Diamine WES Kensington Blue

[dizzypen]

This review, along with all my others, is also posted on The Dizzy Pen.

 

I am currently drowning in blue inks. While I like blue ink I don't like it nearly as much as my ink shelf would suggest. I just can't resist giving them a whirl.

 

I received about 20ml of this ink in a trade with a fellow FPNer. Let me tell you I really like this blue a lot.

 

The Basics

 

* I'd describe the color as a medium blue with turquoise blue tendencies. This ink does not, however, have any green cast to it whatsoever. It is a straight up blue.

* This ink does not like cheap/poor quality paper. It will feather and bleed into next week if used on anything less than a premium paper. It does well on Staples Bagasse and HP LaserJet 24# but really struts its stuff on Rhodia, Clairefontaine, and Cranes. On high quality papers there is no bleeding or feathering at all.

* The flow and lub are good, not the best I've seen but quite good nonetheless. You certainly don't feel as through you are dragging your pen along the page.

* The drying time is average at around 7 seconds. This is not a super fast drying ink so lefties need to take some measure of care to not smudge the page as they go.

* Shading is there, but is not very pronounced depending on the pen and paper combo. I'm sure this ink could shade wonderfully under the right circumstances.

 

 

All in all, this is a pretty good ink. Probably my favorite thing about the ink is how it changes from nib to nib and paper to paper. The review card shows the ink to be quite light and uninteresting with a fine nib, but once I switched to the Broad and wet Stub the ink took on an entirely different personality. I've included shots of both so you can see for yourself.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4364921775_d2dff18f24.jpg

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4364922159_7c5baaa7e7.jpg

 

I apologize for the gray cast of the papers. Getting the ink color right was more important and all attempts to adjust the exposure, white balance, etc. resulted in the ink color being thrown completely off.

 

No Affil.

Edited February 17, 2010 by dizzypen

[Ed Ronax]

Nice review, thanks.

[esterbex]

I have a sample of this ink and found it so alluring I had to have it! Thanks for this review!

[piembi]

It is one of my favourite medium blue inks. And yes, it changes with the pen. I use it with a wet Sheaffer Snorkel M nib and it looks wonderful with this wet writer.