5 Best Diamine Inks

[chromantic]

Diamines I liked enough to continue using? Macassar, Yellow, Ruby, Wild Strawberry.

[888007888]

Ancient Copper

Bilberry

Autumn Oak

Majestic Blue

Terracotta

[JakobS]

Umber

Tyrian Purple

Safari

Monaco Red

Chocolate or Gray

Edited March 27, 2017 by JakobS

[noddle]

Terracotta (the 150th anniversary ink in the triangular bottle). Love it!

[Technomancer]

In no particular order:

 

Red Dragon

Sargasso Sea

Sherwood Green

Autumn Oak

Blue Lightning

[rosa_m]

Coral is adorable .

[SashK]

The list is much longer because Diamine has too many winners. But here's a list where I just stopped at 5*. These are among my can't do withouts (but again, there are way more on my list)

 

1. 150th Silver Fox (come on people, must I count the ways)

2. Emerald Green (pale to super saturated, easy easy easy to clean, super shading to low shading, nice on any paper color, no sheen no matter it doesn't need it)

3. Midnight Hour (very underrated new blue black on par with the Kobe inks we all rave about, but with a more traditional coppery red sheen)

4. Jalur Gemilang (wild wild wild, the companion purple is also a winner, but save that for another list)

5. Majestic Blue (classic, any of their blues will work through, there are like 30 shades)

6. And the list goes on and on and on....

 

 

 

 

 

*5.1. Music set Wagner (Yes, you're missing out on this murky ink. Up there with Sailor 970, Kobe 22, Iroshizuku Ina-ho, R&K Alt-Goldgrun, Diamine Safari, but rarely mentioned. Put it in a pen and see what happens.)

Edited August 14, 2020 by Sashku

[aurore]

As for the colour - Diamine Oxford Blue, as for the behaviour - Diamine Midnight Blue.

[Tas]

My favourites, ie Id never like be without a bottle of each - no particular order.

Ancient Copper
Misty Blue
Prussian Blue
Salamander
Chopin (music collection)
Indigo. How could I forget Indigo?!

Edited August 14, 2020 by Tas

[minddance]

What? Only 5 allowed? This is a most difficult post

 

Midnight, Denim, Ancient Copper, Royal Blue, Chocolate Brown, Graphite, Grey, Green Black, Evergreen, Blood Orange, Teal, Oxblood, Matador, Wild Strawberry, Macassar, Bilberry, Lilac Night, Majestic Blue, Blue Velvet, Oxford Blue, Exlipse, Damson, Scribble Purple, 5 already?

[TMLee]

has anyone did a collation of most mentioned colours thus far ?

 

may be that would be an indicator of some sort ...

[Uncial]

Ancient Copper

Oxblood

Asa Blue

Blaze Orange

Autumn Oak

 

 

Diamine do a great range of red and burgundy. I always seem to return to them when looking for these colour ranges.

[Kursaal]

Eau De Nil

Amazing Amethyst

Aurora borealis

Meadow

Misty Blue

 

On another day it could be five different Diamine inks.

[inkstainedruth]

I'm with minddance -- I'd trouble limiting the list to only 5.... And that wouldn't be counting stuff like their Shimmer ink or their special collections (I don't have the Music series, but I talked my husband into getting me -- well, okay, talked him letting me get -- the Flower Collection for Christmas.

But I could come up with five great Diamine inks without batting an eye or ranging away from blues and blue blacks....

So.... (taking a deep breath);

Blues/Blue blacks -- Oxford Blue, Flower Collection Aster, Flower Collection Cornflower, Anniversary Collection Tudor Blue, Anniversary Collection Regency Blue, (although I don't have a full bottle) Denim, Eclipse.

Everything else (not counting shimmer inks) -- Emerald, Classic Red, Tyrian Purple, Damson, Grey, Earl Grey, Turquoise, Havasu Turquoise, Anniversary Collection Terra Cotta; Macassar, Flower Collection Carnation.

Mind you, there are a lot I haven't tried.... And some I didn't like at all when I tried them (Registrar's Blue Black, Salamander, Presidenial Blue, Flower Collection Marigold, Flower Collection Tulip; I liked the color of Sargasso Seas, but it had bad problems with clogging).

Leaving the shimmer inks off the list because I haven't tried a lot of them (whether you like that type of ink is a matter of YMMV for behavior; and I tend (for all brands of that type of ink) to consider them on the basis of the base color first.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

The "problem" I see is that the O.P. (who hasn't been back since April 2016) was asking about two different and almost inherently mutually exclusive things, by titling the discussion "5 best Diamine inks", but asking in his/her opening post,

If you had to choose 5 diamine inks to represent the brand what would you choose?

If I chose five of the best, and probably five rather similar inks at that, out of Diamine's range of several hundred, surely that would not be representative of the brand insofar was whether fellow hobbyists can trust their choices of ink colours to behave and/or satisfy in the same way? It certainly wouldn't give anyone an overview of what Diamine's products are like, but only what is possible.

 

Anyway...

 

If I were to "recommend" five Diamine inks for someone not familiar with the brand to try, I'd probably suggest:

1. Jalur Gemilang, which is my favourite Diamine ink

2. Iridescink Philip (even though Christine is my personal favourite out of the Diamine Iridescinks)

3. Registrar's blue-black, which I have only just ordered yesterday and never used, because it would be interesting to see how Diamine does iron-gall

4. Arabian Nights, although there are many other inks in the Diamine Shimmer-tastic range that are arguably just as good

5. Salamander, for a colour-shifter

Edited August 17, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[Jarod]

If I were to "recommend" five Diamine inks for someone not familiar with the brand to try, I'd probably suggest:

 

2. Iridescink Philip (even though Christine is my personal favourite out of the Diamine inks)

 

Since Christine is your favourite, what characteristics make you favour Philip as a recommendation over Christine? Perhaps, is Philip too close to Jalur Gemilang?

[A Smug Dill]

@Jarod Actually, it's because Christine is blue-black with red sheen, and the dark base colour would be somewhat close to Registrar's and Arabian Nights, while the red sheen part is reminiscent of Jalur Gemilang. Among the Iridescinks, it's Maureen that's closest to JG (and several fellow hobbyists have already posted direct comparisons of those two, alongside Skull & Roses as well in some cases, if I recall correctly), but I like JG better than either Maureen or the Germany exclusive Skull & Roses because JG is lighter in colour, more teal and more distinct, but not nearly as teal as Aurora Borealis (which I also like; nothing wrong with that one).

So it was going to be between Philip and Robert, and I like Philip better because it's darker and slightly less sheeny, which makes it more usable for daily writing. I don't actually mind Iridescink Robert myself, but I prefer Sailor Kujukuri Coast hamanasu and Shikiori okuyama for that sort of colour and with some (noticeable, but less garish) sheen.

Edited August 17, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[Jarod]

@A Smug Dill - ah! I see what you mean. A picture is worth a 1000 words: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348774-cult-pens-philip-exclusive-ink-by-diamine/

[TSherbs]

Denim

Havasu

Chocolate

Imperial Purple

Majestic Purple

[evyxmsj]

Long thread! Mine are:

• Blue velvet
• Asa blue
• Bilberry
• Havasu Turquoise
• Merlot