Pain d'Épices, LaCouronneDuComte

Recently, the Dutch webshop LaCouronneDuComte launched a new series of ink under their own name. The ink is being produced by Diamine and has similar bottles and pricing. The webshop claims that the colors are exclusive for them. Pain d'Épices is a warm red, or as the website describes it, "Pain d'Épices is a warm, red-brown ink with an olive-green sheen that evokes the feeling of a delicious gingerbread." I wouldn't touch a gingerbread in this color with a ten foot pole, but it is a warm red and when using very wide or poster nibs, the green sheen is clearly visible. Much better for personal use than for office use, but it is elegant and dark enough.
Quality of the ink is as expected. No feathering, beautiful shading, hardly any show-through, normal wetness, good lubrication and average drying times. As afraid of water as the next Diamine ink.

So how does the color compare to other inks? As can be seen in the Ink Comparisons, it will be extremely hard to distinguish between Pain d'Epices, Communication Breakdown, and Red Dragon. All Diamine inks. The green sheen sets Pain d'Épices apart, but when writing with normal pens, chances are you won't see the sheen at all. The differences in color are minimal and it makes one wonder whether the angle and size of the q-tip swab makes the apparent difference or the ink itself.

It is a good ink with an attractive price, a nice color, and the sheen does add something. However, Diamine has been milking this segment of red inks a bit too much.

Written on Lalo Verge paper.

Comments

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The ink writes like a dream. It's not very wet, but smooth and extremely well-behaved in any pen. Just the combination crown mill vellum paper and a poster nib (as you can see), leads to some feathering of the ink. Drying times are simply fast, with just 12 seconds on this paper! Shading is low. Water resistance is low. Even after days it smears easily with just a tiny drop of water.

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Like most if not all Diamine inks, this ink is very well behaved. No feathering, some shading, and minimal show-through. The ink is less wet than most, writes smoothly and has a drying time that's below average for Diamine (Clairefontaine paper). The ink is very afraid of water, even a little drop or some wetness will smear it and ruin your writing. Even days after writing.
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