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Chrissy
October 18th, 2017, 05:05 AM
I’m reviewing samples of the new set of Diamine Shimmer inks.
This one is Diamine Firefly

It’s a orange leaning, saturated, red ink with gold shimmer. It has some nice shading. Think a similar shade to Matador, Montblanc Corn Poppy Red or Sheaffer Skrip Red, but more saturated.

I found it a wet and well flowing ink.
It had very good lubrication with the pens I tried it with.
With broader nibs it looks much more saturated than it does with finer nibs, although it’s wet enough to show the gold shimmer with all nibs.
It showed through on some of the papers I used.
The pens I used were a Lamy Safari with M nib, Lamy Nexx M Stub 1.1mm nib, Lamy Nexx M F nib.
The comparison inks were swabbed with a cotton bud and their ink names were written with a glass dip pen.

I found Firefly a well-behaved ink. I didn’t experience any ignition or clogging problems with it. I had no problem cleaning it out of pens using cold water or off of skin using soap and warm water.

It is not sold as a water resistant ink but it is water resistant. It looks more orange when wet.

The Mebin UK Notebook I used was supplied by someone on FPN who sold TR 68gsm Notebooks. The paper in the Mebin UK Notebook is quite thick at 95gsm, it’s acid free, and has a really smooth surface with no drag or tooth at all. Inks generally take longer to dry on this paper, so wetter inks tend to pool and I knew that they would show their shimmer well enough for me to photograph the sheen.

The Moleskine Notebook is a UK clone, and I found there was very little spread on it.


Flow Rate: Wet, very good.
Lubrication: Wet, very good.
Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
Start-up: Immediate.
Saturation: A saturated ink.
Shading Potential: Very good. Shading can easily be seen.
Sheen: Gold shimmer
Show-Through:

Tomoe River 52gsm.
Cheaper generic 80gsm printer papers & lined pads.
Field Notes


Spread / Feathering: Not seen
Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over a week in the pen
Staining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-up
Staining (hands): Not seen - easy clean-up
Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof, but has some water resistance..
Availability: Will be available from Diamine Inks web-site (http://www.diamineinks.co.uk) and other outlets.


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Chrissy
October 19th, 2017, 05:06 AM
These inks will be launched on 27th October :)

Chrissy
November 2nd, 2017, 03:35 PM
I had edited this because I thought I spelled the name wrong, but I've checked the Diamine web-site and on there it is "Firefly" not "Fire Fly", so I edited it back again. :)

AzJon
November 2nd, 2017, 05:03 PM
Chrissy,

Browsing through the Ink Reviews forum, I have to say, you deserve an award. You really are a gem in the ink world with all the reviews you've done. Is there a Diamine ink you haven't reviewed?

Chrissy
November 2nd, 2017, 05:07 PM
Chrissy,

Browsing through the Ink Reviews forum, I have to say, you deserve an award. You really are a gem in the ink world with all the reviews you've done. Is there a Diamine ink you haven't reviewed?

Thank you, and you're welcome. :) There are a few I still haven't reviewed. I thought that one day I might get to the stage where I've reviewed them all, but they keep bringing out new ones. ;)

scottt
November 3rd, 2017, 02:09 PM
Chrissy,

I have to second the award nomination. I was around for the first release of the shimmer inks, but stepped away from fountain pens until recently. Now I find all these new inks have been released, so where can I find great reviews on them?

Here.

Thank you for all the effort you have put into these reviews, and know your work is very appreciated.

Chrissy
November 3rd, 2017, 04:53 PM
Chrissy,

I have to second the award nomination. I was around for the first release of the shimmer inks, but stepped away from fountain pens until recently. Now I find all these new inks have been released, so where can I find great reviews on them?

Here.

Thank you for all the effort you have put into these reviews, and know your work is very appreciated.
Thank you for your kind words, and you're welcome. :)

Also, welcome to FPG. :welcome:

Chrissy
November 3rd, 2017, 05:05 PM
I took some photos of my card swabs in the sunshine, in the hope of trying to show the shimmer. Some worked better than others, so it's a work in progress. :)

Here is one for Firefly:
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