Brown, Green, Purple

[alexander_k]

There are some secondary colours that have been troubling me for some time now. Here is a comparison of cotton bud samples and my personal preferences:

 

BROWNS (with some red thrown in)

 

http://www.re-h.nl/alexander/pens/browns.jpg

 

• Diamine Chocolate Brown: brown is a tough colour; Chocolate Brown has been quite satisfactory as a deep, rich brown that doesn't look like dirty red
• Diamnie Macassar: I'm considering a switch to this one; it contains even less red
• Diamine Merlot: a slight disappointment; I expected a much darker colour (and no, I don't consider it to be purple)
• Diamine Monaco Red: a nice dark red to complete the comparison

GREENS (and blues)

 

http://www.re-h.nl/alexander/pens/greens.jpg

• Diamine Graphite: I got this one as a grey but I like it more as a green; I like a dark ink with a subtle undertone
• Diamnine Green/Black: a good, dark green; I'm not enamoured with it but I think I'll keep it
• Diamine Teal: a good teal but somehow doesn't appeal to me
• Akkerman Diep-Duinwaterblauw: I love this one but as an iron gall ink it doesn't agree with all pens

PURPLES

 

http://www.re-h.nl/alexander/pens/purples.jpg

• Diamine Eclipse: a great ink, especially when its undertones are revealed with drier pens; very old fashioned
• Diamine Grape: nice colour but I expected something darker
• Akkerman Voorhout Violet: another favourite old-fashioned colour
• Diamine Imperial Purple: nice, bright colour but currently I'm off bright and light inks (except for Sargasso and Orange)

Bottom line: thank heaven for the 30 ml Diamine bottles. It's not that ink is that expensive; I'm just running out of storage space.

Edited June 19, 2012 by alexander_k

[stefanv]

Curious... Your two Diamine Grape samples don't look anything like each other, and I think I _would_ consider the first one (among the browns) to be purple.

[alexander_k]

Curious... Your two Diamine Grape samples don't look anything like each other, and I think I _would_ consider the first one (among the browns) to be purple.

 

Thanks for noticing. The first one was Merlot. Apologies for the confusion (which may not be noticeable to others because I've just corrected the original message).