(I C U) Ink Review - Susemai - Red Diamond

[amberleadavis]

 

OMG Amber.. that is an awesome idea... I am thinking this could be a great substitute to Levenger Pinkly ... which was discontinued and loads of people are still mourning the loss...

 

I have a sample of Pinkly... I will do a couple of swabs side by side...

 

 

OOOOO that I look forward to seeing!

[Sinistral1]

 

 

[Cyber6]

OMG!!!!!

 

 

Sinistral... you are sooo awesome!!!!!!!!

[Cyber6]

 

 

OOOOO that I look forward to seeing!

 

As promised... Not exactly the same, but since Pinkly has been discontinued... hey, Red Diamond is a good alternative.. (easier on the eyes..lol).. as well as Hope Pink.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2014 by Cyber6

[amberleadavis]

WOW - great work Cyber6 and Sinstral1!!!!

[DaveBj]

As received, straight from the pipette:

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

I love the color - great review!

[SkylarKnight]

These are mine so far

 

I said it's 2%, but it's probably about 4% or 8%.. TBH I have no idea ^^"

Also light test wasnt done because it's night, will do it tomorrow and update this thread.

 

http://oi58.tinypic.com/2u57vnr.jpg

 

http://oi61.tinypic.com/2zq7cx1.jpg

 

Hopefully this is helpful.

Yes, I am super biased about this ink, I love it too much ^^"

[SkylarKnight]

I could not get this one to mix well at 16% or 8% - but it is pretty. I doubt this one will make the cut, which is many ways is too bad, because the color is something special.

Try to mix it at 4%!

I think there mightve been a problem with manufacturing, since the last bits that aren't mixing are tiny (really tiny) pieces of powder... Perhaps if a small adjustment is made to the formula, it will work out pefectly!

 

I hope SuSeMaI will do anything possible to get this ink just right, it's too beautiful.

[bardiir]

[amberleadavis]

Thank you all for the contributions. I hope you are having fun.

[ScienceChick]

With the sediment suspended, I love this color. Will try diluting it/dissolving the sediment.

 

http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/cynthiapowers/RedDiamond.jpg

[dead_brackets]

http://i.imgur.com/Qi6orVp.jpg

[dead_brackets]

General overview of Red Diamond:

 

I don't like the color.

The ink separates so fast, I was a little concerned about actually putting it into a pen at all.
From the glass dip pen, it was still difficult to use, and didn't flow like the other inks.
Even if I liked the color, I would not buy this ink.

[Dumatborlon]

I can confirm that this ink separates FAST. I’ve decanted it into a vial like an hour or so and already there’s a thick sludge of sediment at the bottom. It re-suspends if I shake it, but you can almost watch it separate. This is with the (presumed) 16% concentration as was in the pipette from the Lucky-35 batch.

 

As expected with a bright red ink, it STAINS. My sink is now pale pink. But no worse than Montblanc rouge, which is the worst staining ink I’ve ever put my hands on.

 

16% is definitely oversaturated, but it makes for an interesting colour—with a dip pen. There’s no way that I’ll let this anywhere near my pens without diluting it. :‌o) I should have a suitable empty pen in a few days, then I can offer more.

[Dumatborlon]

Just dipped a brand-new pen into the undiluted vial of pure colour:

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EId+sk;%E2%99%84;summaprada;ppm-00189c.jpeg

Afterwards it took me almost five minutes to get that vicious stuff off the pen! Blimey! Are all those hues even supposed to be in that stuff?

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EId+sk;%E2%99%84;summaprada;ppm-00211.jpeg

But at first glance, the colour looks promising. I hope it is as garish as it looks from the outside. : o)

Also, right now I have sixteen pens on my desk. óò Maybe… I should tune it down a notch…

[Dumatborlon]

Just inked up. With this particular ink, I’ll start cautionsly at 1:4, which should give about 4% concentration.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EId+sk;%E2%99%84;summaprada;ppm-00212.jpeg

This scan shows how the colour changes as the remaining water from flushing the pen is slowly used up. On the top is right from the sink, then I forced it, then it went back to writing a little lighter again.

Compare with De Atramentis Fuchsia, Montblanc red and Monteverde Burgundy. The closest though is a highlighter (Stabilo Boss № 70/58, to be precise). Great colour so far, I hope it stays that way! Seems ideal for writing exams, wills, signing important treaties and such.

I’ll wait for a day until it settles before I start my commentary. As usual, please ignore the utter nonsense that’s written on the page. I have to write something, don’t I?

And now please excuse me while I’ll put some balm on my seared retinas.

Edited September 13, 2014 by Dumatborlon

[Dumatborlon]

Second day in. In the cartridge, I can see traces of sediments, but no more than I sometimes saw in other red inks. Remember: this is at 4%. I don’t think anything higher than that is safe, but I will try to find a way to test something more concentrated safely.

From what it looks like to my non-chemist eyes, it’s the red component that wants to get out of the suspension, not the pink one. If I let the 16% vial stand upright until all that wants to separate gathers at the bottom and dip just into the clear top part, I get that gorgeous neon-pink colour from the 4% concentration. So maybe it’d be worthwile for Susemai to investigate making a pure pink ink with what can be salvaged from the formula, instead of trying to make it red(-ish). So far, I love the colour.

For the record: No crud or other nasty stuff on, in, around, between, etc. my pen yet. But it’s only the second day and this pen has a particularly wide feed. That I picked up this one for this test is a coincidence, maybe a more finicky pen empties out in the next few days, that’ll be a more interesting test.

[Dumatborlon]

Got your sunglasses ready?

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00219i.jpeg

A few more glimpses as to how well Red Diamond 4% will coöperate with other inks. As expected, it pairs really well with yellow (De Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi) and blue (Susemai Too-blue Cashmere 12%):

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIe+sk;%E2%98%89;summaprada;ppm-00217.jpeg

It also works well alongside Susemai Green Diamond 8% and black; less so with brown or darker greens. It clashes with red.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIe+sk;%E2%98%89;summaprada;ppm-00218.jpeg

Combining it with (Monteverde) turquoise and (Platinum mix-free Smoke) black on white paper gives a very interesting colour combination, like the CGA graphics of the 1980’s, or ink-jet printer colours.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIe+sk;%E2%98%89;summaprada;ppm-00216.jpeg

Overstriking the pink with turquoise gives an almost psychedelic 3D-like effect, like those weird 3D-comics that I have seen a long time ago which were supposed to be viewed with red-and-blue 3D-glasses. On paper, the effect is much stronger—almost distractingly so as it captures your peripheral vision and makes you reach for your reading glasses.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00220a.jpeg

As usual, getting the colour right is beyond my skills or the capabilities of my equipment, so here’s a comparison chart with other reds:

http://chiffre.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/Colour-comparison/red.jpeg

Performance-wise, all the Susemai inks that I’ve tested so far are very forgiving w.r.t. paper. Getting them to feather is rather difficult; Red Diamond is no exception, as seen in the close-up.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00219k.jpeg

Also, there’s considerable shading, also with the Too-blue Cashmere:

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00219g.jpeg

Red Diamond coöperates surprisingly well with highlighters, even with magenta ones:

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00219d.jpeg

This is not self-evident; many inks will bleed or smear when highlighted (blacks are particularly nasty) and will sully the felt tip:

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00219e.jpeg

I’ve got no flow or any other kinds of problems with this ink today. I get a very juicy, satisfying line. As already mentioned, this is a very wet pen, so there is probably some bias.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00221a.jpeg

Overall, an extremely vivid ink. I have to admit that reading a page written predominantly in this colour (cf. the first scan) is something that needs some getting used to; getting, say, a ten-page letter written in Red Diamond is likely to result in charges for assault. :‌o)

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00221b.jpeg

Are we even allowed to have this much fun while testing?

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/5EIf+sk;%E2%98%BD;summaprada;ppm-00221c.jpeg

Edited September 14, 2014 by Dumatborlon

[amberleadavis]

I like the ink combinations. The red/blue reminded me of the 3D glasses. Great job.