB, but my search capability is -- Uhmm -- OK, I'm just too lazy to search for it at the moment, but I do recall seeing the thread. I haven't used Diamine BB in awhile, so I'll try it when I go through another rotation of pens to check for this behaviour (particularly #2).

[blueiris]

One of my favorite colors is Diamine Blue Black. A bold and dominant ink with wonderful shading and great drying behavior.

 

Here are two minor issues that haunt the ink:

1. it is much runnier/thinner than other Diamine inks. In my wet Omas pens this ink lays down an EXTRA WET line, a bit wetter than I usually like.

2. the ink, when used in a pen, will produce a slight caking of crystallized dye alongside the nib slit on top of the nib and often also underneath in the course of time (usually it takes a few days for it to build up).

 

Has any of you had a similar experience with this ink? Point 1 can be beneficial if you use a stingy pen to optimize the ink flow but for wet writers to start with it is not necessarily the best ink. Point 2 is not necessarily pretty but you can wipe the slight caking off without any residue/staining.

 

I haven't used it myself, but a friend/colleague has (perhaps she will chime in) and found that it feathered more than any other Diamine ink, presumably because of what you report in 1. The main point of this reply, though, is to point out that you can avoid those problems but retain the same colour by switching to Noodler's Navy. (At any rate, her Diamine Blue Black in a wet nib looks exactly the same colour as my Noodler's Navy in a wet nib.) It probably doesn't dry as fast, but dilution will fix that if you find it a problem.

 

Simon

 

Simon has a good memory! Yes, my experience with Diamine Blue Black was that it had a very fast flow. I don't recall any caking around the nib, though. I agree with Simon's color comparison between the Blue Black and Noodler's Navy; we compared them side-by-side. I've never used Navy, so I can't speak to how it behaves.

 

[errantmarginalia]

I'm glad it's not just me. I've experienced both the wetness and the caking with Diamine BB. It's a lovely ink, but I'm not thrilled about the caking. What bothers me is that it happens even in pens I use everyday. Best,

David

[omasfan]

Thanks for all of your comments! At least I am not alone here. I'll look for the older thread, too.

 

The main point of this reply, though, is to point out that you can avoid those problems but retain the same colour by switching to Noodler's Navy. (At any rate, her Diamine Blue Black in a wet nib looks exactly the same colour as my Noodler's Navy in a wet nib.) It probably doesn't dry as fast, but dilution will fix that if you find it a problem.

 

Simon, thanks for your advice which I cannot follow as I've done away with all of my Noodler's inks a while ago due to various problems that I had. I will definitely stick to Diamine in the future. I use lots of Diamine blues (none of which exhibits any problem to me), and so I'll be able to live with the wet flow if I use this ink only in my extra fine-nibbed pens. Other than these two minor issues, the ink is excellent and is very much loved by me and I guess others too.

[KingJoe]

And I thought it was just me! When I first filled a piston-filler with this ink, I was sure I had not gotten all the water out or something after flushing the previous ink out. I went ahead and used it, and several fills later nothing had changed. I'll also agree that it feathers a LOT...presumably for the same reason.

 

The caking issue is present. The underside of the nib tends to see a buildup just behind the tipping material. I wipe this with a damp cloth every few days and never have a problem. I've also noticed small droplets of ink inside the cap from time to time (which other inks don't do in this pen), so I swab it out whenever I fill.

 

None of these problems are enough to keep me from using it. I'm hooked on this ink. I haven't found an ink that looks as nice on paper. Out of the same pen, I found Noodler's Navy darker and a little less "green."

 

~~King

[KingJoe]

Forum hiccup...

Edited February 12, 2008 by KingJoe

[ajaxline]

Slightly off topic... my first ever bottled ink purchase was Diamine Jet Black. I loved the line color and consistency, but it turned my Lamy Accent into a brutally slow starter that required continual wetting to keep running. I eventually had to discontinue using it.

 

Cheers,

A.J.