Diamine Wax Seal
Ink Review #143
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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Overview
The color/properties
Diamine Wax Seal is a bright red with mild pink and orange undertones, and I find that the lighting makes a great deal of difference in how much of the pink or orange undertones you see — especially in things like swatches and ink splats. It shades with a soft gradient when writing in cursive, and a soft cut when writing in print; however, there’s not a lot of tonal variation in the shading.
This ink is also very interesting to watch dry, as it starts out as a much more faded, orange-y red, and slowly darkens up over a few minutes. It always takes me by surprise.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
On paper, Wax Seal is very well behaved and didn’t show any traces of bleeding or feathering on any of the test papers. This ink should be safe on most fountain pen-friendly papers.
The dry times, on the other hand, were not the best and largely lacked any kind of consistency. The larger nib sizes could dry anywhere between 15-30 seconds, with the finer nibs drying within a more reasonable 15 seconds.
Water exposure quickly causes this ink to cloud over, and while there’s some retention, it’s awfully messy and will likely be difficult to read.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Wax Seal has a dry-medium flow and slightly below average lubrication. It’s still usable and not unpleasant, but if you prefer slick inks, then this ink will leave you disappointed. Still, the ink never had an issue with hard starts, skips, or stops, and the flow was able to keep up surprisingly well with extended writing sessions.
When cleaning this ink out, the nib units washed out quickly, only needing a single soak and flush; however, the ink left a minor red tinge on the barrel of the test pen. It still washed out with basic water after extended soaking overnight, and the pen didn’t require disassembly, but I would be wary of using this ink with demonstrators or pens in colors that might be easily stained.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 5mm ruling), with a posting nib (similar to a firm needlepoint).
Written on Midori MD paper (cream) with a medium nib.
Performance in a pen: 9/10
Performance on paper: 10/10
Color saturation: 7/10
Sheening: 1/10
Shading: 3/10
Dry time: 6/10
Water resistance: 1/10
Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10
Shimmer: None
My Personal Thoughts…
When Diamine dropped their 160th ink set, I immediately had my eye on Wax Seal, because to me, the classic and most recognizable wax seal is a bright and heavily saturated red. In my mind, that would translate to an equally bright and saturated red ink with a minimal amount of shading. To that end, I like it a lot! It still shades, but the brighter half doesn’t look faded or cheap. It gets that bright, waxy red tone down nicely, and when written across a page, it looks bold and professional — maybe even to the point where it walks close to the line of being boring, but it never quite crosses that line. It doesn’t remind me of a bad ballpoint red or graded school papers. The color is excellent. I only wish it were just a tad slicker, and that’s the single thing that’s keeping me from recommending it outright, because it would otherwise be perfect. But if you don’t mind that and you’re looking for a bright red, then absolutely give this ink a try. It even comes in a fancy bottle.
Sample written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with an Esterbrook Estie Oversized “Maraschino” (medium nib).
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Diamine Wax Seal
Esterbrook Estie Oversized “Maraschino”, medium nib.
Esterbrook J, posting nib.
Galen Leather A5 52 gsm Tomoe River notebook.
Midori MD A6 lined notebook (Amazon)
Jenika’s Journals pocket notebook cover
Traveler’s Company brass clip (Amazon)
Tim Holtz mini bulldog clips (Amazon)
Current text: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Amazon)
Comparisons:
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