Diamine Monboddos Hat

Ink Reviews
Written By Julian

Ink Review #154

 

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

 

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Overview

The color/properties

Diamine Monboddos Hat is a dark purple that shades with a soft gradient when writing in cursive and a soft cut when writing in print. There’s not a lot of tonal variation in the shading, especially when writing in cursive. Instead, there’s a dull yellow-green sheen that’s easily noticeable at the ends of letters, especially when writing in print.

Keep in mind that these scans used for this review are very well-lit, and this color in particular can easily appear much darker to the eye, depending on the lighting situation.

Ink splat

Ink droplets

 

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

 

Performance on paper:

Monboddos Hat is well-behaved. There was a single spot of bleed-through on the Tomoe River paper when using the 1.1 stub nib, but there weren’t any visible traces of bleeding or feathering on any of the other test papers. There weren’t any signs of feathering around the ink droplets either. This ink should be fine with most fountain pen-friendly papers.

The dry times aren’t the best, and they are very inconsistent too (no doubt due to the higher saturation). The try times with the large nibs extend anywhere from 15 to slightly past 30 seconds. The finer nib sizes can also extend into the 20-25 second range in some cases. Keep in mind that because this ink has a sheen to it, it can be prone to smudging from residual hand moisture as well.

When exposed to water, Monboddos Hat quickly clouds over, but I was surprised how legible the remains were. It’s not pretty, but it’s readable.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Water resistance

Chromatography

Performance in the pen:

Monboddos Hat has a medium-wet flow and average lubrication. It’s not as slick as I would have expected based on the flow, but it’s still very usable and comfortable to write with. I experienced a few dry starts when writing in print with the broad nib and 1.1 stub, but otherwise, the other nibs performed well without any issues. The ink also kept up well during extended writing, with no noticeable drops in flow.

The ink took two sets of soaks and flushes to clean out, but that’s not bad for an ink of higher saturation. There weren’t any remaining traces of color or residue in the pen or nib units.

This isn’t the most important piece of information, but I was surprised to see that the water turned blue when soaking the pen, despite there not being any visible traces of blue in the chromatography. Fascinating.

 

Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 5mm 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 a fine nib.

Written in a lined Traveler’s Company notebook insert (white, 5mm ruling) with a fine nib.

  • Performance in a pen: 9/10

  • Performance on paper: 9/10

  • Color saturation: 7.5/10

  • Sheening: 3/10

  • Shading: 3/10

  • Dry time: 5/10

  • Water resistance: 3/10

  • Ease of cleaning: 8/10

  • Shimmer: None

My Personal Thoughts…

All things considered, Monboddos Hat seemed like an ink I would have loved. I’m generally a big fan of purple inks, and the name is just fantastic! Despite it all, I can’t get into it, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it either. It just never gelled with me. With that said, I enjoyed it the most when I was doing the writing sample with the extra fine nib — It was so dark and fine that from afar I could almost mistake it for a black ink in poor lighting, but up close you can see the purple come through, and I thought it was a nice look. Personal disappointments aside, I would still recommend Monboddos Hat if you like the color, and I can see how a lot of people would love this ink. It has all the best qualities that you’d expect from Diamines inks.

As for the name, it seems to be after Scribble Monboddo, a member of the Fountain Pens UK Facebook group, in which the ink was made in collaboration.

Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Kaweco Sport (medium nib).

More images/info:

 

Featured in the photography and writing samples:

Current text: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Amazon)

 

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 are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.

  • A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad

  • A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook

  • A Midori MD A5 Notebook

  • A 52gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

  • A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

  • A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook

 
Julian
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