Fountain pen inks reviews and comparisons

Lilac Night by Diamine is one of their 150th anniversary inks. I wouldn't call it Lilac. In my opinion it's a dark blue with hints of purple. In any case it's an ink you can use anywhere. Its appearance is professional enough for the workspace and the color beautiful enough for personal notes, correspondence and greeting cards. The behavior is excellent. It feels and looks a bit dry on Clairefontaine paper, but surprisingly enough the drying times were a bit above average with just under 40 seconds. No feathering, beautiful shading, no show-through. Just what I expected from Diamine. Water resistance is low at best, but you will have a chance to rewrite or accept. A few drops won't completely destroy your writings.  The color is a lot less purple than the bottle suggests. When compared to Iroshizuku's Shin-Kai however the purple hints are noticeable. However, when compared to Jurojin or Herbin's Amethyste, this color is very blue! I have used ...

By special request of a dear friend, I was looking for a honey colored or gold colored ink and I ended up buying Diamine's Honey Burst, from their guitar series. More honey than gold, but yes, more or less the color I was looking for. Not something I'd use in the workspace, but it does work for personal correspondence and notes. Be careful though, long letters in this color are quite the strain to both the writer and the reader's eyes. Behavior of the ink is good, not great. No feathering, negligible show-through, nice shading, and not too wet. Drying times around average. The ink wasn't as smooth as I expected (or hoped). Writing with a TWSBI (stub nib) on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper felt a bit crude at times. Compared to other inks Herbin's Ambre de Birmaine comes pretty close. Desert burst from the same guitar series is more diaper brown, Herbin's Café des Iles is way more brown. All in all it's a nice fun color that certainly has it...

When it comes to dark red inks that are beautiful, can be used for other purposes than grading and Christmas cards, and are even acceptable in an office environment, two Diamine inks lead the pack: Red Dragon and Oxblood . At first glance they look somewhat similar.  However, Red Dragon is a purer, brighter red. Fresh blood if you will. Oxblood leans more towards brown and can be compared to dried blood.  In behavior the inks don't differ much. Both quite wet and behaving really well with all pens I've tried them in.  In the scan I have used the same pens to do the writing samples. Using three different languages to show the effect and behavior better. The paper is Original Crown Mill Vellum (off-white).  There is no argument about taste, pick your own favorite. In everyday writing show-through and bleed-through are no concern with these inks, as long as you stick to decent paper. You can easily use the backside in your Rhodia notebook.  There is a di...

I've mentioned it before: I like red inks, my absolute favorite is  Diamine's Oxblood  and I am still searching for a dark bright red . After Crimson I decided to buy Red Dragon as well. A popular red and often sold out.Red Dragon is definitely a beautiful red.  It's dark and elegant enough to use in the office for note taking. But in my opinion this ink is far more suitable for personal use. Personal notes, greeting cards, stories that require red ink, etc.  The ink is more wet than usual for Diamine, causing a slightly longer drying time, some show-through and negligible bleed-through. Still the ink is very well-behaved and writes very smoothly. The ink is saturated and has low to moderate shading, even in broader nibs.During normal writing there is no feathering, but on Vellum paper and broad nibs I have noted it a few times, as visible on the scan. As always with these inks, water is a bad idea, but you might have a chance to rewrite it.  Red ...

Yesterday I wrote a review on KWZ's beautiful IG Green #3 . Today's review is of a red from the same brand, iron gall red #3.  The ink is very well behaved, no feathering or show-through, well lubricated and drying faster than average (little less than 25 secs). Shading is moderate. The water resistance is quite good, the ink can take some water and still remain legible. I have used this ink in a TWSBI with a broad nib, a TWSBI with stub nib and with an oblique 1mm tape nib. With all these pens the ink behaved perfectly on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper. On copy paper KWZ IG feathers a little bit and there is significant show-through, but the ink is suitable for use on cheaper papers as well. IG Red #3 is suited for long (work) notes or letters and doesn't strain the eyes. That makes it suitable for a lot of different uses. Like every IG ink this one darkens (a lot) when dry. The effect is in this color is so big you can literally see it change when writ...