Diamine Shimmer Inks 2017 Firefly

[Chrissy]

I’m reviewing samples of the new set of Diamine Shimmer inks.

This one is Diamine Firefly

It’s a orange leaning, saturated, red ink with gold shimmer. It has some nice shading. Think a similar shade to Matador, Montblanc Corn Poppy Red or Sheaffer Skrip Red, but more saturated.

 

I found it a wet and well flowing ink.

It had very good lubrication with the pens I tried it with.

With broader nibs it looks much more saturated than it does with finer nibs, although it’s wet enough to show the gold shimmer with all nibs.

It showed through on some of the papers I used.

The pens I used were a Lamy Safari with 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 found Firefly a well-behaved ink. I didn’t experience any ignition or clogging problems with it. I had no problem cleaning it out of pens using cold water or off of skin using soap and warm water.

 

It is not sold as a water resistant ink but it is water resistant. It looks more orange when wet.

 

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: Wet, very good.
• Lubrication: Wet, very good
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: A saturated ink
• Shading Potential: Very good; shading can easily be seen.
• Sheen: Gold shimmer
• Show-Through:
  • Tomoe River 52gsm.
  • Cheaper generic 80gsm printer papers & lined pads.
  • Field Notes
• Spread / Feathering: Not seen
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over a week in the pen
• Staining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-up
• Staining (hands): Not seen - easy clean-up
• Clogging: 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

 

 

[Jamerelbe]

I *really* like the look of this ink: I have Orange Inferno already, but think I may have to add a bottle of Firefly to my shimmering ink collection...

[lapis]

Thanks for this good review! Nice ink, although I'm not all that hot about the glitter stuff. Maybe because this one doesn't seem to have any glitter at all. A good red, dark but still bright, tending towards a fire engine red, as I see it.

[Chrissy]

I *really* like the look of this ink: I have Orange Inferno already, but think I may have to add a bottle of Firefly to my shimmering ink collection...

This is much more red than Orange Inferno. It's a true bright 'fire engine' red with no lean towards pink at all. In fact it leans orange, and when wet or when cleaning it out of pens, it looks even more orange.

 

If I was only going to have one bright red ink with shimmer then I would prefer to have this one with gold shimmer than Firestorm Red with silver shimmer. I prefer gold shimmer in red ink. That's just me.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for this good review! Nice ink, although I'm not all that hot about the glitter stuff. Maybe because this one doesn't seem to have any glitter at all. A good red, dark but still bright, tending towards a fire engine red, as I see it.

You're welcome. Shimmer in inks is a bit like Marmite - people either love it or hate it.

 

These shimmer inks are wetter, and the shimmer is very easily seen from any pen and on most papers. This shimmer also cleans out easier than some other shimmer particles I've had to clean out. It's more like many nano-particle inks.

 

As always, in order to get fewer particles, don't shake the bottle before you fill the pen.

[lapis]

As always, in order to get fewer particles, don't shake the bottle before you fill the pen.

 

Exactly. That's what I do with my first (and only) ten shimmerings. Now if I were still in my lab with all those centrifuges....

[Chrissy]

 

 

Exactly. That's what I do with my first (and only) ten shimmerings. Now if I were still in my lab with all those centrifuges....

 

 

A lab with centrifuges might be useful.

[Jamerelbe]

I always shake my shimmer ink bottles vigorously before filling - as attractive as some of the colours are, I'm buying them for the particles!

[Chrissy]

I always shake my shimmer ink bottles vigorously before filling - as attractive as some of the colours are, I'm buying them for the particles!

 

I do too, but there are some users who prefer to not have too many particles in their fill.

 

I recommend always checking your caps are very tightly fastened. I picked up one of my tester bottles today and the cap had become loose all by itself. I was so relieved that I checked it first and didn't shake Electric Pink all over the place.