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Help Me Round Out My Diamine Ink Purchase


Mister John

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After falling in love with several Diamine colors, I've decided to take the plunge and make a good sized order to Diamine in the UK. Being in the US, the markup on Diamine products is horrendous. For example, the best price I've seen in the US for 30ml amounts of Diamine ink is Goldspot, who charge $7 per with free shipping. If I buy direct, however, the cost falls to about $3.50 per with a shipping cost of $16 approximately.

 

This puts the break even point for a UK order at 4-5 bottles. Obviously, it pays to bunch the purchase owing to the flat shipping rate from the UK and to buy more rather than less. My anticipated purchase size is about 12 bottles.

 

After reading many reviews and trying some samples, I have my heart set on:

 

Sargasso Sea

Oxblood

Eclipse

Black-green

 

Which leaves about eight bottles in play. I am hoping that the good people of FPN can help me fill out my order. I love deep, dark blues, shading, sheen, and non-smearing inks. Being a lefty, the last is an important quality. Slow drying is death to an overwriting lefty. I have a lovely Pilot Custom Heritage with a Falcon nib that works wonders at flex, so sheen is definitely a consideration.

 

My plan is to choose based on the eight or so most popular responses. I am interested in the best in show, the Diamine colors that are exceptional examples of whatever color family they draw from. In the event of ties, I will favor greens, yellows, oranges, and browns, which I have fewer of than other colors. But, that being said, please give me your best in show opinion irrespective of my underrepresented colors.

 

I will report back on what I order and provide some reviews on the ink forum as to my impressions.

 

Thanks in advance for contributing to this most important project.

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Majestic Blue is a favorite of mine. Chocolate Brown is also nice.

"how do I know what I think until I write it down?"

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I made some ink comparisons some time ago, and a lot of them are Diamine inks. My favourites among them (that you haven't mentioned) are:

Syrah

Majestic Blue

Blue-Black

Red Dragon

Bilberry

Grape

Umber

Asa Blue

 

In case you're interested, here are the links (scroll to the bottom):

Blues: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/244795-86-bluish-to-me-inks/

Other colours: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/244844-more-ink-comparisons/

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I love the chocolate brown, but the drying time is not super quick. As an underhanded lefty, it's not really a problem for me, although I have smudged half a line occasionally when writing quickly while flipping the page. So if you're looking a non-smearing ink, you might want to skip this one.

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you're right. - Henry Ford

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I'm not sure I can offer much as far as non-smearing. Most of the colors I love are saturated, hence a longer dry time. That said I'm a big fan of the inks you have listed. Four others I would suggest:

 

Sryah

Ancient Copper

Red Dragon

Registrar's Ink.

 

I can't help it, I think everyone should have a bottle of Registrar's ink. For me, it's the perfect blue/black and is archival. I know, I know it's iron-gall. Don't let that scare you, modern formulations are much easier on pens. Just requires a bit of care and maintenance.

"If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."-Jim Valvano

 

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem."-Ronald Reagan

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Presidential Blue; Amazing Amethyst; Evergreen; Royal Blue; Majestic Blue. Some of my 'current' favourites!

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

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I like the following: Ochre, Meadow/Kelly Green, Peach Haze, Red Dragon, Syrah, Asa Blue, Maccassar and Grape.

Edited by vistafan
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Majestic Blue is a favorite of mine. Chocolate Brown is also nice.

Majestic Blue is one of my top 3 inks from Diamine, though not particularly fast drying. Bilberry is also a top 3, and dries a bit faster. And you already have Sargasso Sea on your list.

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Damson and Syrah are my two favorites. I find that Damson is subdued enough to use at work and lets me be a bit of a Rebel :ninja:

Amos

 

The only reason for time is so that everything does not happen at once.

Albert Einstein

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I can never get Majestic Blue to dry, or rather when it does it can be smudged too easily.

 

Current favorites are:

Prussian Blue (grey blue)

Evergreen (think slightly darker and less blue than green-black)

Macassar (dark brown)

Ancient copper (light red brown / dark orange)

Pumpkin (second only to MB Ink of Joy for oranges in my book)

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

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Another lefty overwriter and a big fan of Diamie ink. My favorites include:

 

Chocolate Borwn

Asa Blue

Steel Blue

Sherwood Green

Delamere Green

Pumpkin (a surprise, I'm not much for orange)

Matador

Syrah

Ancient Copper

And a new (to me) red, Oxblood

If you want sheen, Majestic blue is for you, but it is slow to dry and tends to be a little 'sticky'

 

Thanks for the tip on ordering. I much prefer the 30ml bottles so I would be veryinterested to hear how it goes.

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My favorites, for what it's worth:

 

  • Majestic Blue
  • Ancient Copper
  • Red Dragon
  • Oxblood
  • Syrah

Have fun!

Girls say they want a guy with serious ink, but then pretend to be bored when I show off all my fancy fountain pens. ~ Jason Gelles

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Here's a similar thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/247000-looking-for-diamine-suggestions/

 

 

I was thinking of doing a direct diamine purchase as well. I don't know what I'm going to end up actually ordering, but my list of possibles includes is below. The ones in bold I've already sampled.

Ancient Copper

Asa Blue

Orange

Damson

Evergreen

Graphite

Midnight

Twilight

Oxblood

Red Dragon

Sargasso Sea

Umber

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I've heard Umber is great. It's on my list. I've heard mixed things about Sargasso Sea, that it's both beautiful but somewhat difficult. I'm still a newbie. Can someone explain what that means to me, or what the issues/tradeoffs are with Sargasso Sea? I think my wife would really like it.

Girls say they want a guy with serious ink, but then pretend to be bored when I show off all my fancy fountain pens. ~ Jason Gelles

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Diamine Pumpkin is one of my all-time favorite inks. It's very vivid, easy to read, and, despite the name, is a clear, bright orange without any brown tones.

 

Diamine Apple Glory is a light green with a bit of shading. It's impractical, but really fun to use.

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For what it's worth, I've never thought I'd have an interest in a gray ink, but the more reviews I read about Graphite, the more I think I make have to try it. It sounds as if, for certain purposes, its quite distinguished and classy.

Girls say they want a guy with serious ink, but then pretend to be bored when I show off all my fancy fountain pens. ~ Jason Gelles

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My two favs are Graphite and Matador. Depending on which pen I'm using I get dark grey to almost black with the Graphite, I adore the Matador red, even though I'm an overwriting lefty and I have to slow down a bit to avoid smears.

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Seconding mhm802's Matador recommendation. I didn't mention it since I saw you are planning to get Oxblood, but Matador is quite different and my only daily use red.

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For what it's worth, I've never thought I'd have an interest in a gray ink, but the more reviews I read about Graphite, the more I think I make have to try it. It sounds as if, for certain purposes, its quite distinguished and classy.

 

I wouldn't have thought I'd be interested in gray either, but I fell in love with Noodler's 54th Massachusetts, which is more of a gray-blue. I figure it's worth trying a more neutral dark gray.

 

(Have you tried 54th? I'll bet it would look sharp on that yellow legal pad of yours.)

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