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Diamine Majestic Blue After reading so much nice reviews in Diamine inks I had to buy 2 bottles of their inks when I was at La Couronne du Comte. I bought the lovely teal a blue/green ink which reminded me a bit of De Aramentis Pigeon blue and this Diamine Majestic Blue. I can say one thing in advance: I love these inks. To start with I love the shape of the bottle which for me is a mixture of classy and classical Btw did you know that Diamine uses almost the same lids on their bottles as De Atramentis does. Anf there is one other thing it has in common with De Atramentis Steel blue ink… It keeps smudging but more to that later. Anyway I will post another review where I will compare these 2 Inks… Well now let’s go to business Diamine Majestic Blue points 1-5 1 = 5= Fountain Pens: Diplomat Excellence A medium Nib / Online Best Writer 1.8 Italic Nib Paper: Waldmühle Reflex Premium Drying time: fast points 3 Flow: very smooth points: 5 Lubrication: smooth in both pens points: 5 Bleeding: absent) Points 5 Shading: medium points: 3 Scheening: High points 4 Waterproof: Keeps staining with water points: 2 Package: Nice bottle points: 4 Diamine Majestic Blue is a very well behaving ink. It is smooth it is saturated and it Sheeeens!!! One thing is that itkeeps staining even after days of drying time with the smallest amount of water The Smudge test When I first wrote with this ink, I immediately loved the Colour, but I got somewhat disturbed by the smudging. It even smudges strongly after drying with jus a bit of spit on my fingertip. I showed this to Dr J of De Atramentis when I visited him at home when I drove from Austria to Holland. He tested the ink and told me the ink was perfectly well and lovely. According to Dr J some Ink (colours) tend to smudge more than others. And of course I have to say that most inks smudge a little as long as they are non-document inks… this one is just a little bit more talented at smudging 😉 Ink Comparison Availability La Couronne du Comte I guess Dennis and Rik would even travel to the moon to get it for you (just pay them a million or 2) Well it is safe to say that they do almost everything to satisfy their customers… Considering http://www.lacouronneducomte Bankers have Rothshield Ink lovers have the Goulet Pen Company. Rachel and Brian carry the almost* largest assortment of ink on earth an it's near surroundings http://www.gouletpens.com (*almost Dear Amberlea Davis carries the largest assortment in the universe but is not a seller Larry Post of Australia is a Great Supplier of Stationary and Artist Equipments. They carry a lot of De Atramentis Inks http://www.larrypost.com.au/ The same applies to Singapore based Arters of the utterly friendly Yitpeng and WeetekOng http://arters.com.sg Conclusion This one of my first bottles of Diamine Ink and it was a most pleasant experience. The smudging is a thing I am not really fond of, but I can live with it… Just be careful with fluids! Therefore I really love the colour and that awesome sheeeeeeeeennnn 😊 I want more Diamine
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Diamine launches the 2019 Inkvent Calendar today. As I understand, it will available broadly at £67. The Calendar is made up of a mixture of standard, shimmer and sheening inks and festive colours created for the calendar as follows: 24x 7ml and 1x 30ml inks. The unis are well behaved, easy to use and clean. I will upload photos shortly, in the meantime, they can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FCm3zjkxX/?igshid=nv76alm4erjx
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Oh I wish this one had a different name! I humbly offer Mehndi - which is exactly this colour, and the past of which is applied on hands and feet to celebrate special occasions and weddings.... I digress...
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This is appearing lighter on my screen than in real life but true to life in the swatch Black n red, Taroko Breeze, Fabriano Notebooks respectively,
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Black n Red, Taroko Breeze, Fabriano Notebooks respectively
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The UK based Diamine company, have been manufacturing fountain pen inks since 1864 using traditional methods and formulas for their production. I have just tested 78 samples, which I’ll post over the coming days. Here are the 20 test swatches for the Blue fountain pen inks and great range it is too. For the full results and swatches etc please visit: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/diamine-blue-inks-test/
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Brandy Dazzle This ink is chestnut brown with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
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I’m reviewing samples of the new set of Diamine Shimmer inks. This one is Diamine Electric Pink This is a saturated pink ink with silver shimmer. It is along similar lines to Caran d’Ache Divine Pink for being a pink ink that’s easy to read. I found it a wet and well flowing ink. It had good lubrication with the pens I tried it with. It’s a saturated ink, especially for a pink ink. With broader nibs it looks more saturated than it does with finer nibs, although it’s wet enough to show the silver shimmer with all nibs. It showed through on some of the papers I used. The pens I used were Stipula Agata F/M nib, Lamy Nexx M Stub 1.1mm nib, Lamy Nexx M F nib. The comparison inks were swabbed with a cotton bud and their ink names were written with a glass dip pen. I consider Electric Pink a well-behaved ink. I didn’t experience any ignition or clogging problems with it. Clean-up was easy. No problem at all removing it from hands or pens using soap for hands and plain water for pens. It is not sold as a water resistant ink but it is reasonably water resistant. The Mebin UK Notebook I used was supplied by someone on FPN who sold TR 68gsm Notebooks. The paper in the Mebin UK Notebook is quite thick at 95gsm, it’s acid free, and has a really smooth surface with no drag or tooth at all. Inks generally take longer to dry on this paper, so wetter inks tend to pool and I knew that they would show their shimmer well enough for me to photograph the sheen. The Moleskine Notebook is a UK clone, and I found there was very little spread on it. Flow Rate: Very goodLubrication: Very goodNib Dry-out: Not noticed.Start-up: Immediate.Saturation: A fairly saturated inkShading Potential: Very goodSheen: Silver shimmerShow-Through:Tomoe River 52gsm.Cheaper generic 80gsm printer papers & lined pads.Field NotesSpread / Feathering: Not seenNib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over a week in the penStaining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-upStaining (hands): Not seen - easy clean-upClogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.Water resistance: Has some water resistance.Availability: Will be available from Diamine Inks web-site and other outlets. Back Mebin then Back Moleskine
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Magical Forest. This ink is emerald green ink with a great silver sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
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Im reviewing samples of the new set of Diamine Shimmer inks. This one is Diamine Arabian Nights This is a blue-black ink that leans lilac. It is a similar colour to Diamine Eclipse, Diamine Damson and Diamine Vivaldi. It has silver sheen. I found it a wet and well flowing ink. It had very good lubrication with the pens I tried it with. Its a reasonably saturated ink. With broader nibs it looks more saturated than it does with finer nibs, although its wet enough to show the silver shimmer with all nibs. It showed through on some of the papers I used. The pens I used were Pilot VP M nib, Lamy Nexx M Stub 1.1mm nib, Lamy Nexx M F nib. The comparison inks were swabbed with a cotton bud and their ink names were written with a glass dip pen. I consider Arabian Nights a well-behaved ink. I didnt experience any ignition or clogging problems with it. Clean-up was easy. No problem at all removing Arabian Nights from hands or pens using soap for hands and plain water for pens. It is very water resistant, and didnt disappear after a few minutes under water. The Mebin UK Notebook I used was supplied by someone on FPN who sold TR 68gsm Notebooks. The paper in the Mebin UK Notebook is quite thick at 95gsm. Its acid free, and has a really smooth surface with no drag or tooth at all. Inks generally take longer to dry on this paper, so wetter inks tend to pool and I knew that they would show their shimmer well enough for me to photograph the sheen. The Moleskine Notebook is a UK clone, and I found there was very little spread on it. Flow Rate: Very goodLubrication: Very goodNib Dry-out: Not noticed.Start-up: Immediate.Saturation: Quite a saturated inkShading Potential: Very goodSheen: Silver shimmerShow-Through:Tomoe River 52gsm.Cheaper generic 80gsm printer papers & lined pads.Field NotesSpread / Feathering: A little spread seen on the Moleskine cloneNib Creep / Crud: Not seen, even after over a week in the penStaining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-upStaining (hands): Not seen - easy clean-upClogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof, but has good water resistance.Availability: Will be available from Diamine Inks web-site and other outlets. Back Mebin then Back Moleskine
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I’m reviewing samples of the new set of Diamine Shimmer inks. This one is Diamine Arctic Blue This is a dark turquoise/cerulean blue ink with some natural red sheen and silver shimmer. It is a similar colour to Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku. I found it a very wet and well flowing ink. It had very good lubrication with the pens I tried it with. It’s a saturated ink. With broader nibs it looks much more saturated than it does with finer nibs, although it’s wet enough to show the silver shimmer with all nibs. It showed through on some of the papers I used. The pens I used were Lamy Nexx M B nib, Lamy Nexx M Stub 1.1mm nib, Lamy Nexx M F nib. The comparison inks were swabbed with a cotton bud and their ink names were written with a glass dip pen. I consider Arctic Blue a well-behaved ink. I didn’t experience any ignition or clogging problems with it. Clean-up was easy. No problem at all removing it from hands or pens using soap for hands and plain water for pens. It is not water resistant, and disappeared after a few minutes under water. The Mebin UK Notebook I used was supplied by someone on FPN who sold TR 68gsm Notebooks. The paper in the Mebin UK Notebook is quite thick at 95gsm. It’s acid free, and has a really smooth surface with no drag or tooth at all. Inks generally take longer to dry on this paper, so wetter inks tend to pool and I knew that they would show their shimmer well enough for me to photograph the sheen. The Moleskine Notebook is a UK clone, and I found there was very little spread on it. Flow Rate: ExcellentLubrication: Very goodNib Dry-out: Not noticed.Start-up: Immediate.Saturation: A saturated inkShading Potential: Very goodSheen: Silver shimmerShow-Through:Tomoe River 52gsm.Cheaper generic 80gsm printer papers & lined pads.Field NotesSpread / Feathering: A little spread seen on the Moleskine cloneNib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over a week in the penStaining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-upStaining (hands): Not seen - easy clean-upClogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof, and has little water resistance.Availability: Will be available from Diamine Inks web-site and other outlets. Back Mebin then Back Moleskine
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How I love this colour!
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Blue Pearl. This ink is medium bright blue with a great silver sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Red Lustre. This ink is bright red with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
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Celestial Calligraffiti With Diamine Inks, Bleach And Metals
NickiStew posted a topic in Inky Thoughts
Calligraffiti is about abstracting calligraphy, type and graffiti with traditional precision and modern unbridled self-expression. Working with adults and sixth form students from Medway (non of whom have had any type or calligraphy experience) we have tried to push the boundaries of calligraffiti a little further. Taking inspiration from angelic names and ethereal words we have explored the possibilities of abstracting both the traditional tools and ink mediums in a ground breaking workshop utilising custom made pens and brushes with 10 Diamine inks (Oxblood, Sunshine Yellow, Denim, Apple Glory, Teal, Scarlet, Turquoise, Hope Pink, Majestic Purple and Jade Green), Quink black ink, bleach and Schmincke metal dusts – copper, silver and gold. Feedback comments included: ‘This is totally new’ ‘I never knew there so many colours available in fountain pen inks’ ‘The bleach and metallic effects are just awesome!’ ‘Could do with a longer day’ ‘Why don’t we do anything like this at school?’ Of particular interest to me, a couple of the sixth formers spoke candidly about their school situations. Sadly, it would appear that many schools will no longer tolerate artistic exploration. The schools are so tightly geared towards their ‘stats’ that they can’t afford to risk their numbers dropping with unknown quantities. But to have a generation of able students leaving school with all the intellectual gear but no idea and a fear of making mistakes, I find very troubling. Surely, we can only learn through pushing the envelope and making mistakes? This allows us to make decisions and make the right call when it counts? Your thoughts on this are most welcome. Cost wise it was another value for money workshop with yet another 100% satisfaction score on the evaluation! My sincere thanks to Rochester Cathedral for letting me run wild (again). A fair amount of the selected work, which looks stunning, will be exhibited in the Cathedral Crypt throughout April 2017 and possibly beyond. If your school, college or organisation is interested in engaging in a thought provoking and testing creative workshop(s) utilising fountain pen inks, please get in touch. The processes are fast, totally unique and visually stunning. But the key thing here is – the students leave inspired! And here is a taster of the work. Once again, and I can’t emphasise this enough, fountain pen inks are NOT just for writing AND look what you can get from so little. No wonder the students want more! Enjoy: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/celestial-calligraffiti-with-diamine-inks/ -
The UK based Diamine company, have been manufacturing fountain pen inks since 1864 using traditional methods and formulas for their production. I have just tested 78 samples, which I’ll be posting over the coming days. Here is my third Diamine review featuring 15 test swatches of Green fountain pen inks. Inks tested: Racing Green, Evergreen, Classic Green, Green Black, Green Umber, Umber, Wagner, Spring Green, Light Green, Beethoven, Delamere Green, Wood Green, Ultra Green, Dark Green and Cool Green. And what a diverse group of Greens these are – they blend well, react with a neon gold to bleach and flow easily through a nib for great writing. Every single one of these is worth having. Let’s start with the chromatics – the Evergreen, Classic, Umber, Wagner, Beethoven, Delamare and Wood greens all show gorgeous chromatic qualities of which Evergreen, Wagner, Beethoven and Classic are definitely going to be tested further. For you sheen freaks, most of these have a deep rich sheen to them, maybe not so dramatic and colourful as other colour ranges, but sheens non the less. For colour subtlety, theses 15 inks together demonstrate how close some inks may initially appear but on closer inspection they are indeed unique. But that Wagner… it’s mesmerising! Of note – there are over 100 colours in the Diamine fountain pen ink range plus more colours in the composers and flowers gift ranges – all of which are all supposedly unique. So what I’ve done, is classify batches by colour so you can see the gift inks next to the standards and you can judge for yourselves whether or not this is fact. With such a huge range, some colours are bound to appear similar, but from what I can see, those fine subtleties of difference are evident. From a creative point of view, Diamine inks really do hit the mark – they blend with water and each other beautifully, they pretty much all react with bleach and they always look spectacular. There’s also chromatography, sheens and shimmers too. Combine this with their very affordable price point – what’s not to like? I hope you enjoy the results as much as I have testing them. And by the way, there are many other Diamine reviews throughout this blog. If you’d like to know more about this about this project, please take a look at the Mission Statement. All tests on Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper using a dip pen with titanium zebra G flex nib for the bleach work and a Noodler’s Ahab for the ink work. To view the swatch test images please visit: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/diamine-green-inks-test/
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Today I’m reviewing Diamine Eau de Nil The name means: 'Water of the Nile' I’ve seen previous reviews for Eau de Nil, and decided to try it out. I’m pleased I did because I really like the colour. It’s like a blue with added grey that makes it into a blue teal that doesn’t lean very green. It is not a really saturated ink, and it’s a little drier than some other inks I’ve written with recently. However, it’s an excellent shader and I found no problems with the flow or lubrication. I would say it’s well behaved in the pens and on the paper that I used. I saw no skips or hard starts, and it didn't dry out on the nib while I was doing swab tests. This ink isn't sold as water resistant, but there was some water resistance when I did the water test. I like the way it shades on most papers. This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, but it has some water resistance.Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a quite shiny surface at 100gsm, and I used several different nibs, this ink took 10-12 secs secs to dry using the Parker 51 F nib.No smear after dry.It exhibited good flow and I found it smooth to write with. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottles.Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's a reasonable price.
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The UK based Diamine company, have been manufacturing fountain pen inks since 1864 using traditional methods and formulas for their production. I have just tested 78 samples, which I’ll post over the coming days. Here are the 20 test swatches for the Blue fountain pen inks and great range it is too. Inks tested: Maroon, Vermillion, Matador, Classic Red, Passion Red, Tulip, Wild Strawberry, Ruby, Brilliant Red, Pink, Flamingo Pink, Carnation, Bourgainvillea, Deep Magenta, Amaranth, Burgundy Rose, Crimson, Handel, pansy, Amazing Amethyst, Iris, Violet. All of these inks are lovely – they blend well, react with a neon gold to bleach and flow easily through a nib for great writing. But for me, the stand outs are Bourgainvillea, Burgundy Rose, Crimson, Handel, Pansy and ‘top of the pops’ – Amazing Amethyst (it’s got everything!) – I’ll sort out some test art soon. If you’re into those subtleties then the first 12 bright reds demonstrate this perfectly. For the sheen freaks – Maroon, Wild Strawberry, Amazing Amethyst and Flamingo Pink are all worth looking at but for the a really great sheen, Pansy is my top pick – just look at that gorgeous metallic green. Of note – there are over 100 colours in the Diamine fountain pen ink range plus more colours in the composers and flowers gift ranges – all of which are all supposedly unique. So what I’ve done, is classify batches by colour so you can see the gift inks next to the standards and you can judge for yourselves whether or not this is fact. With such a huge range, some colours are bound to appear similar, but from what I can see, those fine subtleties of difference are evident. From a creative point of view, Diamine inks really do hit the mark – they blend with water and each other beautifully, they pretty much all react with bleach and they always look spectacular. There’s also chromatography, sheens and shimmers too. Combine this with their very affordable price point – what’s not to like? I hope you enjoy the results as much as I have testing them. And by the way, there are many other Diamine reviews throughout this blog. If you’d like to know more about this about this project, please take a look at the Mission Statement. All tests on Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper using a dip pen with titanium zebra G flex nib for the bleach work and a Noodler’s Ahab for the ink work. Diamine samples sourced from Vijay at Stationery Shop stationeryshop.scotland@gmail.com. Check out the swatches here: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/diamine-red-and-purple-inks-test/
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The UK based Diamine company, have been manufacturing fountain pen inks since 1864 using traditional methods and formulas for their production. I have just tested 78 samples, which I’ll post over the coming days. Here are the 20 test swatches for the Blue fountain pen inks and great range it is too. Inks tested: Maroon, Vermillion, Matador, Classic Red, Passion Red, Tulip, Wild Strawberry, Ruby, Brilliant Red, Pink, Flamingo Pink, Carnation, Bourgainvillea, Deep Magenta, Amaranth, Burgundy Rose, Crimson, Handel, pansy, Amazing Amethyst, Iris, Violet. All of these inks are lovely – they blend well, react with a neon gold to bleach and flow easily through a nib for great writing. But for me, the stand outs are Bourgainvillea, Burgundy Rose, Crimson, Handel, Pansy and ‘top of the pops’ – Amazing Amethyst (it’s got everything!) – I’ll sort out some test art soon. If you’re into those subtleties then the first 12 bright reds demonstrate this perfectly. For the sheen freaks – Maroon, Wild Strawberry, Amazing Amethyst and Flamingo Pink are all worth looking at but for the a really great sheen, Pansy is my top pick – just look at that gorgeous metallic green. Of note – there are over 100 colours in the Diamine fountain pen ink range plus more colours in the composers and flowers gift ranges – all of which are all supposedly unique. So what I’ve done, is classify batches by colour so you can see the gift inks next to the standards and you can judge for yourselves whether or not this is fact. With such a huge range, some colours are bound to appear similar, but from what I can see, those fine subtleties of difference are evident. From a creative point of view, Diamine inks really do hit the mark – they blend with water and each other beautifully, they pretty much all react with bleach and they always look spectacular. There’s also chromatography, sheens and shimmers too. Combine this with their very affordable price point – what’s not to like? I hope you enjoy the results as much as I have testing them. And by the way, there are many other Diamine reviews throughout this blog. If you’d like to know more about this about this project, please take a look at the Mission Statement. All tests on Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper using a dip pen with titanium zebra G flex nib for the bleach work and a Noodler’s Ahab for the ink work. Diamine samples sourced from Vijay at Stationery Shop stationeryshop.scotland@gmail.com. Check out the swatches here: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/diamine-red-and-purple-inks-test/
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A Quick Look At The Latest Diamine Shimmer Ink Samples
Chrissy posted a topic in Th-INKing Outside the Bottle
Diamine sent me samples of their latest 12 shimmer inks to try out, and I've had 12 pens inked with them for over a week now. So here is a quick look at the colours. Maybe I should have separated Caramel Sparkle and Pink Glitz as they look a little similar next to each other, on this sheet. However, Caramel Sparkle is a reddish brown and Pink Glitz is a pinkish red. I'm loving the green, orange and silver. Anyway, this is just a quick look. -
Diamine Inks now have brand new, 80ml glass ink bottles, and new packaging, that has been specially designed by Inkymole to go with the packaging that they used on their range of Shimmer inks. This packaging was created by Inkymole using Diamine inks and a fountain pen. The old 80ml bottles have been discontinued, because they are no longer available in sufficient quantity to satisfy demand, so Diamine had to find a new bottle. They took the opportunity of having their packaging for their new bottles redesigned at the same time. The new bottles are the same basic shape but have studs or dots, not ridges, and although some of you may have already seen the new bottles, they have so far been issued during an interim period with original Diamine plastic caps, in the original Diamine grey and black boxes. Some of these interim bottles have already been pictured and talked about on another forum, where many liked them, some referred to them as looking like Daleks. Nevertheless, they are here to stay, and now they are launched in all of their new glory with their new gold caps and their new packaging: The first thing you will notice is that the box is shorter. The old box was 78mm high x 59mm wide x 59mm deep. The new box is 70mm high x 56mm wide x 56mm deep. The design is completely different being black with gold splashes and writing. They also have a colour coded square label showing the ink inside the box. The new bottles are virtually the same overall size as the old bottles, being a mere couple of mm taller overall. So the bottles now fit more snugly inside their boxes, making them less prone to bounce around. The new bottles also have more of a neck from the shoulders of the bottle. The bottle labels are the same shape but are redesigned and include a colour coded bar detailing the ink inside. The caps are now gold coloured metal like some of the caps on the Shimmer inks bottles. They are less deep than the old plastic caps, and are smooth. I think they look very classy. I didn't find them at all slippery to unscrew and screw on. Here are some pictures:
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My latest ink is Diamine Burnt Sienna I decided to try Diamine Burnt Sienna immediately after trying Ochre because I thought they were similar colours. Burnt Sienna has more red in it and would fit into the reddish browns group along with Diamine Terracotta and Montblanc Leonardo. It's less saturated than Ochre and is wetter, so it takes longer to dry. It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. It lubricated the nib very well, and the flow felt slightly wet. It's a quite water resistant ink. Not as water resistant as Ochre. I could still see all of the writing, even after over 30 minutes, and though I blotted my water test with a piece of kitchen roll, the ink dots in the centre of the water test were still legible. Although this isn't a waterproof ink, it shows very good water resistance, as do many inks in this colour range.Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib and a 1.1mm nib, this ink took 17-20 secs to dry.It felt a little wetter than some other inks I've reviewed, but still flowed and lubricated the nib well. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.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.
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My latest ink is Diamine Marine As I said in my review for Diamine Havasu Turquoise and Diamine Turquoise I have been collecting turquoise inks and samples since I bought a bottle of Caran d'Ache Caribbean Sea. There are several inks that are a good alternative for that deleted ink and I intend to show you as many as I can. The best match I have found so far is Kaweco Paradise Blue and I will be posting a review of that ink soon. Diamine Marine is another alternative. It's very slightly greener than and has about the same saturation as Havasu Turquoise. It is more like a slightly greenish turquoise ink than a sky blue ink. I'm not sure you would need Marine, Havasu Turquoise and Turquoise in one ink collection though. If someone forced me to choose between D Havasu Turquoise, Turquoise and Marine, so that I could only have one of them in my collection, I would have a real problem choosing between Turquoise and Marine. Marine is spot in the middle of blue and green though. The exact colour that you would describe bright turquoise as. I have previously reviewed Diamine Soft Mint and Diamine Steel Blue ink and at the time I believed Steel Blue might be the closest match to Caran d'Ache Caribbean Sea. However, I think you could choose Diamine Turquoise or Diamine Marine for a closer match. Although this isn't a waterproof ink, it shows good water resistance, as do many turquoise inks.Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib, this ink took 15-16 secs to dry.It flows through the pen very well and lubricates the nib very well. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests. It was one of those pen and ink moments that produced a great match for me. They really played well together.It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles, 30ml plastic refill bottles or International sized cartridges.Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's a reasonable price.
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Purple Pazzazz. This ink is a dark purple with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
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Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Golden Sands. This ink is yellow with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.
