Ink Review: Diamine Denim

[Chrissy]

Today I'm reviewing Diamine Denim

This is a saturated dark blue ink, and is a very good match for the material that it’s named after. It’s a dark denim colour. I wouldn’t quite call it blue-black, although in some pens it will look more like a blue-black ink.

It’s a darker blue than Diamine Midnight, but not as dark as Cult Pens Deep Dark Blue or Diamine 1864 Blue-Black.

It was a well behaved performer for me in two of my pens. It felt wetter and flowed better when I was using the Lamy M nib and the Parker 45 Cursive Italic nib.

*As far as show through goes, I’ve listed the papers where I saw any show through at all. However, on all but the Field Notes paper, show through was really minimal and I would find it acceptable to write on the reverse sides of all of these papers. Scanning really seems to accentuate any possible show through.

• Flow Rate: Good. Much wetter in the Lamy Al-star with M nib.
• Lubrication: Good with both Parker and Lamy M nibs I used.
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: Saturated.
• Shading Potential: Shading seen.
• Sheen: None seen.
• Show-Through*:
  • Apica Paper
  • Midori Paper
  • Rhodia Graph Paper
  • Tomoe River 52gsm paper
  • Tomoe River 68gsm paper
  • Field Notes
  • Hobonichi Techo
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over 1 week in the pen
• Staining (pen): Not seen after several days - easy clean-up
• Staining (hands): Not seen - Easy clean-up
• Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
• Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof. Not particularly water resistant although some remains. I left it soaking in during the time it took me to have a shower.
• Availability: Available from Diamine Inks web-site and many other outlets.

[senzen]

Great review, thank you! I really like this shade of blue.

[namrehsnoom]

An appealing blue - I like what I see. Thanks for showing it to us!

[Chrissy]

Great review, thank you! I really like this shade of blue.

 

You're welcome. I got a couple of other blue samples that include Indigo and Prussian Blue. However, when looking for comparison inks for Diamine Denim, both of those inks looked different to how I imagined, in that neither of them seems similarly saturated. For me Denim is certainly one of the stand out blue inks from the samples I decided to try this time.

[Chrissy]

An appealing blue - I like what I see. Thanks for showing it to us!

You're welcome. (Maybe I went a bit overboard with the number of different papers. )

[lapis]

Thanks for the good review. I've always loved this ink inasmuch as it is one of the truly rare examples of an colour which actually hits the nail on the head (where my imagination is). Immediately.

PS: As re the number of papers (and/or ink comparisons) you never can go overboard.

[Bluey]

Nice review, Chrissy, as always! I do rather like this ink as it has that muted/understated quality that I like. According to my notes it's not quite a favourite, giving it 4/5 so it's not quite there. I've given 3/5 for shading and 4/5 for wetness/dryness, which roughly agrees with what you have.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I got a bottle of this several years ago when I was trying to match the blue-black ink that came out of an Esterbrook pen I found in the wild (Denim was spot on for color match, but didn't give quite the same shading).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TSherbs]

I already own and like this ink.

[fugel]

My favorite, top one blue-black ink, after years trying many blue-blacks. I always have a pen charged with it.

Thanks Chrissy

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the good review. I've always loved this ink inasmuch as it is one of the truly rare examples of an colour which actually hits the nail on the head (where my imagination is). Immediately.

PS: As re the number of papers (and/or ink comparisons) you never can go overboard.

 

You're welcome, and thanks for the advice.

[Chrissy]

Nice review, Chrissy, as always! I do rather like this ink as it has that muted/understated quality that I like. According to my notes it's not quite a favourite, giving it 4/5 so it's not quite there. I've given 3/5 for shading and 4/5 for wetness/dryness, which roughly agrees with what you have.

You're welcome. Some might say that Denim doesn't quite hit the wow factor like Majestic Blue does for it's sheen.

[Bluey]

You're welcome. Some might say that Denim doesn't quite hit the wow factor like Majestic Blue does for it's sheen.

I don't know, sheen doesn't do it for me and, according to my chart, I put Majestic Blue in the boring box with a score of 3.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the review. I got a bottle of this several years ago when I was trying to match the blue-black ink that came out of an Esterbrook pen I found in the wild (Denim was spot on for color match, but didn't give quite the same shading).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

You're welcome.

[Chrissy]

My favorite, top one blue-black ink, after years trying many blue-blacks. I always have a pen charged with it.

 

Thanks Chrissy

You're welcome.

[rollerboy]

I was very impressed with Diamine Denim. I find it a satisfyingly saturated subdued dark blue. Maybe it's the pens I've used the two inks in but I wouldn't describe Denim as darker than Midnight. I found Denim a little lighter and a little less blue than Midnight.

 

(Rant mode on)

One of the things I like about Denim is it *doesn't* sheen. It's time to speak out against the scourge of sheening inks. Sheen is *glare*. It is not a good thing. I've got nothing against a manufacturer making a couple of sheening inks for those who find it visually amusing but the reality is sheen is glare and reduces off angle legibility. If every ink sheens it's similar to a director who decides every outdoor shot in a film needs lens flare ... it just gets annoying.

(/Rant mode off)

[Chrissy]

I was very impressed with Diamine Denim. I find it a satisfyingly saturated subdued dark blue. Maybe it's the pens I've used the two inks in but I wouldn't describe Denim as darker than Midnight. I found Denim a little lighter and a little less blue than Midnight.

 

(Rant mode on)

One of the things I like about Denim is it *doesn't* sheen. It's time to speak out against the scourge of sheening inks. Sheen is *glare*. It is not a good thing. I've got nothing against a manufacturer making a couple of sheening inks for those who find it visually amusing but the reality is sheen is glare and reduces off angle legibility. If every ink sheens it's similar to a director who decides every outdoor shot in a film needs lens flare ... it just gets annoying.

(/Rant mode off)

 

I swabbed Denim and Midnight and Midnight looked slightly lighter to my old eyes. Maybe to put it more accurately, slightly brighter? There's not much in it though.

 

Some users seem to be more interested in sheen than others, and some might even be obsessed about it. I only mention whether it has any or not in case some wish to know that information. Like you, I didn't see any sheen while using Denim.

[alexander_k]

 

I swabbed Denim and Midnight and Midnight looked slightly lighter to my old eyes. Maybe to put it more accurately, slightly brighter? There's not much in it though.

 

Some users seem to be more interested in sheen than others, and some might even be obsessed about it. I only mention whether it has any or not in case some wish to know that information. Like you, I didn't see any sheen while using Denim.

 

That seems to be the right difference, Chrissy: to my eyes Midnight is brighter (or bluer) than the greyer Denim. They're quite close in many respects, except for lubrication: Denim has made several of my pens feel considerably drier than Midnight. Consequently, I tend to use Denim in real gushers, losing any shading in the process. I've yet to find the ideal pen for it.

[eharriett]

I was curious about this one. My favorite ink, bar none, is my bottle of Sailor Vintage Denim. Was really hard for me to get a bottle of it, and I am so afraid of being without it again at some point in my life I wished I had gotten a second one. This color is not quite the same. A bit more Levi and less Jordache, as it were But from your review I think it is correctly named.

[Chrissy]

I was curious about this one. My favorite ink, bar none, is my bottle of Sailor Vintage Denim. Was really hard for me to get a bottle of it, and I am so afraid of being without it again at some point in my life I wished I had gotten a second one. This color is not quite the same. A bit more Levi and less Jordache, as it were But from your review I think it is correctly named.

 

It's interesting to consider where one should draw the line between dark blue inks and blue-black inks and for sure denim jeans can be dark blue or blue-black. I would call Sailor (Pen & Message) Vintage Denim a blue-black shade, but I think of inks like Diamine Denim, Diamine Midnight and Mb JFK as dark blue. Perhaps it's just the level of greyness/almost black that's the deciding factor.

My regular denim jeans from the UK are bought from Marks & Spencer and Diamine Denim is a good colour match for them.