Diamine Inkvent 2025: Day 2 — Energy
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*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Day 2!
Hello everyone! Day 2 of Diamine’s 2025 Inkvent calendar brings us Energy.
The Color and Properties
Diamine Energy is a sheening ink. The base color is a deep purple with mild blue undertones. Because of the high saturation, this ink doesn’t provide a lot of shading. Instead, however, it will provide a thick green sheen where the ink pools around the edges or the bottom of letters. While it’s a sheen in, I personally never found the sheen to be that bright or distinct in writing. It’s visible, but it doesn’t contrast well, and to me it looks somewhat dull or milky.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance | Cleaning
Rhodia
Leuchtturm
Energy seems to behave well on the papers I tested it with, and I didn’t notice any traces of bleeding of feathering. The ink has a medium flow and okay lubrication, but it’s not the slickest. Still, it’s usable. Well, at least initially.
The reason I say initially is because it has a horrible case of nib creep. Now, normally, nib creep isn’t a big deal because it takes a while to sprout up, and it won’t generally interfere with your writing experience. In the case of Energy, however, the nib creep happens very quickly while writing, and it will affect your writing experience in the form of dryness until it finally clogs and the flow stops (in my case, it was about halfway down the page before I ran into issues). Can you just wipe it off and keep writing? Absolutely, but it deserves to be mentioned because it can be tedious, especially when used in long writing sessions. Because the ink dries in the nib so quickly, there’s also a good chance the nib will have to be wiped off each time you uncap the pen to get it flowing properly again.
Cleaning was as expected for a more saturated ink. It took a few rounds of soaking and flushing with a bulb syringe, but there was a decent amount of residue left over inside the pen, as well as the threads where the nib connects to the barrel. Some of that residue dissolved with water over a few nights, but in the end, it required me to disassemble the pen so I could swab it clean. Because of its higher saturation, I don’t recommend using this ink with easily stained pens, such as demonstrators or pens in lighter colored plastics.
Writing Samples
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.
My personal thoughts…
Energy was incredibly unremarkable for me, especially following up the much more impressive Day 1. Energy doesn’t perform that well, I don’t necessarily care for the base color, and the sheen effect seems underwhelming: It’s not very bright, it doesn’t contrast well with the base color, and I thought it was overall unexciting. So why is it called Energy? I don’t know. It doesn’t feel Energetic. It doesn’t feel Inkvent-y, either. But it does feel uninspired, and energy is certainly something I need after finishing this review. Next!
Written in a 52 gsm Tomoe River notebook with a medium nib.
More Images/Info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Diamine Energy
Traveler’s Company brass clip — Endless Pens | Amazon
Traveler’s Company “Have a Nice Trip” brass clip — Endless Pens | Amazon
Nanami Paper Tomoe River Cafe Note B6 Slim - Ruled
Midori MD A6 lined notebook — Amazon
Current text: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens — Amazon
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Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 3 nib units including a Fine, Medium, and Broad. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook