Ink Review: Diamine Lapis Blue

[Chrissy]

Today I’m reviewing an ink made by Diamine specially for the Philippine market. It is called Diamine Lapis Blue

I remember this ink being mentioned on another forum some time ago, and I really wanted to try it out so I begged for a small sample from Diamine. I know that many of you won’t be able to get a full sized bottle of it, but if you get an opportunity to sample it, at least you will know what it’s like.

This is a very saturated ink, think Majestic Blue and Sargasso Sea type of saturation. It shows lots of shading and plenty of red sheen. The chroma test showed a bit of lilac dye, but no red, so it’s a little different to those blues that lean towards the red edge of the colour spectrum. When I wrote with it, it does suggest that it has a slight lean towards red though.

I experienced no problems at all while I was writing with it. It had a smooth flow with a lubricated line. I saw no skips or hard starts, and it didn't dry out on the nib while I was doing swab tests.

For me it was a very well-behaved ink, as well as being a nice colour. It exhibited show through and bleed-through on a cheap Banner writing pad and Field Notes.

When I got it on my fingers it looked so saturated that I thought it would be a staining ink, but I can confirm it washed off easily with soap and warm water. I’m surprised how many inks that don’t wash off with liquid soap, wash off with a bar of soap.

The review form was written using a Montblanc F nib and a Lamy 1.1mm nib, but I used a Lamy Al-Star with M nib on the additional papers.



It exhibited very good flow and I found it smooth and lubricated to write with.
I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.
This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and shows little water resistance.
Long dry times on some smooth papers.
No smear after dry.


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[KKay]

I like that one on certain paper such as Tomoe River of course. That is British Mebin notebooks? The ink really really nice there too. I love that paper. Where do you get that please?

[Chrissy]

I like that one on certain paper such as Tomoe River of course. That is British Mebin notebooks? The ink really really nice there too. I love that paper. Where do you get that please?

There was a guy who was selling a thicker/heavier version of Tomoe River unlined paper bound in notebooks a while ago on FPN. He called his notebooks 'Mebin' notebooks (https://mebin.co.uk/products/mebin-a5-meeting-notebook) and he sold me this 'meeting notebook' as well as the Tomoe River notebook. It has 'meetings info and notes' on the left hand side of the page, and as I don't go to meetings, I just tend to use it as my ink testing notebook. It seems to show up ink shading particularly well.

If you want to try a few pages I could let you have some. :)

[KKay]

Chrissy, that is very generous of you. If you lived in my country I would say yes, I'd love to try it. I just emailed that company. I am asking them if they would make notebooks like this without the meeting stuff. If so, I am definitely interested in it! Yes, it shows shading extremely well, and as you know, I LOVE SHADING!!

[The Good Captain]

Nice review and it reminds me a lot of Diamine Majestic Blue or Akkerman Shocking Blue, which I prefer as it doesn't smear. I plan to buy a bottle of the Dark Olive when I get round to it.
Also, I must do a review of the blue they made for the Polish pen club, sometime.

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, that is very generous of you. If you lived in my country I would say yes, I'd love to try it. I just emailed that company. I am asking them if they would make notebooks like this without the meeting stuff. If so, I am definitely interested in it! Yes, it shows shading extremely well, and as you know, I LOVE SHADING!!

Well, I'm coming to Florida at the beginning of June. It's not really that far away. :) I could easily stick some in my suitcase. I usually bring bottles of ink and boxes to mail out. :)

[Chrissy]

Nice review and it reminds me a lot of Diamine Majestic Blue or Akkerman Shocking Blue, which I prefer as it doesn't smear. I plan to buy a bottle of the Dark Olive when I get round to it.
Also, I must do a review of the blue they made for the Polish pen club, sometime.

You're welcome. :) Can you buy Dark Olive? If so I want some. I only have a sample, and that's for review purposes.

I'm currently doing some testing that compares Lapis Blue to Oxford Blue. They are quite similar. I will post more pics when i have them.

[Woody]

Thanks Chrissy. Looks like another great Blue for the list from Diamine.

[datainadequate]

Fascinating that Diamine would make an ink for the Phillipines. Do you know the story behind that?

[Chrissy]

Fascinating that Diamine would make an ink for the Phillipines. Do you know the story behind that?

Sorry, I don't. Diamine do make ink for others though. They made Diamine Racing Green specially for Rolf Thiel who sells it on ebay. They also made Conway Stewart ink. There is speculation that they may have made Chesterfield ink. So making two inks specially for the Philippines is probably on a similar theme. They make Lapis Blue and Dark Olive just for the Philippine market. I didn't know about this until I saw it mentioned on another forum. I have a sample of Dark Olive to review too.

[grainweevil]

Cult Pens too, of course, and also SBRE Brown's Brown, I think? Presumably as long as you want enough of it, and have the required dough, anyone can ask them to make an exclusive.

Interesting review, Chrissy; thank you. Seems like it has a fair bit in common with Shimmertastic Blue Pearl, but then every time you review a Diamine blue now I wonder it that's the one that's the base for it! I may have become a teeny bit obsessed about it... :redface:

[roguez]

I received a couple of Diamene inks for Christmas and an Akkerman ink as well. Need to go see what they are lol. Thank you for your review!!!

[alexander_k]

Thanks for the review, Chrissy. I don't know how this one had escaped my attention because it's a good alternative to Majestic Blue and Sargasso (I'm not a fan of the purple sheen).

[Chrissy]

Cult Pens too, of course, and also SBRE Brown's Brown, I think? Presumably as long as you want enough of it, and have the required dough, anyone can ask them to make an exclusive.

Interesting review, Chrissy; thank you. Seems like it has a fair bit in common with Shimmertastic Blue Pearl, but then every time you review a Diamine blue now I wonder it that's the one that's the base for it! I may have become a teeny bit obsessed about it... :redface:
You're welcome. :) Doh! I forgot all about Cult Pens inks. Silly me! I compared Lapis Blue next to Oxford Blue, and there are similarities, although Oxford Blue is darker.

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[grainweevil]

I should try my (now) shimmerfree Blue Pearl with the old chromo-wotsity and compare. Thanks. :thumb:

[Chrissy]

I noticed I had compared Blue Velvet twice in my swab tests, so I've copied Blue Pearl from another swab test, and edited my post to include Blue Pearl.

[grainweevil]

Oooo, I dunno. But it's closer than the others!

[grainweevil]

Just to put my little hijack of Chrissy's review to bed, methinks Blue Pearl and Lapis Blue are not the same:

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(Just about caught it before it disappeared off the blotting paper - the dimple way over to the left was the dot it started from.)

[Chrissy]

That is an unusual chroma for a blue ink :)

[Chrissy]

Thanks Chrissy. Looks like another great Blue for the list from Diamine.


I received a couple of Diamene inks for Christmas and an Akkerman ink as well. Need to go see what they are lol. Thank you for your review!!!


Thanks for the review, Chrissy. I don't know how this one had escaped my attention because it's a good alternative to Majestic Blue and Sargasso (I'm not a fan of the purple sheen).
Thank you all for your comments, and you're all welcome. :)

[ac12]

Nice color.
Too bad we can't buy it :-(

[Chrissy]

Nice color.
Too bad we can't buy it :-(
Yes. It's a shame. :(