Ink Review: Diamine Passion Red

[Chrissy]

My latest ink samples from Diamine include Passion Red, so that's the ink I'm reviewing today. It'a a bright red, as you would expect. It leans more towards the pinkish side of the colour spectrum than Wild Strawberry and Classic Red, and it never looks orange. If you're being romantic, maybe it looks like a red blush in the cheeks or on the neck?

Diamine Passion Red is a bright red. It's a very good performer in all of the pens and on all of the paper I tried it with. It's reasonably saturated but I don't see much shading and I saw no noticeable sheen.

It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. The flow is very good although the lubrication along a line felt a little dryer than some other reds I've tried, particularly with the Pilot F nib. The flow feels slightly wet, and some will think the dry time on my thick, shiny paper is quite long.

Although I forgot to do the water test before I scanned the main review sheet, this ink has virtually no water resistance at all. The red inky water spread quickly. This is quite common with red inks.

Nevertheless, I think it's a good bright red ink. It is very similar to Diamine Tulip from the Flowers Gift Set. Slightly less pink than Diamine Classic Red, and Diamine Ruby. More pink than Diamine Poppy Red, Caran d'Ache Infra Red and Sheaffer Skrip Red. However, it's much more saturated than those last two red inks.

With Passion Red, I see less of the dark outline around letters that sometimes shows up with other red inks from Diamine.

 

• This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and shows no noticeable water resistance.
• Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib and a Pilot F nib, this ink took 18-20 secs to dry from the M nib. No smear after dry.
• It exhibited very good flow and good lubrication and I found it smooth to write with. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.
• It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottles
• Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
• It's a reasonable price.

Chroma Test strip:

[Mr. Pink]

Very nice. Thanks. I love the black outline. As if I don't already have enough red ink!

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. If I didn't already have a bottle of Diamine Classic Red (plus bottles of Noodler's Park Red, Ackerman #19 Rood Haags Pluche, and -- if I want to go a little pinker -- De Atramentis Dante Alighieri/Ruby Red) I would be sorely tempted.

In fact, I AM sorely tempted.... I'm becoming increasingly enamored of inks which do that crisp edge shading; I keep thinking that there should be a specific term to describe it, but all I can do at the moment is say "That! I want inks which do THAT!"

Diamine Tyrian Purple is another one; and I'm still trying to find a permanent substitute for vintage Skrip Peacock (Diamine Turquoise is pretty close). And now I see that Passion Red does it....

​My wallet. My poor, poor wallet.... I really need to stop reading ink reviews....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[lapis]

Thanks for the nice review. Somehow a bit fascinating for a bright red. Vibrant but subdued. A tick of modesty. I.e. not so outspoken as Wild Strawberry or Poppy, but nonetheless attentive. I think I have to be in the right mood to really need this one.

 

Mike

[Chrissy]

Very nice. Thanks. I love the black outline. As if I don't already have enough red ink!

 

You're welcome. I had thought the outline or 'halo effect' didn't seem to show up as much as with some of my other reds. Maybe it was me.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the review. If I didn't already have a bottle of Diamine Classic Red (plus bottles of Noodler's Park Red, Ackerman #19 Rood Haags Pluche, and -- if I want to go a little pinker -- De Atramentis Dante Alighieri/Ruby Red) I would be sorely tempted.

In fact, I AM sorely tempted.... I'm becoming increasingly enamored of inks which do that crisp edge shading; I keep thinking that there should be a specific term to describe it, but all I can do at the moment is say "That! I want inks which do THAT!"

Diamine Tyrian Purple is another one; and I'm still trying to find a permanent substitute for vintage Skrip Peacock (Diamine Turquoise is pretty close). And now I see that Passion Red does it....

​My wallet. My poor, poor wallet.... I really need to stop reading ink reviews....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

You're welcome. I'm starting to wonder if maybe all of Diamine red inks have the 'halo effect' (is that a good descriptive term?) and I just notice it more on some than others.

 

Passion Red is a good name for this one.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the nice review. Somehow a bit fascinating for a bright red. Vibrant but subdued. A tick of modesty. I.e. not so outspoken as Wild Strawberry or Poppy, but nonetheless attentive. I think I have to be in the right mood to really need this one.

 

Mike

You're welcome. I like the idea of 'Vibrant but subdued'.

[bobje]

Holy smokes, that's one retina-searing ink! You need something stronger than sunglasses to use that ink. You need welding goggles!

[amberleadavis]

I like it!

[Chrissy]

I like it!

 

Me too. I like bright inks

Never had a pair of welding goggles either.

[Chrissy]

I've done a bit more with Diamine Passion Red. Here's a test on Field Notes paper, that shows some slight feathering, as is usual on Field Notes paper. Plus I've compared some of the red inks I have. I'm so ashamed to say that some of my red inks aren't on this list, because I ran out of 'page'. This notebook is some sort of thick paper that I don't know the name of.

 

Prime red examples I have, that I missed off, that come to mind are: Sailor Jentle Grenade or Oku Yuma, Graf von Faber-Castell Garnet Red, Montblanc Corn Poppy Red or Burgundy Red, Caran D'Ache Infra Red. I won't go on or I will feel even worse!

 

[inkstainedruth]

You're welcome. I'm starting to wonder if maybe all of Diamine red inks have the 'halo effect' (is that a good descriptive term?) and I just notice it more on some than others.

 

Passion Red is a good name for this one.

 

Not sure if I remember seeing it with Classic Red or not. I bought a small bottle of Matador Red, but found I didn't really like it -- a bit too orangey for me (although not as bad as the Flower Collection Tulip, which was *really* orange tinged...).

Well, on Wednesday afternoon, while running some errands after my dentist's appointment, I stopped in at Birmingham Pen Shop and picked up a 30 ml bottle of Passion Red (and a bottle of one of their custom inks). Not quite sure who to blame the brown on, but if my husband asks about the Diamine, I will definitely point him in your directions. Because it's clearly your fault.....

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth