Diamine Flower Set

[lgsoltek]

Currently Diamine has two box sets of inks: the Music Set and the Flower Set. Visvamitra has a great comparison of the former. Personally I find the Music Set colours too gloomy. I prefer the bright colours of the Flower Set. Check out the following links for my individual review of these 10 inks:

• Aster
• Bougainvillea
• Burgundy Rose
• Carnation
• Cornflower
• Gerbera
• Iris
• Marigold
• Pansy
• Tulip

Box

The inks come in a sturdy box, separated by some cheap-looking black paper. Sometimes it's very difficult to take out one bottle because it's too tight.

Labels

Each label features an image of the corresponding flower.

Splash

Scanned images.

Now to writing samples. Except stated otherwise, they are all written with a Pilot Elabo/Falcon Soft Medium.

Samples

(On Maruman Looseleaf)

(On Rhodia Dotpad)

(On some cheap no-name notebook paper)

Now with dip pen nibs. With a lot of ink put on paper, the colours are richer and show more sheen.

(Speedball 3mm nib, on Maruman Looseleaf)

(Speedball, on Tomoe River white paper)

(Speedball 3mm and Zebra G, on Tomoe River ivory paper)

(Folded nib, on Maruman Looseleaf)

Sheen

(Photo taken in sunlight, from the Tomoe River ivory paper sample.)

Water Resistance

(before: Maruman Looseleaf)

(after)

Comparison

(with some similar (or not) colours)

To conclude

My impression of these inks in short:
Aster: too pale in writing for my taste, but decent for dipping.
Bougainvillea: I love how bright it is.
Burgundy Rose: decent.
Carnation: a freaky and weird colour with strange sheen, love it.
Cornflower: an okay blue with quite a lot of sheen, stains!
Gerbera: nice shading, a bit dry for my taste (?)
Iris: lovely blurple, stains.
Marigold: not bad, but somewhat dry (?)
Pansy: rich purple, love it, except that it stains.
Tulip: meh, not saturated enough.

I love: Bougainvillea, Carnation, Pansy, Iris.
I don't like: Tulip, Aster.
The rest are ok.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Lgsoltek

[visvamitra]

Stunning presentation Thank you.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for doing the comparison.
I'll admit that my vote is a little skewed because I haven't tried all of the set: I still have Pansy, Iris, Marigold and Gerbera to go. I suspect the latter two I will NOT like (well, reserving judgment on Marigold).

My favorites were Aster, Cornflower and Carnation, and rather liked Bougainvillea as well; still trying to make up my mind about Burgundy Rose. Did not like Tulip at all, though -- too orange-y a red for my taste.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[darazs]

Thanks for presentation.

 

I doubt that i would ever go for one of those colors - somehow flowers are so beautiful in nature that any ink is a poor shot at playing God (... Hum loaded comment, but not under my keyboard!).

 

Anyway, forgetting the flowers association, i'd go for Maridgold, even if as a color it's a little too orangy. Still my number one on that list.

[The Good Captain]

I've always loved the Cornflower. Lovely.

[lapis]

Excellent comparisons. Thank you very much for such a fine piece of art and research here! Especially your choice of other brands' inks like Iroshis is a real harvest!

The colours of the flowers are self-indicative, ranging from "right on" down to at least "pretty close to what I have in my own garden". Some of the actual colours in the Music series really appeal to me but I'm then faced with the problem... "Why on earth is Beethoven Green, but Wagner yellow?" etc. There, I see absolutely zero connection. If at least the remotest connection had been carved out like Vivaldi being red (because he had red hair) or Scriabin (who is, yes, not among those ten) being black because of his well-known piano sonata called "The Black Mass"... well, then....

 

Mike

[Diderot]

Superb, thank you.

[BayesianPrior]

Great comparison! Thank you!

 

Could you elaborate on the staining behaviour of Cornflower please? It looks like it might be a close relation of Sargasso Sea...

Edited April 27, 2016 by BayesianPrior

[lgsoltek]

Great comparison! Thank you!

 

Could you elaborate on the staining behaviour of Cornflower please? It looks like it might be a close relation of Sargasso Sea...

I only used it once. It was in the pen for about a week I guess, and the Pilot converter is stained blue. It could be removed with mild soap water though. I don't have any experience with Sargasso Sea.

[BayesianPrior]

I only used it once. It was in the pen for about a week I guess, and the Pilot converter is stained blue. It could be removed with mild soap water though. I don't have any experience with Sargasso Sea.

 

Many thanks. This is the same behaviour that has been noted for Sargasso Sea. I wonder if I'll ever find a deep, true blue, highly saturated, with great sheen...and low maintenance.

[cellardoor04]

Thank you for the excellent comparison. I bought a 30ml bottle of Marigold and came to the same conclusion as you, it is very dry. I put it in a Pelikan M800 with a B nib and it could barely write! Diamine Autumn Oak flowed really well, in comparison. Not sure what I'd do with my Marigold now, but oh well. It's a beautiful colour nonetheless!

[oregano]

Thank you for the excellent comparison. I bought a 30ml bottle of Marigold and came to the same conclusion as you, it is very dry. I put it in a Pelikan M800 with a B nib and it could barely write! Diamine Autumn Oak flowed really well, in comparison. Not sure what I'd do with my Marigold now, but oh well. It's a beautiful colour nonetheless!

 

How did you get an individual bottle, Nyx? I've heard people say they sell special edition inks from sets individually but I emailed Diamine multiple times to order a bottle of Diamine Wagner and never got a response...

 

I would love to get a bottle of Gerbera or Tulip, for instance, they're so intriguing...

Edited April 29, 2016 by paloma32

[DrDebG]

Outstanding review and very impressive display of calligraphy! I have never been very fond of the unpredicatability of Diamine inks, but I might just have to give these a try.

[lgsoltek]

How did you get an individual bottle, Nyx? I've heard people say they sell special edition inks from sets individually but I emailed Diamine multiple times to order a bottle of Diamine Wagner and never got a response...

 

I would love to get a bottle of Gerbera or Tulip, for instance, they're so intriguing...

 

 

Diamine sells them in individual 30ml plastic bottles on their site.

[lgsoltek]

Thank you for the excellent comparison. I bought a 30ml bottle of Marigold and came to the same conclusion as you, it is very dry. I put it in a Pelikan M800 with a B nib and it could barely write! Diamine Autumn Oak flowed really well, in comparison. Not sure what I'd do with my Marigold now, but oh well. It's a beautiful colour nonetheless!

 

There are a few threads on how to make an ink wetter, like this one: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/268124-inky-t-o-d-improving-ink-flow-make-a-dry-writing-ink-wetter-or-help-ignition-problems/?p=3016908

 

Basically you add a tiny trace amount of surfactant, like Photo-flo or dishsoap, into the ink.

Try in a small sample first! It's easy to overdo it and the ink will drip from your pen!

[lgsoltek]

Outstanding review and very impressive display of calligraphy! I have never been very fond of the unpredicatability of Diamine inks, but I might just have to give these a try.

 

Thank you! I agree that Diamine inks don't have a uniform behaviour, like Sailor inks.

[cellardoor04]

How did you get an individual bottle, Nyx? I've heard people say they sell special edition inks from sets individually but I emailed Diamine multiple times to order a bottle of Diamine Wagner and never got a response...

 

I would love to get a bottle of Gerbera or Tulip, for instance, they're so intriguing...

 

As LgSoltek said, Diamine sells them on their site. However, I got mine from La Couronne Du Comte. I asked Dennis (the owner) if he would be able to order a 30ml bottle of Marigold refill to add to my order, and he did it with no qualms! Now I wish I had added Aster instead

[amberleadavis]

LG, this was amazing. Thank you. I liked the series. Burgundy Rose wasn't my favorite, but it is a dead ringer for Hitchcock which I had used my entire bottle. So, that worked out fine. I was glad you warned me about the staining of Pansy.

[oregano]

 

As LgSoltek said, Diamine sells them on their site. However, I got mine from La Couronne Du Comte. I asked Dennis (the owner) if he would be able to order a 30ml bottle of Marigold refill to add to my order, and he did it with no qualms! Now I wish I had added Aster instead

 

Thanks! nice to know that the stores can order them too, I hadn't thought of that.

[amberleadavis]

BTW, the more of these I use, the more I like Cornflower.