Essential Diamine Colors?

[dizzypen]

Damson and syrah for sure. Really, you just can't do without those.

Oxblood or red dragon.

Majestic blue or midnight.

saddle brown or chocolate brown.

Umber is another mmust have.

asa blue

Prussian blue is great too.

[radellaf]

I may go for a whole bottle of RGBP with Syrah (probably), Umber, Majestic Blue, and Damson. OTOH, I have Penman Sapphire, my one Iroshi is Asa-gao, so maybe Midnight. Damson does look nice for a purple. I have Violet Vote on order. The odd part is that only Umber is the only green mentioned more than twice. I have a few brighter greens in a few brands though, and usually make a teal by adding ottoman or blue to noodler's forest green. All an attempt to imitate a long discontinued Sanford disposable rollerball with a just slightly teal green, a opposed to the usual true or yellow tinted greens usually found.

OTOH, just looked at my bank account and (it's not all the hobby's fault) there's not as much accumulating there as I'd like, so perhaps just samples all 'round. Your suggestions really narrrow it down, though, and I thank you all.

Even counting 2 vote colors I have maybe 20-25 vs 80 colors to pick from.

[goodpens]

Monaco red

Chocolate brown

Pumpkin

Steel blue

[Calbei]

Majestic Blue is the one ink (from any manufacturer) that I treat as essential.

[radellaf]

I ordered a bottle of Oxblood and samples of:

Twilight,

Majestic Blue,

Syrah,

Midnight,

Mediterranean Blue,

Umber,

Prussian Blue,

Damson,

Red Dragon,

Asa Blue,

Monaco Red,

Pumpkin

 

Should keep me busy. Glad I have a glass dip pen.

[Blizzard42]

I just ordered samples of Diamine too, for me it was:

Aqua Blue

Asa Blue

Florida Blue

Jade Green

Kelly Green

Majestic Blue

Mediterranean Blue

Midnight

Royal Blue

Sepia

Teal

Turquoise

[DanielCoffey]

Mediterranean Blue, Umber, Prussian Blue

 

KCat - do you have any idea how close to Chine Blue is in tone to Prussian Blue? Not in light/darkness, but tone? I adore the way the China Blue settles over a few hours to that dusty colour and wondered if Prussian Blue would be "dark" China Blue.

[uzkntuocmw]

KCat - do you have any idea how close to Chine Blue is in tone to Prussian Blue? Not in light/darkness, but tone? I adore the way the China Blue settles over a few hours to that dusty colour and wondered if Prussian Blue would be "dark" China Blue.

Hard to say. I see China Blue as having the slightest hint of purple in there, which Prussian Blue doesn't.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for the swabs. Was that China Blue fairly fresh on the paper when photographed? I know it settles to its dusty blue when allowed to sit on the paper for a few hours.

[uzkntuocmw]

Thanks for the swabs. Was that China Blue fairly fresh on the paper when photographed? I know it settles to its dusty blue when allowed to sit on the paper for a few hours.

Yeah, that was ten minutes or so. It won't get any lighter on that paper -- the lightening seems to work best on decent notebook paper, and isn't so pronounced on cheap copier paper...

 

I need to get some expensive copier paper for that kind of thing...

[KCat]

Sorry, I haven't tried China Blue so can't speak to that. If it's true that it's got a purplish cast, then perhaps Indigo might be something to try for a "dark" China blue? Not sure. Prussian definitely is my preferred dusky blue because it doesn't have a greenish tinge to it but it also doesn't lean toward purple either. Just a lovely "vintage-y" grey-blue to my eye.

[DanielCoffey]

I have just put a Diamine 30ml order in with the Prussian in it. Ah, the benefits of being in the country with the factory in it!

 

I have the China Blue so I will see how they compare in my wet medium Onoto in a few days.

[JakobS]

Monaco Red, Woodland Green, Violet, Orange, Umber, Chocolate, Registrar's Ink, are my favorite Diamine Inks so far. I need to try a few more of their blues, China blue is pretty nice, and Mediterranean Blue looks promising. Golden Brown and Woodland Green go very well together, say one paragraph written in each side by side. I had not looked at their selection in awhile and there are many new inks that look very promising.

Edited August 13, 2011 by JakobS

[Surfbits]

Goulet is having a special on ink samples, and I have no Diamine colors. Well, I had an anemic yellow and orange many years back but sold those.

 

Just in _case_ there might be a hint of consensus, any votes for, say, the top 10-15 colors someone new to Diamine should definitely try?

 

I say new to just the brand since I have all the "workhorse" colors covered with Noodler's and the Mix Free set.

 

I have really learned to love Diamine Inks. Bought a ton of them from Nordic pens because of the cheap price delivered to USA. SO many favorites, but the ones that are used the most are:

Oxblood,

Syrah

Pumpkin

Sherwood Green

Imperial Blue.

 

Not a big fan of their Blacks in general, hard to beat Aurora Black and Noodlers line of Blacks.

[Garageboy]

Blue Black is a nice color, but leaves a dry crust on the nib

Florida and Royal Blue get my vote

[Soundsider]

Strong votes for Monaco Red and Sepia. Both are unique colors with great shading that create a classic, muted/introspective tone. (Just penned an anniversary card to my wife using Sepia in a Falcon SF flex nib.)

[quoll]

Like a lot of people replying to this thread I have a lot (probably too many!) of Diamine inks. Why not with the small bottle option?

 

My go-tos are:

 

Florida Blue

Twilight ( really like that one)

Graphite

Syrah

[liapuyat]

Monaco Red and Saddle Brown are two favorites of mine. My next most wanted are Evergreen and Syrah.

[dexaco]

Another vote for Twilight, Monaco Red, Pumpkin and Mediterranean Blue. I like the Green/Black but would like something with a hint more green to it - I may try some mixes. Quite fond of Deep Magenta and Marine, too, and I'm playing with Graphite at present.

 

Derick

[christinaofvermont]

Monaco Red. When I think Diamine I think in Monaco Red. Oxblood and Red Dragon are perhaps better red-reds but there is something about the Monaco - refined, subtle, sophisticated. It comes in cartridges too which is handy for my Waterman Lady Alice I don't have a converter for. I can't see any other major manufacturer making an ink quite like this.

 

Beyond that I'd recommend Majestic Blue - I don't even like blue! - and Teal.