Diamine Ruby

[chromantic]

After seeing Chrissy's excellent review of Diamine Classic Red, I thought I'd put one up for Ruby. While Ruby is a bright, intense 'red' red, it's a bit darker than Classic and not quite so eye-searing.

 

It's fairly well-behaved in that it has decent flow, a tiny touch of feather, light show and light to moderate dots bleed on copy. No shading on the copy but some moderate shading on the BnR where the lighter area suggests a slight pink-ish lean. Didn't fare too well in the water drops but did better with the wet swab wipe. On copy, the ink looks about as good as Skrip red, although the Skrip color wins hands down; on better paper, Ruby retains a bit more presence and doesn't look quite as 'flat' when it dries as the Skrip does. (And, as you can see, the Skrip shows some shading even on the copy.)

 

I originally had the Ruby in a Parker Frontier F and had a bad problem with it drying out pretty quickly after a day on two if unused. Usually holding the nib against a paper towel would get it started but sometimes I'd need to swipe it under the faucet. I moved it to a Deli S668f F and that pretty much took care of the problem; now I can leave it for much longer and it usually starts right up.

 

On its own, Ruby is a lovely ink, a very 'red' red and if what you're looking for is a bright, intense red, Ruby is a good choice. I certainly enjoy taking it work on occasion.

 

Seen next to the Skrip, however, I think it suffers because the Skrip is, well ... 'wow'. But I generally prefer darker colors so take that with a grain of salt. If you're looking for bright and vibrant, go with Ruby.

 

The color in the scan and photo are both pretty accurate, I think.

 

 

Here a snip on the BnR showing the shading.

Edited July 20, 2016 by chromantic

[amberleadavis]

Oh, sorry that none of us commented on your wonderful review - you do have lots of views. Thank you for your work!

[chromantic]

Thanks, been working extra shifts so had to slow down a bit, got some upcoming things planned.

I noticed that Chrissy and I both post Ruby reviews on the same day,

[mmg122]

Very nice red. Excellent review...thanks so much, Chromantic.

[inkotheque]

I've used this red only few times for journaling but I use it on a regular basis for corrections and highlighting/notes. Great red and great review.

Never noticed the little resistance to water but this simply means till now I've been lucky

Thanks!