Diamine Twilight

[sombrueil]

Diamine Twilight is one of a very small number of inks that never bore or irritate me, I'm always delighted to use it again. I have a small cabinet-full of inks but when I pack up a couple bottles to keep my pens going on a trip, I always seem to take Twilight with me. To me it isn't brooding, it's the deep dark color of the sea on a bright windy day. Smooth, shading, wet but not too wet, unusual and beautiful color while totally circumspect and without showiness. Close to perfect.

[Bhavna]

Terrific review and as a result, this ink just made my short list.

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you for your kind comments and for resurrecting this thread. I forgot how gorgeous it was! Glad you loved it too!

[Bhavna]

Diamine Twilight is one of a very small number of inks that never bore or irritate me, I'm always delighted to use it again. I have a small cabinet-full of inks but when I pack up a couple bottles to keep my pens going on a trip, I always seem to take Twilight with me. To me it isn't brooding, it's the deep dark color of the sea on a bright windy day. Smooth, shading, wet but not too wet, unusual and beautiful color while totally circumspect and without showiness. Close to perfect.

 

What a beautiful poetic description. I'm glad I am not alone in being bored or irritated by some inks. The colour of my sea on a bright windy day is azure, turquoise and navy I'm afraid. Twilight is a beautiful colour, and I am delighted to see it about again in this thread. Thank you for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.

[Aysedasi]

Nice review - lovely ink. It's on my list!

[inkstainedruth]

I was curious about how it compares color-wise to Diamine Denim. I'm trying to match the unknown/unidentifiable blue-black ink that came out of a vintage Esterbrook for both color and shading. So far, the closest color match is Denim (with Noodler's Midnight Blue a reasonable runner up) -- but there's zero shading. Diamine Indigo, OTOH, has great shading but is too light a color; and some other inks I've tried samples lean (sometimes way too far) into the green/teal spectrum.

In the scan that Bhavna posted, Twilight doesn't look like a bad match -- but dcpritch's image makes it look a bit light (the first few lines I wrote with it, after attempting to flush/fill with distilled water to see what shape the pen was in are *really* dark, successive fills with water naturally diluted the color a lot, but whatever the ink is is definitely blue-black with no teal -- or violet, for that matter).

You should see the list I have made -- pretty much every b/b ink possible in current production that has a remote chance of being available in the US (For the record, I have personally crossed PR DC Electric Blue and Sonic Blue off the list, as well as Diamine Sargasso Sea, and a few others (Pharmacist's Urkundentine, for example, goes *down* reasonably close on some kinds of paper but of course then eventually oxidizes to black); a number of other inks have been eliminated on the basis of scans in reviews and comparisons, for various reasons -- color/tone (i.e., where it ends up on the color spectrum), hue (lightness/darkness), amount of shading -- if any), and availability (so please don't everyone try to point me at Pelikan 4001 unless you're going to Europe anytime soon!). Also, I am eliminating iron gall inks from contention on general principle, because I want the color to go down the ideal blue-black and *stay* that way -- and I normally *like* IG inks otherwise, so just don't go there.... :blink:

Hoping to get a look at Noodler's Ellis Island Blue-Black and some other NYC B&M store exclusives on Monday.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bhavna]

... Twilight doesn't look like a bad match -- but dcpritch's image makes it look a bit light (the first few lines I wrote with it, after attempting to flush/fill with distilled water to see what shape the pen was in are *really* dark, successive fills with water naturally diluted the color a lot, but whatever the ink is is definitely blue-black with no teal -- or violet, for that matter). ..

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Hi Ruth, I know what you are talking of. I recently was gifted a Parker 51 and I did the same and got a deep blue-black minus teal/ green etc. From the smell (weird i know..) it is most certainly a Parker ink. The pen dates back to (the original owner) around 1950-60 but I don't (yet) know much about the abundance of inks at the time. What I observed was terribly close to twilight, unfortunately I have now flushed the pen and don't have the sample for a side by side for you. Have you also considered Diamine Blue-Black?

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I tried a bunch of different blue-black inks last week at Fountain Pen Hospital and didn't find the ideal one (they don't carry Diamine inks so I couldn't try DBB). I then went to Art Brown, where I couldn't do testing, just look at their swab book. The guy I talked to then pointed me at Mrs. Brown herself (!) and I showed her the writing sample of what had come out of the Estie. She suggested Noodler's Manhattan Blue (which I wouldn't have thought of) because it's basically Nathan Tardiff trying to back-engineer the old Carter's ink from the 1930s and 40s (of course my pen probably dates to the late 1950s, but oh well . So I bought a bottle of that (and a bottle of the Diamine Denim because I knew that ink was my fallback (right color but no shading). And it turns out that on better paper like Rhodia (I bought a little memo-pad of Rhodia -- just to try the paper -- because they had them at the checkout counter) the Manhattan Blue is pretty near PERFECT :clap1: -- absolutely spot on for color, tone and shading (at least in my Flex-Piston, which probably writes wetter than the Gregg nib on the Estie does -- although on really cheap copy paper it is a bit greenish and also feathers fairly badly).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bhavna]

... the Manhattan Blue is pretty near PERFECT :clap1: -- absolutely spot on for color, tone and shading ..

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I am delighted for you! It would be lovely to see a sample! We don't get Noodler's inks in any great quantity here (UK) which is such a shame!

[georges zaslavsky]

very nice ink from diamine thanks for sharing

[tylchick]

Thanks very much for the review and all the comments which helped me to choose this ink.

 

"This blue is so beautiful, a not-so-blue ink that I like very much. It's saturated but with shading, it's blue but with a tint of green, super like!"

 

Pen: Lamy Safari (F) Paper: Rhodia

[WOBentley]

[Bhavna]

Thanks very much for the review and all the comments which helped me to choose this ink.

 

"This blue is so beautiful, a not-so-blue ink that I like very much. It's saturated but with shading, it's blue but with a tint of green, super like!"

 

Pen: Lamy Safari (F) Paper: Rhodia

 

You are most welcome. I can't believe a year has passed since that review and it is still helping. I love your script.

[Bhavna]

 

Indeed.

[althanis]

Interesting colour, thanks for the review!

[Pen_Collector_4554]

Diamine Twilight Review 30th Aug 2012 35%.jpg

Hi there! Very nice handwriting and thanks for posting this sample ... Twilight will definitely be a part of my next ink purchase ... or just another reason to spend some money ;-)

[Jared]

This may be the same as the bottle of Akkerman Diep-Duinwaterblauw that Pendleton brought to the DC Pen Show a few years ago as a tester ink for his pens. Akkerman is highly suspected of rebottling Diamine inks into its cool bottles.

 

I loved the ink, and have thought many times since about it.

[tylchick]

 

You are most welcome. I can't believe a year has passed since that review and it is still helping. I love your script.

 

Oh, I'm a new comer and learn a lot from the FPN. It's a joy reading all the reviews and comments of you wonderful guys and ladies. Thanks for your kind word!

[Bemo]

This will be in my next ink order as well. I've read this thread at least 3 times now. Thanks again for sharing.

[tylchick]

This may be the same as the bottle of Akkerman Diep-Duinwaterblauw that Pendleton brought to the DC Pen Show a few years ago as a tester ink for his pens. Akkerman is highly suspected of rebottling Diamine inks into its cool bottles.

 

I loved the ink, and have thought many times since about it.

 

OMG, that bottle is really beautiful!!! I need to get my European friend to bring me one!

[welch]

 

OMG, that bottle is really beautiful!!! I need to get my European friend to bring me one!

 

Akkerman will ship to you, but the shipping prices are high enough that you'll probably need three bottles to make the cost work. However, with three bottles that big, you won't need ink for a long, long time. I'm about halfway through a pair of bottles my wife brought back from Den Haag a year ago.