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.
Diamine Lapis Blue.jpegDiamine Lapis Blue 1.jpeg
Bookmarks