Posts filed under Diamine

Diamine Gibson Les Paul Guitar Ink in Pelham Blue Burst: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Diamine produces inks in such a wide array of colors that it’s hard to keep up. But sometimes they offer collections of inks that follow a theme, such as the Gibson Les Paul collection. Each ink in the collection evokes one of the finishes of the Gibson Les Paul guitars. I received the version called Pelham Blue Burst. It is named after the color on this gorgeous guitar:

*This is a Gibson Les Paul Studio 2016 T Pelham Blue Guitar. (image via* *Reverb.com*)

As soon as I received my bottle of ink, I put it in a beautiful blue PenBBS Model 323 and have been writing with it for a couple of months. It’s a gorgeous deep blue that leans toward dark turquoise.

In my tests, the ink is simply stunning on Rhodia dot paper. Even in fine nibs there’s a bit of shading, and it only gets better in wider nibs. The ink is medium-wet, not too dry and not so wet that it smears when you write with it. The swab shows how dark the color can get--it actually spans a wide range of blues depending on the width of the nib. It is not waterproof.

On my Col-o-dex card, the deepness of the blue shows in the swab. I used a Brause Blue Pumpkin dip nib to write the name of the ink, and, again, you can see how dark the ink can get. What’s really intriguing is the sheen. The ink splats glow magenta and green.

Chromatography confirms the sheen found in the ink. There’s a good amount of pink/magenta, a bit of green, and, of course, blue.

I always like to test my inks with my Handwritmic ruling pen to see how they perform in a giant nib. Pelham blue definitely shines, with lots of shading variation and sheen where the ink pools.

I am quite taken with Pelham Blue. It’s an unusual blue with a wide range of hues depending on the paper, the nib width, and the wetness of the nib. The sheen is quite striking, but even in normal writing circumstances when the ink doesn’t pool, this blue exudes sophistication.

You can purchase Diamine Gibson Les Paul Guitar Ink in Pelham Blue from Goldspot Pens in a 30ml bottle for $7.50 or a huge 80ml bottle for $15.00.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 6, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Diamine, Ink Reviews.

Diamine Starlit Sea Shimmering Ink Review

Well, it looks like shimmer ink happened to me. And I have Diamine Starlit Sea to thank for that.

I didn’t think it would happen in all honesty. While I always appreciated the look of a good shimmer ink, I had no desire to use one for more than a test run, much less keep it in the rotation. I was scared of them, rightfully or wrongfully. If you don’t have good fountain pen hygiene and maintenance, any fountain pen ink can cause problems in your pen. Why would anyone in their right mind risk adding sparkles into what is often a finely-tuned writing machine?

Because they are awesome.

I began seeing swatches of Diamine Shimmer inks in 2015, and like other popular shimmer inks - J. Herbin for example - I loved how they looked. Still, I had zero desire to use them. But as the lineup expanded, and the color selection exploded, I could no longer contain myself.

Starlit Sea had two things going for it when I chose to use it: An interesting base color, and silver sparkles. The second part is almost mandatory for me personally. Just like with fountain pen hardware, gold is a much higher bar to clear and has do be done just right for me to choose it. Silver sparkles and rhodium trim are my jam.

The first part, the underlying blue black ink color, was kind of a chicken move on my part. I could have gone more experimental, like with Neon Lime or Citrus Ice, but I played it safe this time around. It was the right call too, because this shade is more than interesting enough. There is a bright, turquoise-like tone under the dark blue when the ink first goes down and prior to the sparkle taking over. It’s really fun to watch go down on the page, and the color does peek out from time to time in the finished product.

And that finished product is full of sparkles! Like, a lot of sparkles. I think by coming in at this juncture of the shimmer ink product cycle I’m getting the best version of this style of ink. The particles are super-fine, don’t clog any part of the pen, and have a very high dispersal rate throughout the ink on the page. The more I think about it, the more impressed I become.

So count me in. I’m on the sparkle ink bandwagon. Better late than never, right? I see a future where I have at least one shimmering ink inked up at all times, just for the fun and fascination it provides on the page. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on February 4, 2019 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Diamine, Shimmer Ink, Ink Reviews.

Cult Pens + Diamine Maureen and Robert Iridescink Giveaway

If you have been playing along with my weekly giveaways all year, then you know I often like to sneak in a product on Tuesday that I just reviewed on Monday. This is one of those times. I mean, how can I not share the awesomeness that is Maureen and Robert?

One winner of this giveaway will receive both inks to add to their collection. Read the rules below, and enter away!