Diamine Prussian Blue

[DanielCoffey]

INK : DIAMINE PRUSSIAN BLUE


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

Colour Balance : Neutral

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



WATER RESISTANCE : I found that once dry, Diamine Prussian Blue is reasonably water-resistant. A fair amount of the colour lifts but what is left behind is clearly legible.

DRYING TIME : Typical for a Diamine. About 20s on copy paper and a little longer on hard papers like Rhodia. This was from a well-cleaned pen with very high flow however.

BLEED THROUGH : I saw slight bleed-through on Pukka 80gsm copy paper but none on Rhodia.

LUBRICATION : Diamine Prussian Blue feels a little dry under the nib - more so than other Diamines. It gives a very sharp line. There were no starting issues in my Medium nib with wet flow.

Here is a close-up of the swab.


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

Diamine Prussian Blue is a medium blue with no tints. It has a slight grey cast and is one of Diamine's older colours. It is not a densely saturated ink and cleans up well.

And a close-up of the shading.

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

There was a little shading visible under magnification but it is not really evident on my paper. The ink does not smudge at all once dry.

Water tests were interesting...

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

The ink was fairly water-resistant and clung to the paper reasonably well. While a lot of the blue did lift and run, a good residual grey remained behind.

Edited July 3, 2013 by saskia_madding

[The Good Captain]

One of my newer acquisitions from Diamine and I like its pale shading very much. I find that with a fine nib in my Moleskine it looks similar to their Blue-Black but with a medium nib, the difference is much more marked. Nice ink. I might try the Amethyst or Damson soon as well. Just got the Umber but I haven't inked up anything with that yet.

[DanielCoffey]

Damson is next up in my pen once I have finished my shot of Amethyst and I will be doing a review at the first opportunity. I have Umber and China Blue to put back in the pen and review as well.

 

I find that the Prussian Blue has the same tone as the China Blue but it is darker. It could almost be marketed as Dark China Blue in the same away that the Green/Black could be sold as Dark Umber.

[lovemy51]

"dusty blue grey" is right! i don't remember seeing the green, tho'. i'll have to check again. :hmm1:

 

i like this one too!

 

thx for the review!

[DanielCoffey]

I am thinking that the incoming Diamine Denim will be a more saturated version of this colour. I'd say the grey is more obvious than the green n the Prussian Blue.

[vistafan]

Great review! I just used a Prussian Blue ink cartridge from a multipack sent to me by Diamine, along with my order; I definitely see a blue grey colour, however more grey. I am using a broad nib so it would be interesting to see if there are any differences with nibs of other size.s

[DanielCoffey]

The nib I am using was tweaked for wet flow by John Sorowka so I suspect I am seeing more shading and density than a more standard flowing nib. I still think it was the best twenty-odd quid I spent.

[Laura N]

Really nice review, thanks. This one has been on my list to try. Never enough blue ink for me.

[zebra baker]

Restful is exactly the right word to describe it. It is one of my favorite inks.

[DanielCoffey]

I seem to have drifted to quite a few of the restful inks recently - Umber, China Blue... and this one.

[rollerboy]

I really wanted to like Prussia(n) Blue, but as much as I liked the colour, the saturation was too low for me.

[DanielCoffey]

You may find the soon-to-be released Denim is what you are looking for.

[tawanda]

I don't see any green in this one, either.

 

I bought this ink three years ago, and along with Umber, it was my first foray into the inkworld. However, I soon became hooked on the 'dangerous' and 'saturateds' like Penman Mocha, PR Ebony Purple, Noodler's Navy - and traded away my Diamine orignials. Recently, I've returned to the gentler, more dignified members of the inkworld, the Bentley rather than the Farrari - and purchased Prussian Blue once more. I love it.

 

I do hope Diamine don't get sucked in to making their new inks ever more saturated. We'd lose the subtlies and the elegance of the shading and pooling that you get with inks like Prussian Blue and Umber. And that would be a terrible shame...

[DanielCoffey]

The good thing is that Diamine seem to maintain production of their "older" inks... so hopefully we will always be able to get the subtle side of their catalogue. I respect their right to innovate and to try to keep up with the in-crowd as long, as you say, they don't forget the loyal customers who got them to where they are now.

[ThirdeYe]

I bought a bottle of this on a whim and I love the way it looks in a wet nib. It looks like a nice dark blue-black. However, I've noticed that mine seems to feather quite a bit on Staples Sustainable Earth paper, whereas most other inks don't seem to feather as much on it. Has anyone else had this issue?

[Cheapogit]

I really wanted to like Prussia(n) Blue, but as much as I liked the colour, the saturation was too low for me.

 

My thoughts also.

 

I have a bottle of this that only gets only occasional use.

 

I saw another review in my first foray into bottled inks and thought I'd like it but when it came to using it, just didn't work for me.

 

Perhaps I'll give it another go and try to use it more frequently in my rotation...

[Silent Speaker]

Well, from first reports Diamine's Denim is supposedly like a more saturated version of Prussian blue (so, more like the Prussian Blue I've come to expect).

 

Sounds like just what the doctor ordered.

[The Good Captain]

Another goodie! I do find it a bit too dry for me, though but it's a great colour.

[mhguda]

In the cartridges that you sent me, the color is closer to blue-black. Once you called my attention to it I looked for shading, and it is not very evident. But I do see, under magnification, stipples of red on the edges of the line. My scanner is not working at this time, or I would post pictures. The cartridge seems almost a different ink! I like it very much. No issues with flow in the one pen I have tried it in so far.

[DanielCoffey]

I know what you mean. As you will see from Sandy's review of Prussian Blue, there is some variation with pen and paper that will affect the appearance.

 

Any residual colour from the last fill will skew the results which is why I use my ultrasonic bath when changing colours for a review.