Diamine Deadly Nightshade
Ink Review #152
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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This is a Cult Pens exclusive ink
Overview
The color/properties:
Diamine Deadly Nightshade is a high-sheening and shimmering ink. The base color is a saturated grape-y purple with subtle magenta undertones, especially in good lighting. The color sheens into a thick green that creates a spectacular two-tone effect that’s easily visible in any lighting. It’s especially noticeable in print writing because it allows the ink to pool more. Cult Pens claims that the shimmer particulates are silver; however, they look red in the bottle, and in writing, they look anywhere between silver, gold, and green, depending on where in the writing the shimmer appears (e.g., it’s more green when the shimmer is over the green sheen).
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
Deadly Nightshade performed well. Most of the test pages showed no traces of bleeding or feathering; however, there was some bleed-through on the Tomoe River sheet. There’s also some very light feathering around the edges of the ink droplets. Most fountain pen-friendly papers should be able to handle this ink just fine, but less ink-resistant papers (especially if they’re thinner) may have a hard time if you use this ink with a wetter pen.
The dry times aren’t great, but that’s to be expected for such a saturated ink. Still, they always managed to dry in less than 30 seconds, which, all things considered, is impressive. It’s also important to note that because it’s a high-sheening ink, there’s always the potential for smudging from any residual moisture on the hand.
The water resistance is also as expected. Water exposure quickly causes the color to cloud over, and there’s some retention of legibility, but the entire thing is messy. I wouldn’t want to get a page with this ink on it wet.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Diamine Deadly Nightshade has a consistent medium-wet flow and a decent level of lubrication. It’s not overly slick, but I would call it a slightly above-average and comfortable writing experience. The shimmer doesn’t require a lot of agitation to keep flowing, and it doesn’t feel sandy. I was also surprised that I didn’t experience a lot of hard starting or any clogs, even with the extra fine nib. The ink will dry out in the nib if you lift off for too long, but that’s typical of sheening inks. Importantly, it was never an issue during writing. The flow was also able to keep up well during extended writing without any noticeable drops in flow. Overall, I’m very impressed with the performance here.
As expected, the cleaning experience takes longer than average, but I only needed to soak the nib units 2 times for them to be clear of ink. There were no stains or ink residue in the barrel either; however, there were typical rings of shimmer residue left over along the barrel and piston crown that required me to disassemble my pen so I could swab it out. Even though there were no stains during my tests, I still recommend caution when using highly saturated inks with lighter pens or demonstrators that may be easily stained.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with an FPR Ultraflex nib.
Here’s an image taken in indirect lighting to showcase the shimmer better.
Interestingly, the shimmer didn’t come through very well when I used it with the flex nib.
The bottle has these plastic skull baubles in it to help agitate the shimmer.
Performance in a pen: 9/10
Performance on paper: 8.5/10
Color saturation: 8.5/10
Sheening: 8.5/10
Shading: 1/10
Dry time: 6.5/10
Water resistance: 1/10
Ease of cleaning: 6.5/10
Shimmer: Silver, Medium
My personal thoughts…
Where do I even begin? This has to be one of the funnest ink experiences I’ve ever had. There are skulls in the bottle! Skulls in the bottle! Cult Pens claims they’re there to help agitate the shimmer (and that’s true when you hold the bottle upside down while agitating) but honestly, they’re just cool. And fun. It’s a little unfortunate that they tend to float face down more often than not, but if you ask me, it’s still a winning idea. My favorite part is that they make a fantastic clink-clink sound (or tink-tink or plink-plink, if you prefer) when you move the bottle around. It makes the whole thing feel so special. Everything about Deadly Nightshade is so perfectly and appropriately spooky! The ink itself is stunning, and I can’t say that enough. Especially when writing in print, I love how clear the two-tone effect and heavier shimmer distribution look. I generally shy away from store or regional exclusives, but this has to be one of the best ones I’ve ever tried, and I love having it around for the Halloween season!
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Franklin-Christoph Model 66 (medium nib).
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Diamine Deadly Nightshade
Franklin-Christoph Model 66, medium nib
Conklin Duragraph “Purple Nights”, FPR Ultraflex nib
52 gsm Tomoe River notebook by Galen Leather
Traveler’s Company brass clip (Amazon)
Midori A6 lined notebook (Amazon) — My write-up on customizing the notebooks here.
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 with 5 nib units, including an EF, F, M, B, and 1.1mm stub. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A Midori MD A5 Notebook
A 58 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook