The UK based Diamine company, has been manufacturing fountain pen inks since 1864 using traditional methods and formulas for their production. I have recently tested 78 samples, which I’ll be posting over the coming days. Here is my last Diamine review of those 78 featuring 6 test swatches of the dark fountain pen inks.
Inks tested: Registrars Ink, Eclipse, Vivaldi, Chopin, Graphite and Silver Fox
Here are my last six Diamine samples – they certainly flow easily through a nib for great writing but they don’t like bleach that much nor blending with water. The Registrars Ink shows a hint of chromatography and acts very much like a gall ink when blended with water. The Eclipse has a decent dark gloss sheen and Eclipse, Vivaldi and Chopin could quite easily have slotted into the Blues and Purple ranges.
Of note – there are over 100 colours in the Diamine fountain pen ink range plus more colours in the composers and flowers gift ranges – all of which are all supposedly unique. So what I’ve done, is classify batches by colour so you can see the gift inks next to the standards and you can judge for yourselves whether or not this is fact. With such a huge range, some colours are bound to appear similar, but from what I can see, those fine subtleties of difference are evident.
From a creative point of view, Diamine inks really do hit the mark – they blend with water and each other beautifully, they pretty much all react with bleach and they always look spectacular. There’s also chromatography, sheens and shimmers too. Combine this with their very affordable price point – what’s not to like?
I hope you enjoy the results as much as I have testing them. And by the way, there are many other Diamine reviews throughout this blog. If you’d like to know more about this about this project, please take a look at the Mission Statement.
All tests on Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper using a dip pen with titanium zebra G flex nib for the bleach work and a Noodler’s Ahab for the ink work.
Diamine samples sourced from Vijay at Stationery Shop stationeryshop.scotland@gmail.com.
Just for the record – I do this for myself, I receive no remuneration what-so-ever and I tell it exactly how I see it.
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 