Ink Review: Diamine Green Umber

[Chrissy]

Today I’m reviewing a sample of Diamine Green Umber

It’s an interesting green, with added blue (and brown in the chroma test.) I think green umber is a good description of the colour. I found it had good flow while I was writing with it. I didn’t see any spread or feathering, nor any woolly line.

When I first started writing the review form I had just filled the cleaned pen. It became slightly darker in colour when left in the pen for a few hours. At first I found it looked less saturated but after a while it looked more and more saturated, especially with my broader nibs. It also exhibited nice shading that was more noticeable with the fine nib.

When I came to do ink comparison tests with other inks, I found that I didn’t have an ink that was the same colour. So it was an unusual coloured ink to write with. Green Umber is an old natural earth colour, and it fits it’s description very well.

Overall I found it behaved very well, and I like it. I didn’t experience any clogging or clean-up problems with it.

 

• This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and it has no water resistance.
• Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a quite shiny surface at 100gsm, and I used several different nibs, this ink took 12-15 secs secs to dry.
• No smear after dry.
• It exhibited good flow and I found it reasonably 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

[lgsoltek]

It looks quite lovely!

[JakobS]

Umber is in my top three favorite inks. I agree that it is an unique green that though isn't flashy, definitely stands out amidst other inks I write with.

[escribo]

Nice review, thanks!

Never thought the words "green" and "umber" could be used together, but I now see that's possible, and nicely done, I must say.

Green is not a color I use, but this appears to be a well-behaved, high performance (dry times!) ink. Maybe I'll look for another color in this line. Maybe just the umber, or burnt umber, if they have those. Actually, I did recently acquire Diamine's Burnt Sienna. I like it, but have not tested it yet, except to write with it.

 

I'm curious: What makes all your letter voids be filled in with gray on that first sheet? :B

[The Good Captain]

Thanks again, Chrissy, for another great review. I've had the original Umber for a while and never really used it much so I must dig out the bottle again. I presume that it's just a rename on Diamine's part, not a different ink.

[Chrissy]

Nice review, thanks!

Never thought the words "green" and "umber" could be used together, but I now see that's possible, and nicely done, I must say.

Green is not a color I use, but this appears to be a well-behaved, high performance (dry times!) ink. Maybe I'll look for another color in this line. Maybe just the umber, or burnt umber, if they have those. Actually, I did recently acquire Diamine's Burnt Sienna. I like it, but have not tested it yet, except to write with it.

 

I'm curious: What makes all your letter voids be filled in with gray on that first sheet? :B

 

You're welcome.

 

Umber is earth consisting of hydrated oxide of iron and some oxide of manganese. In it's natural state it's used as a brown pigment but after heating it becomes more of a reddish brown pigment and is then called Burnt Umber. Green Umber is just an old alternative natural earth pigment that comes up green rather than brown..

 

Since I bought my iMac and used it with my HP printer/scanner, weirdly, when I scan my A4 sheets of apparently bright white paper, they come out a pinky grey colour. I like them to be white, so that if I've made a spelling mistake in the document, I can easily erase it.

 

In Photoshop I have found a couple of ways to make my paper white. One is by using the Magic Wand tool, and the other is by using the Layer Curves tool. I found that the Layer Curves tool also changes the colour of the ink whereas the Magic Wand tool does not. However, irritatingly, that tool misses all of the letter voids. Sometimes I go through and Magic Wand each one separately. Sometimes, I don't.

[Chrissy]

Thanks again, Chrissy, for another great review. I've had the original Umber for a while and never really used it much so I must dig out the bottle again. I presume that it's just a rename on Diamine's part, not a different ink.

You're welcome.

 

I can imagine that because Umber is understood to be brown, the name of this ink may have caused some confusion. So Diamine renamed it Green Umber last year. It sounds like a logical move. I never had a bottle called Umber, so I don't know for certain what colour it was, but I wouldn't have expected it to be green.

 

(Off Topic: In ceramic restoration Green Earth (green umber) is one of the most frequently used colour pigments. In order to make many accurate skin tones you have to add it to ochre (yellow) and black. I once bought a bag full (fine powder) from Kremer pigments while I was in Florida. Not surprisingly, TSA in Miami searched that suitcase when I left. Fortunately, the bag was clearly labelled as Green Earth pigment, and I put the large A4 receipt for it right on the top of everything in my suitcase. )

[The Good Captain]

 

I can imagine that because Umber is understood to be brown, the name of this ink may have caused some confusion. So Diamine renamed it Green Umber last year. It sounds like a logical move. I never had a bottle called Umber, so I don't know for certain what colour it was, but I wouldn't have expected it to be green.

 

Well, the original Umber is/was the same shade of green that the new one is, based on your colour in the review, and, of course, my monitor. Someone once likened it to US Dollar green or the old £1 note! I actually compared both, and it's pretty close.

[Chrissy]

Well, the original Umber is/was the same shade of green that the new one is, based on your colour in the review, and, of course, my monitor. Someone once likened it to US Dollar green or the old £1 note! I actually compared both, and it's pretty close.

 

The US dollar green (or the old UK £1 note) is a great likeness for this colour. Thank you. I wish I had thought of that.

[Chrissy]

It looks quite lovely!

 

I was very pleasantly surprised when I started writing with it.

[Trom]

One of my favourite greens. Time to use it again. Nice review!

[escribo]

 

You're welcome.

 

Since I bought my iMac and used it with my HP printer/scanner, weirdly, when I scan my A4 sheets of apparently bright white paper, they come out a pinky grey colour. I like them to be white, so that if I've made a spelling mistake in the document, I can easily erase it.

 

In Photoshop I have found a couple of ways to make my paper white. One is by using the Magic Wand tool, and the other is by using the Layer Curves tool. I found that the Layer Curves tool also changes the colour of the ink whereas the Magic Wand tool does not. However, irritatingly, that tool misses all of the letter voids. Sometimes I go through and Magic Wand each one separately. Sometimes, I don't.

Aaah of course, the magic wand tool. It won't jump over color boundaries.

Thanks, ^esc

[vojtahlad]

 

Sometimes I go through and Magic Wand each one separately. Sometimes, I don't.

 

How about using "Select/Similar"?

 

http://makeitcg.com/select-similar-photoshop/1582/

Edited March 12, 2017 by vojtahlad

[Chrissy]

 

How about using "Select/Similar"?

 

http://makeitcg.com/select-similar-photoshop/1582/

 

Thank you, I will read it through and try to work it out. I have old Photoshop CS6 Extended not the latest, all singing , all dancing, pay monthly version. I know some bells and whistles aren't available to me, but I bought this version and I don't feel like paying monthly forever at the moment. As you are now probably aware, I don't know how to use most of it.

[Chrissy]

I have been and tried it and it works. Thank you. I will use it in future. It's particularly good on the water test box.

[vojtahlad]

I gladly helped. Selecting in Photoshop is a big topic, there are probably books about it. I would say this situation is a bit similar to selecting hair in a photograph. You can find a lot of guides using various techniques and tools.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHHwytbnlI uses the Refine Edge which should be available in CS6. Background eraser used in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0l_Wa27Eo should be available too. Just find the way which best suits your needs.

[Chrissy]

I gladly helped. Selecting in Photoshop is a big topic, there are probably books about it. I would say this situation is a bit similar to selecting hair in a photograph. You can find a lot of guides using various techniques and tools.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHHwytbnlI uses the Refine Edge which should be available in CS6. Background eraser used in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0l_Wa27Eo should be available too. Just find the way which best suits your needs.

 

Thank you. I should look online for tutorials.

[Bluey]

Nice review, Chrissy!

I really enjoy this ink as it is a member of that species of understated/muted/earthy colours that I adore. Such inks often have great shading, a quality I appreciate.

[Chrissy]

Nice review, Chrissy!

I really enjoy this ink as it is a member of that species of understated/muted/earthy colours that I adore. Such inks often have great shading, a quality I appreciate.

 

You're welcome. yes understated/muted/earthy is a very good description of Green Umber. This one does have very good shading too.

[DrDebG]

Really great review!

 

I have to admit that I really like this color, even though I do not care for "dark, complex, murky" greens, as many of my inky brethren do. I prefer more "joyous" greens. But, I do like this and am adding it to my list.