Ink Review: Diamine Midnight

[Chrissy]

I have decided to review some of my inks. These aren't necessarily in any particular order.

I wanted to review Twilight and Midnight consecutively to see their differences or similarities.

This one is Diamine Midnight. I would call it a dark blue ink. It leans more towards the blue-red portion of the colour spectrum than Twilight and Prussian Blue. It's quite similar to Tchaikovsky although it seems to contain slightly less red, and is lighter than Regency Blue

It's a well behaved, saturated ink with not much shading. I found it flowed smoothly across the page, and had no problems with lubrication in the Pilot Custom 74 M nib pen I used.

This ink exhibits showthrough and a little bleedthrough on my thick paper, so I tried it on Rhodia dot pad paper. Showthrough and bleedthrough are both noticeable.


The water test on the review form shows this isn't a waterproof ink.
Bearing in mind the paper I use is very smooth, and the nib used at that time was a M, this ink took 16-18 secs to dry.
It flows through the pen well and lubricates the nib well. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and comparisons with other inks.
It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles, 30ml plastic refill bottles or cartridges.
Diamine (http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/) sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
It's a reasonable price


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[Laura N]

Thanks for comparing all of these down at the bottom. That's great!

[top pen]

Great review I bought it a few months back, It's a nice ink however I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't particularly the red sheen it has. I'm tempted to dilute some of it to bring out the slightly lighter shade of blue it has when it is laid thinly.

[Laura N]

Great review I bought it a few months back, It's a nice ink however I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't particularly the red sheen it has. I'm tempted to dilute some of it to bring out the slightly lighter shade of blue it has when it is laid thinly.

I'm with you there. Very saturated inks don't really do it for me. Though this is a good one. And a great review. :)

[cnjackson]

I've been using this ink for about a year now--in a Pelikan M805 (B) and a Lamy 2000 (F): I like it a lot. I like that it reads almost black, but then you can make out the the blue when the ink is laid down more thinly. Also--like all of the Diamine inks I've tried (maybe 8-10?), it flows beautifully for a nice wet line.

Thanks for the review!

Chris

[welch]

Midnight Blue is my favorite "blue-black". It seems a very dark all-blue; I don't mistake it for black or greenish-black. It is also handy for mixing with Quink Blue-black...not the current version but the version that boasts of having Solv-X..."cleans your pen as you write".

[TSherbs]

nice review

I may have to get some of this

[Chrissy]

Thank you all for your kind words. You're very welcome. :)

I must admit, before I reviewed it I was thinking of it as a blue-black, but when I was writing with it I decided it was a lovely rich, dark blue. Yes it does exhibit a touch of red sheen as Tchaikovsky does. I think it looks a better shade than the Diamine web-site swatch.

I'm pleased I decided to look at them both at the same time, because I now know I like Moonlight much more than I like Twilight. :)

[Sammyo]

This is one's of my favorite inks, I love the colour, I love the way it behaves, I love the way it writes. It's nice to have a true "dark blue" rather than a blue-black or some there such combination: )

[TSherbs]

Thank you all for your kind words. You're very welcome. :)

I must admit, before I reviewed it I was thinking of it as a blue-black, but when I was writing with it I decided it was a lovely rich, dark blue. Yes it does exhibit a touch of red sheen as Tchaikovsky does. I think it looks a better shade than the Diamine web-site swatch.

I'm pleased I decided to look at them both at the same time, because I now know I like Moonlight much more than I like Twilight. :)

You mean "Midnight," right? Is there another ink called "Moonlight"?

[Chrissy]

Humble apologies. Moonlight was a typo.

[Newjelan]

This is a great looking ink; but as I have Tchaikovsky & Regency Blue I'd better hold off on this.... For now.

[Jeph]

One of my favorite inks, and my favorite blue.

[Chrissy]

This is a great looking ink; but as I have Tchaikovsky & Regency Blue I'd better hold off on this.... For now.

I agree that Tchaikovsky is quite close

[aurore]

One of my favourites. A lovely review.
A silly question: this ink has got a distinctive smell... do some other Diamine inks have this particular smell (not just some other distinctive smell, but indeed virtually the same as Diamine Midnight)? 🙂

[Chrissy]

I reviewed this in June 2015 and it could easily be updated but my ink is still that old now. Don't know if the smell is the same forever

[OCArt]

Chrissy, just a note of thanks for all the great ink reviews, I look forward to every one!

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, just a note of thanks for all the great ink reviews, I look forward to every one!
Thank you OCArt, it's kind of you to say that and you're welcome. :)