Noodler's Squeteague & Diamine Umber

[KCat]

I will try to find time in the next couple of days to put up pics of these two inks and some comments. But I was so impressed with my brief trial with the sample of Umber RichardS sent me, that I had to make at least a couple of comments now.

 

LOVE THIS COLOR.

 

It is *very* close to Noodler's Squeteague but ever so slightly lighter, a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy bit greener. It shades gorgeously. And the flow is as I've come to expect from Diamine inks - very generous.

 

Can't wait to actually put up a comparison swatch - though Richard's review will still be the more thorough review.

 

ah.. some days it takes so little to turn a bad day into a good one (and vice versa of course.)

[Roger]

I'll await your side by side with interest. The side by side offered by Martin's TWD site depicts the Umber as considerably greener and, frankly, not even close to Squeteague. But swatches, as we know, are not going to cover the waterfront.

 

Swatches and a couple of different nib width writing samples might give the user a better look and that would depend on the usual litany of variables having to do with the scans and the viewer's monitor. etc.

 

This stuff ain't easy!

[KCat]

I'll await your side by side with interest. The side by side offered by Martin's TWD site depicts the Umber as considerably greener and, frankly, not even close to Squeteague. But swatches, as we know, are not going to cover the waterfront.

Richard's images,

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...?showtopic=7317

 

IMO, are completely accurate on my screen. This is a soft grey-green with blue undertones. Squeteague (at least my batch) is a grey-green with blue undertones - but much more saturated.

 

yes, it is slightly greener than Squeteague as you should be able to see in the swabbed samples I'll put up later.

[KCat]

well, i'm not thoroughly pleased with this picture. my lighting isn't too good today. so i may try again. I think this picture doesn't show the richness and washes out some of the blue of both inks. But at least it shows the distance between them isn't too great.

[KCat]

and with a little tweaking...

 

i think you can tell that the Umber is ever so slightly greener but it is more noticeable IRL than in these samples. I'll try again with artificial lighting - outdoor lighting is probably softening the subtle differences all the more so.

Edited March 10, 2006 by KCat

[southpaw]

Wow! Thanks KCat.

 

On the swabs they look very different, but on the writing - hard to tell them apart, at least on my monitor. I can see some very subtle differences, but probably nothing you'd pick up if they weren't side by side.

 

Thanks again.

southpaw (who has a pen inked with Squeteague right now)

[wimg]

Thanks, KCat!

 

BTW, how many different greens do you have by now?

 

Warm regards, Wim

[KCat]

Thanks, KCat!

 

BTW, how many different greens do you have by now?

 

Warm regards, Wim

actually - i've gotten rid of a few so i think I have:

 

Squeteague

Penman Emerald

...

 

uh... that may be it.

 

The Umber is just a sample vial. Though I suspect that it will not be before too long. I'm already wondering which pen to put it into. Or thinking I'll get some and it will be there when I run out of Squeteague - which isn't that far away as I use it a lot.

 

oh wait - I still have a few mls of Blue Suede. But I don't use it much. Got rid of my Noodler's Emerald, Diamine Emerald (nice green, just not what I was looking for), Vert Olive (too light), Vert Pre (really too light)... probably there is at least one other green I gave up some time ago but can't recall what it was. Much as I love green, I'm getting very picky. My culling has made considerable room in my 4 boxes of inks. Actually - one box is mostly dregs that I plan to flush soon.

[KCat]

Wow!  Thanks KCat. 

 

On the swabs they look very different, but on the writing - hard to tell them apart, at least on my monitor.  I can see some very subtle differences, but probably nothing you'd pick up if they weren't side by side. 

yes - i think that's a fair assessment. The Umber does shade better (assuming you like shading vs. a consistent dark line.) The swab sort of lets you see how much less saturated Umber is. But because of it's strong flow (not for very cheap papers - will feather) it does make a good dark line. I may ink my Osmiroids - one with each color - because they write quite dry and this would make for another interesting side-by-side.

 

I still love Squeteague. While I'm considering not purchasing it and going just to umber when I run out of the S. I'm not sure I'd go that far as it is a gorgeous ink IMO.

 

You know - if you liked Pelikan Moss green, Umber is similar though bluer. Folks who may recall Pelikan Moss fondly would say it was a lichen-like color though perhaps a bit too grey. Umber seems to have "corrected" that. The color reminds me very much of lichen.

 

oh... one advantage to Squeteague, at least for some people, is that it has some water resistance. When I first compared the two I used the nib to wet one finger with Squeteague, the other with Umber in order to make swatches. When I washed my hands, the Umber came off readily and entirely, the Squeteague did not.

 

to me, that's a minor issue, but i know others prefer significant colorfastness.

Edited March 10, 2006 by KCat

[Ann Finley]

Wow! This is not what I expected when I saw the color name "umber". I expected something like this (Vermeer and Color).

Me too, Roy, me too!

 

Blue-green inks don't do much for me, but I appreciate the review so that I know what these ink colors are.

 

Best, Ann

[grasshopper]

Thanks for this comparison, KCat.

 

Wow, I was actually expecting Umber to be closer to Sequoia more than Squeteague, but clearly from your scans, it is other closer the other way around.

 

 

G.

[KCat]

I haven't really seen Sequioa but I'm assuming it's more of a yellow-green?

 

Roy - RichardS's review below shows a great pic of the Umber and includes a discussion on how a green ink was given a brown name. I thought maybe the scans were mussed up on the various websites selling the ink. I'm *not* disappointed that they weren't.

[grasshopper]

My batch of sequoia doesn't look yellow-green to my eyes. I also have a bottle of zhivago, so I'd call sequoia as being zhivago with more green, making it a dark mossy green.

 

Glad you like the umber, though.

 

 

G.

[Goodwhiskers]

KCat, thanks for getting the ball rolling on this delicious comparison !

[KCat]

KCat, thanks for getting the ball rolling on this delicious comparison !

I have only one fill left of the Umber (from ink-sharing vial) so kindly sent to me from the UK and the more I use it, the more I am growing attached to it. So this is the ink I will buy if I decide to buy any. Trying to *reduce* my number of inks overall, but I'll be out of Squeteague soon. Going to the umber will probably be how I deal with that... maybe... darn, I like both inks so much.