Diamine Candle Light
Ink Review #20
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
This ink is part of the Inkvent Red Edition (2021)
Overview
The color/properties:
Diamine Candle Light is a light to medium yellow that offers a lot of crisp shading between varying tones of its color. With a wet enough pen, you might notice a near golden-brown around the edges of letters, or where the ink pools. Something I noticed while experimenting with the ink in other wetter and wider pens was that there was such a high contrast in tone where the ink pooled, that it made the letters mostly visible through the shading alone. It gave the writing a very unique and spotty appearance that I haven’t observed many inks.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
Diamine Candlelight is well-behaved on paper. During my tests, I didn’t experience any noticeable feathering or bleed-through on any of the test papers. The Dry times were mostly average, though I found them to just barely be dry within the 20-second mark. Surprisingly, the dry times were the best on the Maruman paper, where all the nibs were dry within 15 seconds.
As expected for such a light color, there wasn’t any water resistance. The color washes away, and it clouds over, making the remains functionally unreadable.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
I had mixed experiences with Candle Light. At first, the ink seemed to have a generous wet flow. The ink seemed well lubricated, and it was overall a pleasant writing experience. Unfortunately, as I moved on to the medium nib, I began to encounter a dryer flow and noticeably less lubrication. This only intensified as the nib size increased. The outcomes may vary from pen to pen, but I would suggest using a wetter pen if you plan on using a broader nib. For such a light color, cleaning was unsurprisingly easy.
Value/cost per ml:
As of writing, Diamine Candle Light is purchasable for $17 for a 50ml bottle from US retailers, making this ink $0.34 per ml.
The bottle/packaging:
Candle Light comes in the standard four-footed Diamine Inkvent bottle with a very festive red outer box signifying the edition, and showcasing the ornate bottle inside via a round window in the face of the box. The bottle is topped with a smooth silver cap similar to the gold ones found on standard Damine bottles. The yellow foil label generally represents the color inside, and the bottle has a crisp and clear transparency. The footing makes the bottle bottom-wide, allowing for stability when filling, but much like the standard Diamine bottles, I don’t find that the opening is wide enough, and I prefer to fill from this bottle via a syringe or eyedropper.
Score: 60/70
Price per ml: 7/10
Performance in a pen: 7.5/10
Performance on paper: 10/10
Color saturation: 3.5/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 6.5/10
Dry time: 7.5/10
Water resistance: 0/10
Ease of cleaning: 10/10
Bottle form: 5/5
Bottle function: 3/5
*Only 70 of the 100 available points are required for an outstanding score.
My personal thoughts…
Diamine Candle Light is a pleasant yellow that, despite being an Inkvent color, I find to be appropriate as both a fall and winter Ink. The color, and particularly the shading, gives this ink a soft and warm appearance, granting it a sense of coziness.
Yellow inks are often polarizing, and I’ll agree that this ink can have a tendency to be too light for conventional use, but I don’t that it’s too light to be fun. The shading it provides is very unique and I think that any light cream-colored paper will go a long way in bringing this color out. If you want to enjoy this ink, my suggestion would be to stick to larger, wetter writing nibs, and have fun with the shading.
Written with a Taccia Covenant (zoom nib)
More images/info:
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook