Ink Review #171
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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Overview
The Color and Properties
Diamine Violet is a medium violet 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, but it’s still noticeable, especially when writing in print. There’s also a slight green sheen that can show up around the edges of where the ink pools heavily enough; however, I haven’t observed it in writing. Still, the sheen is easily visible where the ink is laid down in heavy concentration, such as swatches and ink splats, but even then, it’s more of a mild luster than a strong sheen.
The ink has a slight smell to it that I’ve noticed in some other Diamine inks (mostly blues and purples). Normally I would say the smell is highly unpleasant, but in this case it wasn’t as strong, and I didn’t notice it during writing.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Chromatography
Performance on Paper | Dry Times | Water Resistance
Diamine is well-behaved. There was some light bleeding on the Kokuyo sheet; however, none of the other test papers showed any traces of bleeding or feathering.
Rhodia
Leuchtturm1917
The dry times are okay, though I expected slightly better. The finer nib sizes mostly dried within 10 to 15 seconds, and the broad nibs dried within 20 to 25 seconds. These dry times aren’t great for an ink with a drier flow, but otherwise, the dry times still fall under the 30-second mark.
The water resistance isn’t the best, and it clouds heavily as soon as it’s exposed to water. With that said, the remains are still legible.
More Pages
Performance in the Pen | Cleaning
Diamine Violet has dry-medium flow and okay lubrication. It’s okay with finer nibs, but as the nib size increases, I noticed the flow and lubrication left a lot to be desired. It’s an okay writing experience, but not a great one. With that said, I didn’t experience any hard starts or skipping. The ink was also able to keep up with extended writing sessions, and I didn’t notice any further drop-offs in flow while writing.
Unfortunately, the ink wasn’t all that easy to clean. The nib units cleaned out easily enough with a basic soak and flush with a bulb syringe, but the barrel of the pen was left with a mild stain. I tried letting the barrel sit with water in it overnight, in hopes that the stain would break down, but in the end I had to resort to the use of technical pen cleaner to get the stain out. This seems a little unreasonable for an ink that doesn’t appear to be that highly saturated.
Writing Samples
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 6mm ruling) with a broad nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling), with a broad nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling), with a fine nib.
Performance in a pen: 8/10
Performance on paper: 9/10
Color saturation: 5/10
Sheening: 1/10
Shading: 3/10
Dry time: 7/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 5/10
Shimmer: None
My Personal Thoughts…
Diamine Violet was a very middle-of-the-road ink for me. As far as the color goes, it’s good. It doesn't necessarily blow me away when compared to other inks, but it’s not bad either. It’s a good option if you’re looking for a simple and straightforward violet ink. Unfortunately, the performance left a lot to be desired. While the flow was consistent enough to be functional, I didn’t think the writing experience was that great, especially with the larger nib sizes where the lubrication starts to feel lacking. The finer nib sizes were admittedly better with this ink, but even then, I often caught myself struggling to truly enjoy the experience.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Kaweco Sport (broad nib).
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Diamine Violet — Endless Pens
Kaweco DIY Sport Glow, broad nib
Nanami Paper 52 gsm Tomoe River Cafe Note B6 Slim - Ruled
Midori MD A6 lined notebook — Amazon
Leather cover by Jenika’s Journals
Traveler’s Company brass clip — Endless Pens | Amazon
Casio CA53W — Amazon
Lego 72406 Gameboy — Amazon
Current text: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Amazon)
Sources:
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 52 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook