Diamine Shimmering Hard Starts

[Uncial]

I got four of these last week when they came out and I've been playing with them for a few days now. Quite apart from the shimmering aspect, the colours are surprisingly good and very nice. I got Night Sky, Blue Lightning, Golden Sands and Brandy Dazzle. I wanted to share my experience here and see if ti matched others. I find them a bit of mixed bag to be honest. I've yet to try Brandy Dazzle, but here are the others:

Night Sky

It's sort of thick and gloopy but writes a true carbon black with little grey. I like that a lot. The shimmer is very subtle and nice but I had repeated hard starts.

Blue Lightning

This is a very pretty colour with good shading and again the shimmer is very subtle and creates a very nice effect. Unfortunately it feels gritty on the nib and flow is poor.

Golden Sands

An unusual colour aptly named with the most dramatic shimmer effect that compliments the ink well, but flow is very poor and it feels 'stiff' to write with it.

 

In all of the above I have used either a fine nib or a 1.1 stub. Perhaps they do better in a very wet broad nib, but I would be interested to know what others experiences are. I prefer the more subtle shimmer than Herbin's inks, but so far prefer the better flow of the Herbin's.

[Cyber6]

Interesting... the original reviewers of these inks found them with good flow and no dryness.

 

I should be getting mine this week. I will report my findings.

 

 

 

C.

[Sinistral1]

I can't wait to hear what you think of these, Cyber6, and to hear about your murky green experiments. Thank you for your review, Uncial.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Sinistral1

[Uncial]

Interesting... the original reviewers of these inks found them with good flow and no dryness.

 

I should be getting mine this week. I will report my findings.

 

 

 

C.

 

There aren't 'dry' inks though. Of the three I have tried so far they all have a medium dry time (that's 15 seconds for me on Clairefontaine). I think the issue might be the pearlescent bits which are clogging the flow but not stopping it entirely. As Night Sky ink seems thick on its own the issue is highlighted. It's somewhat odd as the little glittery bits seem smaller in these inks than in Herbin's.

[amberleadavis]

Send me a letter?

[Uncial]

If that was directed at me, PM me your address and I can send a letter written with them.

[Cyber6]

 

There aren't 'dry' inks though. Of the three I have tried so far they all have a medium dry time (that's 15 seconds for me on Clairefontaine). I think the issue might be the pearlescent bits which are clogging the flow but not stopping it entirely. As Night Sky ink seems thick on its own the issue is highlighted. It's somewhat odd as the little glittery bits seem smaller in these inks than in Herbin's.

 

 

I got my inks yesterday and went immediately to work on changing the color of the green one (which I don't like)....

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/298468-shimmering-green/

 

 

I have only tried the green one for now, but it seems to flow well and was easy to clean from feed (I switched pens). Then of course, I have not had it in my pen but just a few hours. Time will tell.

 

 

C.

[Uncial]

I've been messing about with these a little more and in different pens.

 

In an Edison 1.1 stub the Night Sky felt stiff to write with, almost as if the sparkle was clogging a little. It would hard start regularly. With Blue Lightning in it, it felt a bit stiff, but also noticeably gritty on the page.

 

In a Neponset with a Goulet No.6 nib - Golden Sands felt very stiff and the saturation seemed to come and go but no hard starts. Brandy Dazzle felt a little stiff but no hard starts.

 

In a Baoer Copper Bar (with its original nib) - Golden Sands felt a tiny bit stiff, but overall no real problems to worry about. Brandy Dazzle exhibited no issues whatsoever (it's a much wetter ink than the other three with a long dry time).

 

In an Orange Bookworm (with its original nib) Night Sky exhibited no problems whatsoever.

 

I think these inks are very pen dependent, which is a little strange. The moral of the story might be that some may not be suited to stubs. Only time will tell.

 

Edited to add

I did try the Blue Lightning in another pen - I just can't remember what it was in - but it was a fine nib and flow was ok, but still felt gritty.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Uncial

[Cyber6]

I think these inks are very pen dependent, which is a little strange.

 

Not so strange... Becasue of the shimmering particles, the flow will highly depend on the nib/feed configuration. Thus, it will flow well in some pens and not in others.

 

I guess, that is the price to pay for the shimmering quality.

 

 

C.

[Josiewestwood]

I've got the Night Sky, Blue Lightning and Blue Pearl. I haven't tried the Blue Pearl but I can give feedback on the Blue Lightning and the Night Sky. (I've also got some of the J Herbin sparkly inks)

Blue Lightning. I have this in a Parker with a calligraphy(~1mm) nib. It wrote beautifully; no hard starts and the shimmer was subtle and paper-dependent. The shinier/smoother the paper the better. The silver/turquoise is very pretty!

 

Night Sky: I have this in a Sheaffer with a 1.1mm calligraphy nib. It took an age to get it going when it was filled, then after a bit of stuttering it wrote well for many minutes with a dense black and a subtle shimmer. Then I stopped for about 10 seconds (recapped the pen) and had a hard start and have had a hard start every time. [i have J Herbin Ocean Blue in another Sheaffer calligraphy (1.1mm nib) and it writes beautifully each time, even if left alone for a few days so I don't think it's specific to the pen but more to the ink]

 

For me, the Herbin inks write more wetly (almost sopping in the case of Emerald de Chivor) and can bled through papers you wouldn't expect them to. The Diamine write more dryly but don't bleed through. They can have hard starts.

 

[the reason they're all in fairly basic pens is because I wasn't sure about subjecting my more expensive ones to sparkly bits, but actually, they will be fine, though with a calligraphy nib, the effect is gorgeous when the ink flows well]

 

Not sure if that was any help to anyone...

[amberleadavis]

Thank you, Josie. Welcome aboard. We'd love to see pictures if you have any.

[amberleadavis]

http://www.sheismylawyer.com/album/Ink/2015-10-26-13-26-12.jpg

[amberleadavis]

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[amberleadavis]

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[amberleadavis]

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[amberleadavis]

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[amberleadavis]

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