Ink Review: Diamine Imperial Blue

[Chrissy]

Today I’m reviewing a sample of Diamine Imperial Blue

Diamine Imperial Blue was first produced in 2005 as a limited edition to mark the 25th Anniversary of the formation of the Writing Equipment Society. The first batch had a special 25th Anniversary silver label as well as the usual Diamine label. At the end of 2006 the ink went on general sale, but was still labelled "WES" for "Writing Equipment Society". It is now part of the Diamine standard ink range and is called Imperial Blue.

I found it a nicely flowing ink that was neither wet nor dry. It’s lubrication felt very slightly drier than some other inks I’ve reviewed recently, but it was still good enough while I was writing with both of the pens I used.

I didn’t see any spread or feathering on most of the papers I tried it with.

With broader nibs it looks considerably more saturated than it did with finer nibs.

It showed through on some of the papers I experimented with. See the pictures.

I found it behaved very well. I didn’t experience any clogging problems with it. Clean-up was slightly more difficult than some because it’s a blue-violet ink, but it still washed off hands with soap and water.

It was quite water resistant

 

• This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, but shows good water resistance.
• Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a quite shiny surface at 100gsm, and I used a M nib, this ink dried quickly after just 10-12 seconds.
• No smear after dry.
• It has good flow. 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.

[Miaxina]

Thank you for the review!

[lgsoltek]

Looks like a nice daily colour.

[Diderot]

Another nice review, thank you.

[inkstainedruth]

I almost got a sample of this when I was ordering a bunch of inks a couple of weeks ago, but didn't because I was mostly getting harder to find inks, and these days Diamine is pretty standard. Now you've made me wish I had.

Thanks for the review -- and not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Chrissy]

  On 4/25/2017 at 11:45 AM, Miaxina said:

Thank you for the review!

 

 

  On 4/25/2017 at 6:24 PM, Diderot said:

Another nice review, thank you.

 

You're both very welcome.

[Chrissy]

  On 4/25/2017 at 12:57 PM, Lgsoltek said:

Looks like a nice daily colour.

yes, I think you're right.

[Chrissy]

  On 4/25/2017 at 7:39 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I almost got a sample of this when I was ordering a bunch of inks a couple of weeks ago, but didn't because I was mostly getting harder to find inks, and these days Diamine is pretty standard. Now you've made me wish I had.

Thanks for the review -- and not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

You're welcome.

 

I suppose Imperial Blue was harder to find when it was a WES LE, but now it's a standard range ink, so presumably it's as available as the other inks.

 

Maybe next time?

[Lexus77]

Very informative review, showed me just what I needed to know. Thanks.

[antichresis]

Thank you for the review! It's definitely on my "cart" but I have..four bottles in the same colour family to go if we're being all logical about ink buying.

[Lexus77]

  On 4/26/2017 at 1:26 AM, antichresis said:

Thank you for the review! It's definitely on my "cart" but I have..four bottles in the same colour family to go if we're being all logical about ink buying.

Why would you want to be logical about ink buying anyway?

[PS104]

Thank you for the review

Definitely on my blue short list

[zchen]

Interesting, the sample I got looked more purple than that, makes me wonder if I got mislabeled Imperial purple instead.

[athenian]

  On 4/27/2017 at 5:14 PM, zchen said:

Interesting, the sample I got looked more purple than that, makes me wonder if I got mislabeled Imperial purple instead.

Same thing happened to me but it turned out to be Imperial Blue. Maybe you should shake the bottle a bit.

[Chrissy]

  On 4/25/2017 at 10:26 PM, Lexus77 said:

Very informative review, showed me just what I needed to know. Thanks.

 

 

  On 4/26/2017 at 1:26 AM, antichresis said:

Thank you for the review! It's definitely on my "cart" but I have..four bottles in the same colour family to go if we're being all logical about ink buying.

 

I'm definitely not logical about ink buying.

 

  On 4/27/2017 at 4:29 AM, PS104 said:

Thank you for the review

Definitely on my blue short list

 

You're all very welcome.

[TSherbs]

Thanks for the review. I especially like the pics of the reverse sides.

[Chrissy]

  On 5/9/2017 at 10:14 PM, TSherbs said:

Thanks for the review. I especially like the pics of the reverse sides.

 

You're welcome That's good to know.

[JulieParadise]

For the #50shadesofbluechallenge (link to the hashtag on Instagram), a challenge over at the German PenExchange forum for July & August 2020, I inked up all my pens with all the 50+ blue inks I have. The snapshots might also be of interest to some here.

 

So, Diamine Imperial BLUE (believe me, Diamine Imperial Purple does look different, but there seems to be hardly anyone who'd still name the Imperial Blue a blue ...). You see, it got me confused so I once even wrote out "Purple" in my sample, but believe me, I had three bottles of it, two bought new, one half full was a gift, I hardly used these except for taking several ml out for samples, so contamination can also be excluded as a cause for the colour.

I had this ink in a Pilot Capless with a fine nib. No problems whatsoever.

Besides the weird colour labeling there does not seem to be too much to be said about this ink: Well behaved, easily washed out of the pen and off the page, no extreme properties, it just writes ... I had a very pleasant surprise and even some falling in love with several of the inks that I used after a longer pause for this challenge, alas, Imperial Purple might get forgotten for another half decade in my drawer. Sorry.

[lapis]

Thanks for the nice reply, Julie! This is one of those inks which I love and hate. I do admire and cherish such imperial (royal) blues with their touch of purple. Even although it does write freely (while writing, har, har) it still exhibits the occasional ignition problems. No, I don't leave the caps of my pens off for a long time and the caps do fit on tightly etc.. Maybe it -- in its gold-coloured Diamine box with the blue WES label on top -- is one of the first specimens which was later refined.

[ParramattaPaul]

I have two cartridge-filled pens filled with Diamine Imperial Blue on my desk as I type this. It ranks amongst my favourite blues. I have to say Imperial Blue looks blue (only) to me, but I must confess that I am moderately red/green colour blind (the result of 'Astigmatic Chromatism' according to my Optometrist).