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My latest ink is Diamine Asa Blue I haven't tried Diamine Asa Blue before, and I read that several users thought it was a really nice colour. So I decided I should get a sample and review it. I'm pleased I did as I really like the colour. It's a saturated, darker sky blue type. Although it's a similar shade to several sky blue inks, it's darker and more saturated than quite a few of them. If you compare it against other inks on the Diamine colour charts, Asa Blue is darker than Florida Blue, Kensington Blue, Mediterranean Blue, and Aster. It's also darker than Sailor Sky Blue/Souten, P.E. Topaz, and P.I. Kon-peki Also, it seems to lean a little more red than some. I saw lots of red sheen on the feeds of my pens while I was writing, and in several of the writing samples I've done with it. It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. It felt quite wet in the pens that I filled with it, so it flowed well and lubricated the nib well too. Despite feeling reasonably wet, it dried really quickly on my thick and smooth 100gsm paper. It's reasonably water resistant. I forgot about the water on the review sheet and left it for over half an hour. After blotting, I could still see the dots and lines though. These sky blues are tricky to reproduce accurately on my scanner. It seems like the closer I get the ink I'm reviewing, the further away the comparison inks go. I did several Photoshop adjustment layers to make it look as accurate as I could get it next to the review sheet in good daylight. Although this isn't a waterproof ink, it shows reasonable water resistance, as do many Diamine inks, especially their blue ones.Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Waterman F nib and a Lamy 1.1mm nib, this ink took 5-8 seconds to dryIt felt a bit wetter than some other inks I've reviewed, so lubricated the nib well. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests with my pen caps left off.It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottlesDiamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's a reasonable price.

Does anyone know which colour of Chesterfield is the match for Diamine Asa Blue? I have read through many of the threads but not found this....and I love Asa Blue! Alternatively, anyone know a great inexpensive source for Diamine inks (that does not involve a large shipment from the UK)? Or want to unload some Asa Blue for a good price? thank you

Hi Fellow Pen Appreciators I have recently bought a bottle of Diamine Royal blue and when I opened it I notices spots or patches of oily something floating on top of the ink. It makes up a shiny reflective and very slightly rainbow-y layer. The ink itself is rather dark and the thing on the surface really reminds me of spilled oil on the seas. Is it a precursor or a warning of the feared SITB? Or is it normal I just never met it before? (I'm a newbie to bottled inks and pretty new to fountian pens as well...) Since then I've seen something a bit similar to that in my Diamine Asa blue, but I thought I'll take the careful option and ask before I put it into more precious pens and even more pronouncedly to sargasso Sea. Thank you very much for your opinion or advice