Diamine Monaco Red

[Phormula]

Diamine Monaco Red

 

OK, this review comes straight from the office of Mr. Blue and Blue-Black. While Henry Ford happened to choose black for his famous Model T car, the ink range of my pens goes from middle blue to blue-black. These are my “fifty shades of dark blue” and while there may be not that much sex in them, writing with fountain pens can be a lot of fun too. Other inks have seldom found room among my inkwells, I happen to donate all the inks I get in gift from shops when I buy pens unless they belong to the abovementioned two families. A few exception excluded. One of them was this fantastic Diamine Monaco Red that I got in gift from Goldpen of Isernia (Italy), one of my favorite pens and office stationery supplier. The owner, Laura, dropped a bottle of this ink into one of my recent purchases. I inked my modified TWSBI Diamond 580 M to test it and the result was enough to convince me to use a red ink. But let’s go step by step…

Diamine is a well known and reputable British brand among fountain pen enthusiasts, with a long history in fountain pen, drawing and printing inks. Nobody in the world lists such a wide range of fountain pen ink colors, making almost impossible not to find the preferred one and sometimes also making the choice difficult, given the small differences between two inks. Some Diamine inks are among my daily inks, given their good overall performance and very attractive price. If we take the cost per milliliter into consideration, at least here in Europe, Diamine inks are among the most convenient ones. Using them on a daily basis will not carry the risk to break the bank. They are available in a very utilitarian 80 ml glass inkwells (made by a very reputable glass factory in Italy, which manufactures several kinds of inkwells, also empty ones) and in possibly even more utilitarian 30 ml plastic containers, which remind me of the color concentrates used to add color shade to white wall paint. The inkwell may not be the most attractive and maybe not the most practical, the box is the same for all inks, there is no color swatch on the box, and the only reference is a sticker on the box and on the cap, but this no-frills approach results in very good inks available at attractive price, up to the point that here in Europe, one can buy a 30 ml container for the price of 1-2 boxes of cartridges and enjoy the pleasure of testing a new ink. Looks like if in Diamine they have a penny to spend, they would do on the ink and not on the packaging, which is a good choice, since it seems to me that an ink is to be used for writing. About 25 out of the more than 100 fountain pen inks are also available in international short cartridges, including this Monaco Red. Diamine claims that Monaco Red was formulated specifically for Prince Rainieri III of Monaco and the Grimaldi family, which means that with a small expense we can enjoy the pleasure of such a highborn ink.

 

Presentation

As said, no frills. Diamine seems to be really committed to make high quality ink available to everybody, so no fashion inkwells and attractive packaging. Monaco Red is available under three forms. The classic squared base 80 ml glass inkwell made by Vetrerie Foresta (Italy), a 30 ml cheap-looking molded plastic vial and standard international cartridges, either in a 6 or in a 18 box. Inkwells and cartridges are packaged in two-tone printed card boxes, again the same for all inks. The identification of the ink is left to a small sticker on the box and, for inkwells on the plastic caps. The 80 ml inkwell looks smaller than it actually is. The first time I saw it I had to look twice to realize that it actually contains 80 ml of ink. It has a mouth wide enough to accommodate almost all pens, but filling could become problematic when the ink level is low. Resorting to the classic rubber eraser, strategically placed under one corner to tilt the inkwell is a well known trick. The opening of the 30 ml vial is slightly narrower, and this might be an issue. For my inks I use dedicated TWSBI Diamond 50 inkwells and Visconti Travelling inkwells for filling on the go, so the inkwell design is not important for me, as long as I can transfer the ink with a syringe or an eyedropper. Be aware that Diamine ink cartridges, although international by name, might not fit some pens, because of small differences in design. I have found Diamine cartridges a little problematic in my Faber Castell pens. While the utilitarian look of the package may disappoint somebody, general consensus on the price tag is easily attained. By the time I write, the 80 ml inkwell here in Europe enjoys a street price of 6 to 10 Euro, or 9 to 11 cents per milliliter, making it one of the most economical inks on the market and among the best in performance to price ratio. My friend refers to Diamine with the term “workhorse inks”, and I basically agree.

 

Performance, i.e. when nib meets paper

This is where Monaco Red actually surprised me. Like it happens in real life, in a family of inks as large as the Diamine one, one cannot reasonably expect the same performance level from all members. To be honest, most Diamine inks I had the pleasure to write with were overall good performers, i.e. no outstanding performance in one department, but reasonably balanced medium to good performance in all aspects that make them suitable for a wide array of pens, with the exception of the ones with a very wet or a very dry nib. Few Diamine inks left me disappointed, such as Majestic Blue, which I called “the never drying ink” because of its veeeeeeery long drying times and its sensitivity even to damp fingers or Blue-Black for its tendency to clog pens left unused for a few days. Other Diamine inks are daily inks for me, such as Presidential Blue, Midnight, Royal Blue and Prussian Blue. All blues, except for Salamander (which is my personal “green-black”) and Eau de Nil, which is a “very vivid” ink for my standards. If Eau de Nil was as far as I was prepared to go with color, this Monaco Red came as a (pleasant) surprise.

 

Lubrication and flow

Most Diamine inks rank average in both, which is not that bad, since a middle of the road ink perfectly matches a middle of the road pen to deliver a somehow higher than average performance. Most European pens are just middle of the road in terms of flow and nib smoothness and they feel perfectly at ease with Diamine inks. Monaco Red is an exception, since both lubrication and flow are higher than the Diamine baseline. Not to be used to cure a pen with flow issues, but the fact that the nib places a little more ink than usual on paper is a welcome addition that helps appreciating the nice shading of this ink. In my Diamond 580 I did not experience skipping and false starts. It also started promptly if left uncapped for some minutes or unused for a week. The nib performance is what I expect it to be, even on smooth paper like Rhodia. I do not use red ink a lot, but leaving the pen idle for a week or more did not result in troubles when restarting.

 

Appearance

Well, it is a slightly dark red ink. And when I say red ink, I mean just that, a solid red ink. No pink, magenta or orange overcast. Saturation is very good, but not excessive, i.e. leading to the uniform line or “felt tip” effect. Shading is very high, and the color of the ink ranges from a middle red in the areas where the nib left less ink to a solid dark red in the ones where it left more. If you like red color, this ink is a pleasure to see on paper, one of the few ink that make you stare at what you have written to enjoy the look before moving on with the next page. Saturation allows the use of this ink to make notes on pages that need to be photocopied later, actually I am using it for that purpose, i.e. review, underlining and annotation of my business notes made in blue-black and the pages are often scanned or photocopied for distribution to others. If you are using this ink in a fine or extra fine nib, I recommend choosing one with at least a medium flow, in order to fully appreciate the shadowing.

 

Grimaldi Family coat of arms

 

Given the fact that I am no member of the Grimaldi family, I cannot comment on the color, I can imagine that it could be somehow inspired by the red diamonds in the coat of arms of the Grimaldi family. Last, given there is no swatch on the box, the only way to look at the color is either to open the inkwell or look at the swatches provided by Diamine itself or by major vendors on their websites, but this leaves the issue of monitor calibration open.

 

Feathering/Bleed Through

Almost non existent. In order to observe some bleed through on Rhodia 80 g/m² paper, I had to make a triple pass. In real life you need a firehose nib to observe both. Some feathering could be noticed on cheap paper, but this is more paper than ink failure. I have been using this ink for annotations on a wide range of paper, going high quality, fountain pen proof, paper to the cheap office copy paper that is used to feed the photocopy and fax machines at the office and the ink has been always well behaved.

 

 

Drying/Water resistance

It is a pigment based ink and it is not rated as permanent. Diamine inks do not have a reputation for being waterproof, and this Monaco Red makes no exception. The “splash test”, made about 12 hours after the text was written, speaks for itself. However the lines are still legible and this is a relatively good performance compared to other inks that almost disappear.

On the Rhodia paper, which is very smooth and slow in absorbing ink, the safety time of the ink, i.e. the time I can rub on my text with my fingers without problems, was slightly more than 15 seconds. While the number may seem high, the nib of my modified TWSBI is quite wet and the paper is a slow absorber. On a standard copy paper this time is cut in half or even more. It is not that much different, maybe 2-3 seconds longer than my experience with other inks and makes Monaco Red perfectly suitable for my needs. Of course, when I am using it for underlining, I need to take care not to move the ruler or the stencil over the ink before it has dried, i.e. count to 20 before moving it.

Last, I have purposely de-inked my TWSBI, which is a demonstrator pen, to check for stains. The classic rinsing with water was enough to remove any trace of ink from the pen. After a good flushing it was impossible to tell which ink color it was previously loaded.

 

Recommended use

I wish I could use this ink more, because it is a very well behaved ink and I do really like the color and the shadows. Unfortunately there is not that room for it in a business environment, where I do most of my writing. I can use it for annotations, underlining and comments on my personal notes or on printed text, and this is where the ink really shines, but I can find limited use for writing. Of course, upward correspondence is out of the question, unless you are in a really good relationship with your boss. Peer or downwards communication needs to be carefully thought as well. Also using it for note taking in a meeting is a guarantee of raised eyebrows, like signing an important paper in front of TV cameras using a Rotring Core fountain pen. The limitations in a business environment are more or less the same found in a school one, you cannot use it to turn in an important paper.

At the end the only escape route is, like I did, to trash my Bic Cristal red pen, ink a TWSBI and use it for all the situation I would had reached for the Bic. While I was a little skeptical at the beginning, I found them to be more than I expected. While I am not refilling the TWSBI with the same frequency I happen to refill the one loaded in Pelikan Royal Blue, am happening to use more ink than I originally planned and I expect to need a new inkwell by the end of the year.

The above considerations do not apply when this ink is used for personal writing or drawing. Here the only point to be considered is personal preference for the color, since good performance is here. If you like the color, well, it is not mandatory to call a link with the Grimaldi family to use it.

 

Conclusions

OK, when I got this inkwell from Laura of Goldpen I first thought to place it into the box where my “candidates for adoption” pens and inks lie. Like it happened to many other inks that I bought or got in gift and that turned out not to be my cup of tea, sooner or later it would had ended in the hands of somebody using it. But I decided to give it a try and that was a big mistake, since now at the office I have a TWSBI permanently inked with Monaco Red and the cheap red ball point (although I still regard the Bic Cristal a very good performer for the price) has disappeared from my desk. It also meant that I had to buy another fountain pen to be able to use the Diamine Presidential Blue I was previously using in the TWSBI.

Again, if you like the color, I can recommend it. It is a solid performer and well behaved ink with a nice shading. Just keep it away from very dry or very wet pens. The price is low enough to give a try and, as per the other Diamine inks, it won’t break the bank if the ink becomes a daily workhorse. Last but not least, you can have the pleasure to write with an ink with a royal heritage.

[Gloucesterman]

Great review.

 

The ink reminds me of Noodler's Widowmaker ink.

[Phormula]

Well, considering that princes and kings in the past were quite on the easy side to declate wars, which left many widowes among the soldiers, a similitude cannot be excluded...

[AnneHW]

Great review! Thanks again for the recommendation!! I really like the Diamine inks I've used, so far. But as I've used more inks, I've gotten a little bit fussier. I like that this one cleans up nicely, too.

[entropydave]

Red is the primary color I use in my pens (c. 80%) and Monaco Red is my primary red. If I only had to have one, that would be it. I have something inked with it at all times.

 

If you're in the UK, The Writing Desk used to do, perhaps still does, 100ml plastic bottles of Monaco Red at a very good price.

 

I've never had any problems with cleaning Monaco Red nor with staining of plastic nor with clogging.

 

Great ink.

 

I'm glad to read a review with a similar enthusiasm,

David.

[Newjelan]

Thanks for the review. I agree with you and this is the only red ink I like (& own).

[Phormula]

Thanks for the words of appreciation.

 

When I saw the large number of reviews of this ink I was actually thinking not to write mine.

There was already plenty of information. Then I thought that maybe people are not only interested in knowing about shade, flow and lubrication, but also like to read a story, and my inks sometimes have pretty good ones behind.