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Ink Review : Diamine Schubert (Music Collection) Pen : Lamy AL-Star, M-nib Paper : Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm Review Vienna, autumn of 1821, banks of the Danube river Greetings wanderer, my name is Franz Peter Schubert and I am enjoying my afternoon walk along the banks of our famous Danube river. Thunderclouds are gathering and the sky is gleaming with a magical light, that colours the river a deep green-blue. This setting inspires my muse - I've got an idea for a wonderfully complex piece. I think I'll call it "Wanderer Fantasy". In 2015 Diamine released the Music Collection, a set of ten subdued and seriuous-looking inks named after well-known composers. In this review, we take a closer look at Schubert - after the above introduction, you're sure to remember that this is a green-blue ink. Diamine Schubert fits in the spectrum of blue-green colours, but leans heavily towards the green side. Personally, I find it a rather dreary colour that's not really to my taste - dirty riverwater indeed ;-) Me, I like my blue-greens more on the bluish side, like Iroshizuku ku-jaku or Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine. In broader nibs, the ink looks more lively and exhibits more shading. But still, this colour is not really my thing. OK - but how does it behave on paper ? For this, I did some tests: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm - drying time 15-20 seconds, no feathering, no show-through nor bleed-through.Paperblanks journal paper - drying time 10-15 seconds, no feathering, no show-through and no bleed-through. Looks better on this off-white paper.Generic notepad paper 70 gsm - drying time ~10 seconds, no feathering, no show-through, bleed-through only on the ink-swab.Moleskine journal - drying time ~5 seconds ! No feathering, significant show-through and bleed-through.Tomoe River paper - drying time ~20 seconds, no feathering, some show-through, no bleed through (with the exception of minimal bleed-through on the ink-swab).Original Crown Mill cotton paper - drying time ~10 seconds, no feathering, no show-through and no bleed-through.Technically, Schubert does really well on a wide variety of paper, and even behaves on the lower quality ones. In a Moleskine journal, it is perfectly usable if you use only one side of the page. In my opinion, the ink looks nicer on off-white, more yellowish paper. On white paper, I'm not a fan of the colour. The ink is reasonably smudge-resistant, and exhibits a fair water-resistance. Even after 30 seconds of running tap-water, I still had no difficulty reading what remains. On the 15 minute droplet test, the ink did behave poorly - in this case the text has all but vanished. Conclusion Diamine Schubert is a well-behaving ink on a broad range of paper, and has a fairly OK water resistance. Technically - I see nothing wrong with this ink. But for a teal ink, I personally find it too green for my taste. The resulting colour is not to my liking. In my opinion, blue-greens only look nice when they are closer to the blue side of the spectrum. my overall score: B

I'm currently reviewing some of my favourite Diamine inks. This is Schubert from the Diamine Music Gift set. I didn't think I would ever be able to afford to buy the Diamine Music Gift Set, so I was really pleased to find that Diamine now sell all of their Gift set inks in 30ml plastic refill bottles. To be honest, the glass bottles in the set are much nicer, but as the ink is exactly that same, it means that at least I can try some of them. Bearing in mind the paper I use is very smooth, this ink dries in 15-16 seconds.It flows quite wet compared with some Diamine inks, but lubricates the nib quite well.No start-up problems noticed. No skipping noticed.It is currently available as one of the gift set of 10 x 30ml glass bottles, or in single 30ml plastic refill bottles from Diamine. Neither of these has an inkwellThe water test on the review form shows this isn't a waterproof ink.Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's reasonably priced.