Ink Review: Diamine Ancient Copper

[Chrissy]

My latest ink is Diamine Ancient Copper

I haven't used Diamine Ancient Copper for quite a while. I had a sample from Goulet's Ink drop ages ago, and it's an ink I never went back to after using the sample. I was surprised how much I really liked the colour, and wondered why I didn't have it in my collection. It's a rich dark copper colour with plenty of shading.

I am aware that some users have had a problem with Ancient Copper drying onto their nibs, so as soon as I received my sample, I filled my Lamy converter in my Lamy Next M pen and left it in there for a few days without using it. I didn't notice any ink on the nib when I came to write with it. I wonder if it depends on how airtight the caps are on the pens that are filled with it.

It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. It lubricated the nib well enough, but the flow felt a little dry, as I couldn't see any moist ink as I was writing. However, despite this, it took longer to dry than I thought it would.

It's quite a water resistant ink. I could see the writing, even after several minutes, and though I blotted my water test with a piece of kitchen roll, the ink was still legible.

• Although this isn't a waterproof ink, it shows quite good water resistance, as do many Diamine inks.
• Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy F nib and 1.1mm nib, this ink took 18-20 secs to dry. That's slower than some other inks I've reviewed recently.
• It felt a bit drier than some other inks I've reviewed, but still seemed to lubricate the nib well. 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 sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
• It's a reasonable price.

Diamine Ancient Copper.jpeg