Diamine Soft Mint

[DanielCoffey]

INK : DIAMINE SOFT MINT

 

PAPER : RHODIA #16 A5 white lined

 

PEN : Onoto Magna 261 Medium nib tweaked for wet flow by John Sorowka (Oxonian)

 

Scanner : IT8-calibrated Epson V600 flatbed

Colour Space : Adobe RGB

Matte : 50% grey and 100% white

Post-process : Unsharp Mask

 

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewSoftMint.jpg

 

 

Here is a close-up of the swab. Saturation of this ink is low so the paper shows through. It works very well on off-white papers such as G Lalo Vergé Ivory and Cream...

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewSoftMintSwab.jpg

 

 

And a close-up of the shading. In a wet nib there is significant shading. The ink is very wet and the surplus ink on lifting the nib will flow back up the stroke very quickly...

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewSoftMintShade.jpg

 

 

Water-resistance is not something that this ink brings to the table. One drip of water and it is gone. On the other hand that makes it very easy to clean out of the pen...

 

http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/images/fountainpennetwork/ReviewSoftMintWater.jpg

 

 

DRYING TIMES : The writing tests above were done in a very wet medium nib that had just been cleaned. Drying times were longer than expected... Xerox 90gsm was around 15s. Rhodia, G Lalo Vergé and Clairefontaine Triomphe took a good 45s to dry.

 

SMEARING : None on any paper. This ink bonds nicely with the paper and does not sit on top, even on Clairefontaine Triomphe. A careless wipe with a damp finger, however, will result in the colour moving.

 

BLEEDTHROUGH : This ink was fairly ready to to bleed through on copy paper. Given the wet nib I used above, I recorded the following... Xerox 90gsm had moderate bleedthrough and slight feathering. Rhodia had no bleed through and no feathering. Clairefontaine Triomphe had no bleed through or feathering. G Lalo Vergé had no bleed through or feathering.

 

FLOW AND LUBRICATION : Flow for this ink seems to be high. I suspect a dry fine nib would have no issues. Lubrication was moderate in the pen tested (my medium above). The writing experience was tricky due to the moderate lubrication. There was more feedback from the paper and nib than I have been used to.

 

CLEANING : There were no colour residues left on the converter and this ink washed out very easily. It did not cling to the inside of the converter so a simple flush and rinse was all that was needed to get the pen clean.

[DanielCoffey]

I am afraid I have washed out the pen...

 

I would say you should see this ink (and Beau Blue) writing to the full width of the nib but a full page of this on bright copy paper would be a bit of a strain on the eye as the shading makes it shift from the green to the turquoise and back again. Off-white papers would give a different experience.

[georges zaslavsky]

looks like a very nice color thanks for sharing

[mhphoto]

Great review, thanks!

 

I've been really curious about this ink for a while now. It seems like it would be an excellent (and cheap) alternative to J. Herbin Vert Réséda. At half the price you can't go wrong. Do you have to have any to compare it with?

[J.R.]

I got a sample of this and used it on Christmas card stock. I was pretty impressed, so I bought a bottle. I use Rhodia "R" notepads for correspondence, and this ink was a little hard on the eyes. For my personal use (for correspondence), I prefer Diamine Emerald.