Ink Review: Diamine Sepia

[Chrissy]

Today I'm reviewing Diamine Sepia ink.

 

Sepia usually means a reddish brown colour, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia. Sepia was commonly used as writing ink in Greco-Roman civilisation and remained in common use until 19th century.

 

Diamine Sepia is an unsaturated, yellowish brown, dye based ink. Its from Diamine Inks standard range.

 

Diamine Sepia is lighter and more yellow than both Diamine Autumn Oak and Warm Brown. Its also lighter and less saturated than Diamine Ochre.

 

I found it an interesting ink to write with. With my B nib it shaded a lot and felt wet and lubricated, yet when I used it with my F & M nibs it felt less lubricated although it flowed well. Its behaviour seems to be quite pen and paper dependant.

• Flow Rate: Good. Felt wetter with my B nib.
• Lubrication: OK - better with B nib.
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: Unsaturated ink.
• Shading Potential: A shading ink, quite variable.
• Sheen: None seen.
• Show-Through:
  • Slightly on Tomoe River 52gsm.
  • Slightly on Oxford Pad.

• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.
• Nib Creep / Crud: Not seen, even after over 1 week in the pen
• Staining (pen): Not seen after several days in the pen - easy clean-up with water.
• Staining (hands): Easy clean-up with bar soap.
• Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
• Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof but has quite good water resistance.
• Availability: Available from Diamine Inks web-site and many other outlets

• 

  

[lapis]

Nice review and good comparisons. Although by no means a favourite colour of mine, I've always found it fascinating to collect and compare "sepias" from different companies. Really a weird array of tones. I mean, as we all know, "blacks" are not simply blacks, nor are all "greys" grey, but "sepias" range between reds and yellows....

[Chrissy]

Nice review and good comparisons. Although by no means a favourite colour of mine, I've always found it fascinating to collect and compare "sepias" from different compnies. Really a weird array of tones. I mean, as we all know, "blacks" are not simply blacks, nor are all "greys" grey, but "sepias" range between reds and yellows....

 

You're welcome. You're absolutely right. With Sepia ink you never know what colour you're going to get until you try it.

[senzen]

Great, great review, thank you! Seems like a really placid colour, I'm not sure I'd come across such a yellowish sepia before.

[Chrissy]

Great, great review, thank you! Seems like a really placid colour, I'm not sure I'd come across such a yellowish sepia before.

 

You're welcome. From looking around at other sepia inks, I haven't come across such a yellowish one before either.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

As you showed, it's dark enough on some paper to look Ochre, while on others it's very light, leaning on a Sandy yellow.

The shading is great.

It feels very dry though, not a favourite of mine.

[Chrissy]

As you showed, it's dark enough on some paper to look Ochre, while on others it's very light, leaning on a Sandy yellow.

The shading is great.

It feels very dry though, not a favourite of mine.

 

Try it in a pen with a broader nib.

[encremental]

It seems sepia for some ink manufacturers is the colour of faded old photographs, whereas others go for the hard core cuttlefish thing, hence the wide range of tones. You see the same disparity with indigo - dye used for denim or the sixth colour in the spectrum?

 

I think round here we just say, 'yes please, two bottles' of whatever it is

 

John

[artart]

Great review, thank you!

Diamine Sepia is one of my favourite ink, it is a nice point of colour and it shades beautifully - I tend to use it in pens with wet nibs as it is rather dry

[Chrissy]

Great review, thank you!

Diamine Sepia is one of my favourite ink, it is a nice point of colour and it shades beautifully - I tend to use it in pens with wet nibs as it is rather dry

 

You're welcome. Yes the lubrication seemed much smoother with my M and B nibs than it did with the F.

[Chrissy]

It seems sepia for some ink manufacturers is the colour of faded old photographs, whereas others go for the hard core cuttlefish thing, hence the wide range of tones. You see the same disparity with indigo - dye used for denim or the sixth colour in the spectrum?

 

I think round here we just say, 'yes please, two bottles' of whatever it is

 

John

I had completely forgotten about the old photograph sepia colour.

[encremental]

Great review as always, Chrissy! What would I do without you? Time and time again your reviews have made me revisit inks which i have bought that have somehow got overlooked in the avalanche of new stuff. This is one of those.

 

It's interesting how the name of a colour affects one's perception of it. I had Diamine Sepia filed away in the brown section of my sample cards, purely because of the name. Today, thanks to your review I have fished it out and discovered that of course it is really a warm gold; a dead spit for the wonderfully named Seitz-Kreuznach Kangaroo Yellow, and also very close to Standardgraph Maize yellow.

 

However the biggest shock for me is the similarity to Edelstein Amber, which might be useful if you missed it.

 

Have you seen Pure Pens new ink Cotswolds? Same area, but slightly greenish ...

 

John

[Chrissy]

Great review as always, Chrissy! What would I do without you? Time and time again your reviews have made me revisit inks which i have bought that have somehow got overlooked in the avalanche of new stuff. This is one of those.

 

It's interesting how the name of a colour affects one's perception of it. I had Diamine Sepia filed away in the brown section of my sample cards, purely because of the name. Today, thanks to your review I have fished it out and discovered that of course it is really a warm gold; a dead spit for the wonderfully named Seitz-Kreuznach Kangaroo Yellow, and also very close to Standardgraph Maize yellow.

 

However the biggest shock for me is the similarity to Edelstein Amber, which might be useful if you missed it.

 

Have you seen Pure Pens new ink Cotswolds? Same area, but slightly greenish ...

 

John

You're welcome. I'm pleased to be an inky enabler or reminder.

 

I never thought of P.E. Amber. I must fish out my bottle and compare these two. Thanks for that

[ak2k5]

how similar this is to kWz honey?

[Chrissy]

how similar this is to kWz honey?

 

Sorry but I don't have any KWZ Honey to compare it with.

[JulieParadise]

how similar this is to kWz honey?

 

KWZ Honey is a lot more leaning towards yellow whereas Diamine Sepia more of an ochre colour. If you want a colour "in that direction" each could represent that colour group of ochre / light brown, but compared side by side they are different.