Ink Review: Diamine Majestic Purple

[Chrissy]

Today I’m reviewing a sample of Diamine Majestic Purple

It’s a nice purple colour, neither too red nor too blue. I would call it a lilac colour. While I was testing it, I found it had good flow. I didn’t see any spread or feathering, nor any woolly line.

It wasn’t really saturated but it wasn’t watery either. It had quite nice shading especially with the fine and medium nibs.

After leaving Majestic Purple in the pen for a couple of days it started to feel just a little dryer, on some papers. It also felt slightly less lubricated along a line than some inks. On the other hand the cap on this Waterman Preface pen doesn’t seal very tightly, so I believe the pen would start to dry any ink.

Diamine Majestic Purple is a similar colour to Lamy Dark Lilac, but is slightly less saturated. I could see the difference in saturation between them on the 1 pass swab test. Based on colour and performance, it would still be a good replacement for that now unavailable ink though.

Overall I found it behaved well, and I like it.

Despite all of my best efforts with scanning and photos, this ink looks slightly more blue on screen than it does on paper. I tried my best to adjust it to perfect in Photoshop, but Photoshop wanted to be problematic.


This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and it has little or no water resistance.
Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a quite shiny surface at 100gsm, and I used several different nibs, this ink took 14-15 secs secs to dry.
No smear after dry.
It exhibited good flow and I found it reasonably smooth to write with. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.
It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottles.
Diamine (http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?catid=14) sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
It's a reasonable price.


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[Lady Onogaro]

This is a very nice purple, Chrissy, and I have it in my collection (I think). I'll have to dig it out and use it! :)

[Chrissy]

This is a very nice purple, Chrissy, and I have it in my collection (I think). I'll have to dig it out and use it! :)

It's well worth a try. :) I hope you like it.

[KKay]

I've tried this one before too. I really liked it.

[Lady Onogaro]

I've been using Imperial Purple lately, but I want to compare the two.

[Chrissy]

I've been using Imperial Purple lately, but I want to compare the two.
I think I have a sample of Imperial Purple somewhere. I believe it is more blue than Majestic Purple.

If you have Lamy Dark Lilac, then that's very like the colour of Majestic Purple.

[southpaw52]

A very true purple color, very nice.

[Chrissy]

A very true purple color, very nice.
Yes. :thumb:

[pajaro]

That is a great revue. A really nice purple.

The Lamy Dark Lilac is more reddish. If you think about lilacs, there are white flowers, pink flowers and blue purple flowers. What it seems to me about Lamy Dark Lilac is that Lamy darkened their violet ink to produce the Dark Lilac. DeAtrementis Aubergine, also red leaning, looks like a good approximation of Lamy Dark Lilac. My comparison is based on Lamy Dark Lilac in cartridges. After comparing some violet inks to some purple inks, it seems violet is reddish and purple is bluish. There is some red influence showing in the sample of Diamine Majestic Purple. Frankly I think I like the Diamine Majestic Purple much more than the Lamy Dark Lilac. I like the bluish purple more than the reddish violet colors. I have used violet ink in the past, but with more than 50% of the same company's black added to darken it.

There was a recent thread on FPN about red ink and reddish colors like violet causing premature sac failures--turning the sacs to goo. Also mentioned was permanent tinting of translucent plastic. All the usual prophets issuing warnings. You might want to be careful of using these inks in sac pens, but it's really a judgement call between enjoying using pens or refraining to conserve pens. I inked up a few Esterbrooks with MB burgundy to see how long they last. I figure I can have some enjoyment out of this or sit on a park bench and feed pigeons until I kick over.

[Chrissy]

That is a great revue. A really nice purple.

The Lamy Dark Lilac is more reddish. If you think about lilacs, there are white flowers, pink flowers and blue purple flowers. What it seems to me about Lamy Dark Lilac is that Lamy darkened their violet ink to produce the Dark Lilac. DeAtrementis Aubergine, also red leaning, looks like a good approximation of Lamy Dark Lilac. My comparison is based on Lamy Dark Lilac in cartridges. After comparing some violet inks to some purple inks, it seems violet is reddish and purple is bluish. There is some red influence showing in the sample of Diamine Majestic Purple. Frankly I think I like the Diamine Majestic Purple much more than the Lamy Dark Lilac. I like the bluish purple more than the reddish violet colors. I have used violet ink in the past, but with more than 50% of the same company's black added to darken it.

There was a recent thread on FPN about red ink and reddish colors like violet causing premature sac failures--turning the sacs to goo. Also mentioned was permanent tinting of translucent plastic. All the usual prophets issuing warnings. You might want to be careful of using these inks in sac pens, but it's really a judgement call between enjoying using pens or refraining to conserve pens. I inked up a few Esterbrooks with MB burgundy to see how long they last. I figure I can have some enjoyment out of this or sit on a park bench and feed pigeons until I kick over.
Thank you for your comments and you're welcome. :)
I actually thought Majestic Blue had some red in it. It's definitely less blue than Imperial Purple, but maybe it's less red than Montblanc Lavender Purple. And talking about Montblanc Lavender Purple, I believe they recalled that because it was causing damage to some pens. Then they reissued it.
I don't use purple inks all of the time, and I have hardly any pens that contain rubber sacs. So I think I might be safe. Even my Parker 45's and Sheaffer Targas have had their original converters replaced by the equivalent twist action versions. I just think they are easier to keep scrupulously clean, and they don't turn to goo. I also don't have any that have stained with the ink brands that I use. :)

[pajaro]

That is a great revue. A really nice purple.

The Lamy Dark Lilac is more reddish. If you think about lilacs, there are white flowers, pink flowers and blue purple flowers. What it seems to me about Lamy Dark Lilac is that Lamy darkened their violet ink to produce the Dark Lilac. DeAtrementis Aubergine, also red leaning, looks like a good approximation of Lamy Dark Lilac. My comparison is based on Lamy Dark Lilac in cartridges. After comparing some violet inks to some purple inks, it seems violet is reddish and purple is bluish. There is some red influence showing in the sample of Diamine Majestic Purple. Frankly I think I like the Diamine Majestic Purple much more than the Lamy Dark Lilac. I like the bluish purple more than the reddish violet colors. I have used violet ink in the past, but with more than 50% of the same company's black added to darken it.

There was a recent thread on FPN about red ink and reddish colors like violet causing premature sac failures--turning the sacs to goo. Also mentioned was permanent tinting of translucent plastic. All the usual prophets issuing warnings. You might want to be careful of using these inks in sac pens, but it's really a judgement call between enjoying using pens or refraining to conserve pens. I inked up a few Esterbrooks with MB burgundy to see how long they last. I figure I can have some enjoyment out of this or sit on a park bench and feed pigeons until I kick over.
Thank you for your comments and you're welcome. :)
I actually thought Majestic Blue had some red in it. It's definitely less blue than Imperial Purple, but maybe it's less red than Montblanc Lavender Purple. And talking about Montblanc Lavender Purple, I believe they recalled that because it was causing damage to some pens. Then they reissued it.
I don't use purple inks all of the time, and I have hardly any pens that contain rubber sacs. So I think I might be safe. Even my Parker 45's and Sheaffer Targas have had their original converters replaced by the equivalent twist action versions. I just think they are easier to keep scrupulously clean, and they don't turn to goo. I also don't have any that have stained with the ink brands that I use. :)

I enjoyed your review, and it was very thorough and extensive. I didn't even think Majestic Purple had any red in it until the later samples and swab test. In all my piston converters and piston filler pens I have been putting a tiny bead of pure silicone obtained from a pen repair source (Richard Binder in my case). This helps the piston to travel smoothly, and might also help retard tinting the plastic. I get it in there on the end of a toothpick. The easier piston action, especially with piston converters, makes filling easier and I get less ink on my hands than when the converters seem sticky.

[Chrissy]

Thank you. :) Your comments about converters are interesting. I try to take some of my converters apart so that I can add a little silicone grease to the moving piston part, but there are some (usually Lamy) that prove difficult. I wish it was as easy to lubricate some internal piston filling pens.

Majestic Purple didn't stain any of my converters though. The possibility of staining is the main reason that I don't use any iron gall inks. :)

[pajaro]

I googled purple, and Wikipedia says that purple is a mixture of red and blue. It further states that violet is a bluish color. This seems to be at odds to what the ink makers are doing in some cases. Only Sailor violet appears blue among the ones I have tried, MB violet, Lamy violet and Pelikan violet are reddish. So, I am confused about these colors.

I have lubricated converters with very thin toothpics, a tiny seed of silicone on the end, trying not to get any on the opening.