Diamine Enchanted Ocean
Ink Review #41
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
Enchanted Ocean is a shimmering ink. The base color is a deep midnight blue, with a lot bright silver shimmer particulates. With the fine and extra fine, the particulates were especially concentrated, making for more or less reflective lettering the whole way through. The rest of the test nibs had a more even distribution of shimmer throughout the writing.
There’s also a red sheen to this ink. It’s very noticeable with the larger nibs, outlining the areas where the ink pools in the writing, but it wasn’t as easy to see with the fine nibs. Honestly, the high concentration of the shimmer made it hard to even see the base color at all with anything finer than the medium.
There’s also a slight smell of sulfur. It’s not as strong as it is in some other Diamine inks I’ve used, but I did occasionally notice it while writing.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Rhodia
Leuchtturm1917
A closer look at the shimmer and sheen effect on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper
Performance on paper:
Enchanted Ocean’s performance on the paper was generally good. There was significant bleed-through on the Kokuyo paper, but I didn’t notice any bleeding or feathering on the other test papers. The dry times were slightly below average, but not terrible. The finer nibs took longer than normal to dry, but the larger nibs mostly dried within 20 seconds. Enchanted Ocean is a highly saturated ink, however, and any residual moisture on the hand may easily smudge it after it’s dried.
The water resistance is okay. The ink clouds slightly, but there’s enough retention to make it clear and readable.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Enchanted Ocean had a consistent wet flow across all of the test nibs. Despite this, I experienced 18 clogs while doing the writing samples with (both) the fine nibs, and the extra fine nib. The clogging wasn’t an issue with the medium through stub nibs, and when writing correctly, Enchanted Ocean felt adequately lubricated enough for an enjoyable writing experience. I did notice that the particulates in this ink didn’t agitate as easily, or stay in suspension as long as I’d like, and had a tendency to stick to the walls of the barrel. Despite that, I didn’t have any issues with shimmer distribution.
Cleaning was surprisingly easy. For such a saturated ink, it didn’t take long to clean out, and the shimmer particulates washed out with ease. Still, I wouldn’t let this ink sit in a pen too long, or you may run into difficulties washing it out.
Value/cost per ml:
At the time of writing Diamine Enchanted Ocean sells for $22 for a 50ml bottle from most US retailers, making this ink $0.44 per ml.
The bottle/packaging:
Diamine Enchanted Ocean comes in the cylindrical ‘Shimmer-tastic’ bottle. The outer box and label generally represent the color inside and have a silver cap and foil edge designating the color of the particulates in this particular ink. The bottle, in general, encompasses a more contemporary aesthetic compared to the typical Diamine bottle. The bottle appears to be stable enough for filling, but the opening is the same as the standard Diamine bottle. I find it more comfortable to syringe-fill this ink rather than from the nib, and because the bottle is taller than the typical Diamine bottle, I strongly suggest this.
Score: 55/70
Price per ml: 6.5/10
Performance in a pen: 5/10
Performance on paper: 7/10
Color saturation: 8/10
Sheening: 4/10
Shading: 2/10
Dry time: 6.5/10
Water resistance: 4/10
Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10
Bottle form: 2/5
Bottle function: 2.5/5
*Only 70 of the 100 available points are required for an outstanding score.My personal thoughts…
This was the first shimmering ink I ever tried, and honestly, it almost scared me away from shimmering inks entirely. Thankfully, it didn’t scare me away forever and I’ve since had plenty of opportunities to try Enchanted Ocean — and others — once more (to laughably varying degrees of success).
As a color, Enchanted Ocean has a lot going for it. It’s a nice dark blue, with a light sheen and a great shimmer effect that’s exceptionally eye-catching. My first experience using it could be defined as complete amazement. It’s unfortunate that it was so quickly followed up by absolute disappointment. It was just too volatile. It would work seemingly perfectly, and then suddenly stop. It was frustrating. That’s not to say that this ink is entirely bad. In the correct circumstances, the ink appears to work just fine. The problem is I don’t like recommending something that only “works in the correct circumstances.” Sure, that could be said about shimmering inks in general, but then I’ve worked with plenty that don’t feel that way.
More images/info:
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 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook