Diamine Salamander - coming soon!
I can now announce a forthcoming new ink from Diamine - Salamander. It's a wonderful dark green, olive, khaki, brown colour
which I'm sure will be very popular. Seriously it is all of those colours.
Working in collaboration with Phil Davies at Diamine I was asked to come up with a name for a sample of the ink he'd sent me to have a look at, labelled 'No 93'. I was intrigued.
It reminded me of the colours of Royal Flying corps bi-planes during WWI so I had a look for some more information. Here is one of the Q & A bits on a website for UK model aircraft fanatics.
"I have been trying to discover the true colours used on these aircraft. The excellent pictures in Cross and Cockade journals were my starting point but I remain unsure as to what the colours really were. For example are the upper planes and fuselage dark green, olive, khaki, brown? Please can anyone help on this?"
"There's not an easy answer to your question, as the colour wasn't constant. The dope used for aircraft upper-surfaces on the Western Front was PC 10 (Protective Colouring No 10) and the pigments were natural oxide of iron (yellow ochre) and lamp black/carbon black, in the ratio of 250 to 1 (ochre is comparatively heavy and lamp black is very light); this produced a dark brown mixture. To spread it on to aeroplane fabric, the mixture was added to cellulose or oil varnish, something that caused an optical effect known as 'green shift', which caused the doped area to look greenish under some light conditions. The degree of green shift varied depending on the type of varnish used. However, as the aeroplane was exposed to the elements, the green shift was reduced and it took on a definite dark brown appearance.
To add to the confusion, the colouring could vary between manufacturers, and even from batch to batch on aircraft made by the same manufacturer."
When I tried out the ink, I noted that the similarity with the changes of colour from brown/green to brown and then to green sometimes, and the ‘green shift’ effect was remarkable. On white papers, such as Rhodium or Clairefontaine, the colour when the ink first hits the paper has a definite green starting point. However, it dries to that mystical khaki colour but then when direct light hits it, there is shading and a metallic sheen is visible. On Rhodia ivory paper, the brown colouration is evident but on Leuchtturm and even more so on Moleskine, that brown goes positively copper and the sheen is most pronounced.
Something in the back of my mind came up with the name 'Salamander' and when I looked for pictures on the net, I realised that it was the fact that a lot of that species of small amphibians are couloured black with yellow patches - just like the mix or PC 10 - tha thad jogged my memory!
Obviously, you will have to make up your own minds. The ink should be available in about six to eight weeks and I will post scans as soon as I am allowed to.
Until then, sit back and wait for Salamander - it will be worth it, I promise you.
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Originally Posted by oldstoat
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