Diamine
I heard quite about about this ink so I was really looking forward to the opportunity to try our the various colours. Diamine ink is now more readily available in the US although it is still a little more difficult to find in Canada. Stylus Pens in Edmonton is a good source of those in Canada.
The company dates back to 1864, founded in London as T. Webster and Co. In 1925 the company moved to Liverpool and in 1964 the company changed its name to Diamine. In addition to their own lines, Diamine has been making ink for other companies such as Yard-o-Led. It was in 2003 the company introduced the Diamine line under their own name in the US market.
Diamine inks are produced in the United Kingdom and company offers drawing, calligraphy and writing inks. A year or so ago I ordered a few bottles and was pleased with the three colours that I selected. My first reaction was very positive in terms of the quantity of ink. The bottles are 80 ml which means you are receiving about one-third more than the typical 50 ml bottle. The price is reasonable compared to other brands.
The bottle itself is very attractive looking very good sitting on the desk. It is deep enough to handle the big nibs of the M1000 or Omas Paragon pen. The bottle has a very stable base so when you fill a pen, there is a sense of stability.
In terms of performance, drying time and flow are two important characteristics of ink and these are both positive aspect of this ink. One of the colours has an issue with staining (Havasu Tourquioise) and Diamine, like many brands of inks will seem to perform better or worse in various brands of pens. For some reason Majestic Blue, one of my favorite colours, and Montegrappa pens, have some difficulty. (This is not just my experience, I have heard from others on this also.)
Diamine offers a very large colour selection. Just about any preference in terms of colour can be found in the collection. With the variety of colours I grouped the inks into broad colour groupings.
I started by arranging the bottled by name and I was surprised by a a number of inks whose name I would have thought to be different than the actual colour.
Overall, I am impressed with the Diamine inks. I first devoted the better part of a day to trying each of the 50 colours - quite the exercise of flushing pens, writing on comparison sheets and creating individual index cards with ink colour samples. With that exercise completed, I started to fill individual pens with particular inks, and take them "on the road" to the office and to meetings to see how they perform in a variety of everyday experiences. |
Individual index cards were created for each colour. |
It is the road test that really tells one about the ink. You will see in my comments that some just did not look appropriate for business purposes, but great for a personal card.
But by taking the ink on the road means a variety of paper and writing environments. How did the ink write on everything from good to poor paper, fast and normal writing speeds, sitting at a desk holding the pen at a good angle to the paper, or standing in meetings writing on the back of binders etc?
The ink consistency came through. What I particularly like was the consistent quality of drying. While some inks such as Private Reserve, have retained a "stickiness" to the ink on some papers, it seems that pretty much no matter what the paper, the Diamine ink dried firmly to the paper and was not prone to smudging.
Browns
I regularly receive emails asking for my view on brown inks. It is a popular colour for ink and I regularly go through periods of time when is is a colour to use. I always find that a card, when written with brown ink, has a distinctive look.
The image to the right is to illustrate the range of tones, check the colour charts, that come from Diamine, at the end of this section.
Golden Brown - (New Century Line) a basic brown, with a gold undertone to the colour. As the ink dries I found the colour to flatten. It has enough richness to it that it stands paper quite well.
Raw Sienna - (New Century Line) after this ink dries, it is very similar to Golden Brown. My comments are the same for both colours.
Saddle Brown - (Old English Line) this is a good example of what people refer to as a true brown. Saddle Brown is a bit darker than Golden Brown of Raw Sienna, so if you like a bit more punch to your writing, this would be the choice of the first three mid-brown inks.
Burnt Sienna - (Old English Line) is an interesting colour. It has a chestnut tone to the ink, a bit red, but when I went back to look at the ink the next day, it stands out very nicely.
Dark Brown - (Old English Line) I was expecting something different, it is a brown with a bit of red to it. It is browner than Burnt Sienna, but richer in colour than Raw Sienna or Saddle Brown.
Sepia - (Old English Line) I not sure what I was expecting. I am always applying Sepia Filters in Photoshop in images to give an interesting tome. This is a brown with yellow-orange tones.
Left to Right: Golden Brown, Raw Sienna, Saddle Brown, Burnt Sienna, Dark Brown, Sepia Good colour choices for individuals who want a brown ink. All the inks had good flow, the drying time was satisfactory. There ink wrote well on different papers.
Greens
I regularly go through periods when I enjoy writing with a green ink. It sets the writing apart from the normal page of blue, and when the right green is used, it is well accepted in business use. So I was looking forward to seeing what the range of choices I would have with the Diamine line.
Again, the image to the right is capture the variance in tones, the colour chart at the bottom of the section shows the colour as presented by Diamine.
Umber - (New Century Line) is one of the darker greens in the Diamine line. The colour flattens when it dries but this is a green that is easy on the eye.
Woodland Green - (New Century Line) is also dark, its brighter even after drying. Nice colour and even when I write a couple of paragraphs, it is a colour that is not harsh to look at.
Emerald Green - (Old English Line) well not what I was expecting. It is kind of a grassy green.
Dark Green - (Old English Line) another one that was not what was expected. It has a good dark tone. This is almost a bit of blue to the green.
Jade Green - (New Century Line) you can get the idea of difference in tone by the image file, Jade Green and Light Green are on the bottom left. Jade has a bit more brilliance than Light Green. This is one colour that, when you looked at an entire page, is a little hard on the eye. I would say that this ink has very selective use.
Light Green - (Old English Line) a delicate green, probably going to be used for special cards etc and when I write any large amount of text with it, the colour was not as distinctive as I would like.
Left to right: Umber, Woodland Green, Emerald Green, Dark Green, Jade Green, Light Green Umber and Woodland Green come out as the colours I would use the the most.
In May 2008 Diamine issued three new greens. Good colour additions they are.
- Teal Green - I really have enjoyed using this colour. It has a rich green tone, with just a tinge of the blue-green undertone to give it a distinctive look. I used it right away for some of my writing and work and it is a colour that when you go back and look at a page of writing, is well received by the eye. Good flow. Good drying time.
- Kelly Green - A bright green, there are yellow undertones and they certain came out when I scanned the writing sample. This is a good solid colour.
- Ultra Green - bold, bright, rich true green ink. This may be the green that folks are looking for! When I wrote with this ink I found I tended to lean towards this a little more than say the Kelly Green, as I found that once I had a couple of paragraphs of text written out, it was may to my personal liking.
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Left to Right: Teal, Kelly Green, Ultra Green Colour swatches from Diamine website. |
Orange and Yellow
Yes, orange and yellow are colours that are available in fountain pen inks. The image to the right is mean to illustrate the range of tones, check the colour chart at the bottom which shows the colour from Diamine.
Sunshine Yellow - (New Century Line) this is a yellow with a green tone to it. I think the inks needs some type of tone as when I write with the Yellow it was hard to read.
Yellow - (Old English Line) yep, this is a true yellow ink. I think this ink would be used for very specific purposes, but not general writing.
Blaze Orange - (New Century Line) a toned-down orange, there is a distinctive difference from the Orange colour, just a hint of brown to the ink so it is not as harsh.
Orange - (Old English Line) a bright, bold, orange. Amber - (Old English Line) orange and yellow tones make up this ink. It is quite light in depth on the paper. We are probably talking about inks used for specific cards.
Left to right: Sunshine Yellow, Yellow, Blaze Orange, Orange, Amber
Magentas, Reds and Pinks
Here is a range of colours that I did not think would appeal to me. There were a couple in this group that I found myself saying: I like that.
Vermillion - (New Century Line) a burgundy-tone ink, has a flat appearance when it dries.
Monaco Red - (Old English Line) I found this ink to be very close to Vermillion, although there is more red to the colour. Not quite a flat in appearance when it dries. It stands out a bit better on the page.
Passion Red - (New Century Line) a red that has some real pink tone to it.
Scarlet - this one is leaning towards the magenta colour, although not as dark and risk as the Deep Magenta. Well, I did find a use for the pink tones. I wrote my 2008 Easter Cards using Scarlet. I selected this colour over the other pinks as it had a little more punch to the colour. So there you go, when I first starting testing all the colours, I thought who would ever use a pink-tone ink. I did, and it looked good on the card!
Violet - (Old English Line) this is is a bold, rich colour, leaning towards the blues. I could see myself using this ink on a regular basis.
Deep Magenta - (New Century Line) I think most users would find this a good representation of magenta. Good tone and depth to this colour.
Amaranth - (New Century Line) I had no idea as to what to expect from this ink, but as I write with it, I liked it.
Claret - (Old English Line) there is red and magenta in this colour.
Cerise - (Old English Line) this is one of the pinks.
Crimson - (Old English Line) this colour I found to be very close to Deep Magenta. It is bold, with a brightness and very distinctive.
Maroon - (Old English Line) I have used this ink quite a bit as there is something I really like about the colour.
Coral - (New Century Line) this is a light, delicate pink ink.
Flamingo Pink - (New Century Line) one of the pinks, a bit darker and brighter than the Cerise.
Left to right: Vermillion, Monaco Red, Passion Red, Scarlet, Violet, Deep Magenta, Amaranth, Row 2: Claret, Cerise, Crimson, Maroon, Coral, Flamingo Pink
In May 2008 a new red came out, Ruby.
- Ruby - I like writing with reds but sometimes they are too garish on the page, especially when you see a full page of text. Here is a colour that I fould pleasing to the eye, yet has a bold. look.
Left to right:
Ruby
Colour swatch from Diamine Website
In May 2008 I was introduced to a new colour by Diamine, Damson. I must admit as I tried this ink a couple of times it took carefull cleaning of the pen etc until the true colour tone of the ink started to come out.
Damson - the first time I used the ink I had not cleaned out my pen correctly and I thought it was a black ink, but then when I flushed the pen correctly the dark purple tone came out in the colour. Rich, good flowing, dries nicely on the paper.
Damson
Colour swatch from Diamine website
Information about Diamine Ink is available on their web site: www.diamineinks.co.uk/