Diamine Umber

[RichardS]

This is one of the new Diamine inks, recently announced. It's a fairly neutral, darkish green, more on the cool side of the spectrum. Like many Diamine inks, it has a vintage quality and I would see it almost as a green equivalent of Diamine's Prussian Blue, a favourite of mine.

 

It flows extremely well, and with any nib grade thicker than Fine, it will shade very nicely. This will come as no surprise to users of Diamine inks, all of which seem to share these qualities. The character is quite different from super-saturated inks like PR or Noodler's.

 

I chose it because I'm looking for a green that could be used in some business situations. I quite like Noodler's Sequoia, but it can be a little temperamental in some of my pens. Diamine Umber, though lighter, comes fairly close to what I'm looking for.

 

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5835/diamineumbra3hv.jpg

 

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6643/diamineumbracu0ij.jpg

Edited February 4, 2006 by RichardS

[DrPJM1]

Plus it looks so nice coming out of your green Pelikan.....

Thanks for the review.

[KCat]

yeah baby yeah...

 

that looks like a color I'd love. REminiscent of Squeteague but not as dark. hmmmmmmmmmmm

[chupie]

Richard, what is that nib ground to?

[RichardS]

Chupie, the nib shown on the Pel in the picture is an 18kt Fine, as used on all the Pelkan City pens. (I think standard M600s have a 14kt nib?) It's strange but the tip looks broader in the close-up picture, though I promise you it isn't!

 

I used a gold-plated M200 OBB nib to write the first part of the text. This is a lovely, inexpensive nib and the biggest bargain in Pendom I think. I then swapped it out for the 18kt F which you see.

[Slush99]

The pen matched the ink! Wow!

 

Beautiful pen and ink.

[Carrie]

I like the look of that colour. Any chance of a full image of the bottle so we get to see all of the new style cap?

[saintsimon]

Strange, that everybody says 'Umber' is new. I've seen it on their site since I disovered thewritingdesk in 2004 :blink:

[chupie]

Chupie, the nib shown on the Pel in the picture is an 18kt Fine, as used on all the Pelkan City pens. (I think standard M600s have a 14kt nib?) It's strange but the tip looks broader in the close-up picture, though I promise you it isn't!

 

I used a gold-plated M200 OBB nib to write the first part of the text. This is a lovely, inexpensive nib and the biggest bargain in Pendom I think. I then swapped it out for the 18kt F which you see.

Even the strokes look broader, more like an italic or stub. Huh!

[joeycoleman]

I bought a bottle of Umber from The Writing Desk just before the new colours were introduced (I suspect it come to them in the same shipment, but it was sampled on their comparison pages before then). I would hazard that it is not one of the new colours.

 

I've been quite happy with the result it gives using a rotring 600 fine nib; there is some shading (but I'm wary of posting a picture as my writing is awful). The pictures that RichardS has posted appear pretty close to the colour I'm getting as well. (And I have the same style cap as the one in his picture.)

 

--joey

[RichardS]

Saintsimon, Joey, you may well be right. I had never seen this ink before, so assumed that it was part of Diamine's new range. When it arrived with its snazzy new cap, that clinched the assumption. Now I look at the WritingDesk site, it isn't listed as new. Still, it was new to me - and seems to be to most of the folks on here!

 

Carrie, I'll try and take a snap of the whole bottle tomorrow (Saturday).

 

 

Edit: small pic removed; larger below

Edited February 6, 2006 by RichardS

[southpaw]

Thanks for the great review - pics of your Pel and that ink are very nice! Enjoy them together - looks like a great match.

[RichardS]

Full pic of new style Diamine bottle cap with older at back, and some of those cute Visconti cartridge containers that may just have provided some of the inspiration

 

http://img497.imageshack.us/img497/1296/umbrapack7cb.jpg

Edited February 4, 2006 by RichardS

[grasshopper]

Excellent, Richard! Thanks for the review.

 

I was definitely going to try this ink next (I've decided to scrap Conway Stewart's Green from my list, as I think it will be lighter than a Sequoia), and you've just made me even more convinced. Like KCat observed, I think it looks like a Squeateague (even though I've not personally tried one yet, just seen pics of it online).

 

G.

[Carrie]

Thanks for the picture of the new cap, especially alongside the cartridge containers.

[Tricia]

Just curious: Does anyone know why Diamine named a green ink with a brown name? (I looked up 'umber' in the online dictionary just to be sure.)

 

:blink:

[KCat]

don't know Tricia - i had the same question. who has the inside track at Diamine?

[wimg]

Hi Richard,

 

Thank you for a very nice review with writing samples and pics!

 

This is a green that I think could well find its way towards my ink drawers over here .

 

Warm regards, Wim

[krz]

Just curious: Does anyone know why Diamine named a green ink with a brown name? (I looked up 'umber' in the online dictionary just to be sure.)

 

:blink:

I agree. Any Umber I've used in art has always been a Brown :blink:

 

The color looks very nice though. But I think anything would look good coming out of that pen!

 

All the best,

[AndrewW]

This is a colour I have been searching for for a long time - a sort of antique blue-green. It somehow appealed to my imagination. It is what I thought PR Blue Suede would have been, but wasn't. I must get a bottle sometime soon.