Ink Review: Diamine Indigo

[Chrissy]

Today I'm reviewing Diamine Indigo

A pale blue-grey ink from the standard range, Diamine Indigo is an unsaturated, muted colour. I expected it to be darker but it isn’t as dark as it’s name suggests.

I filled my Lamy Safari and Parker 45 converters with it. Then left them on my table for a few days. When I went back to the pens, they started writing straight away. No hard start. Neither of them didn't skip once.

It wasn’t very saturated and felt slightly watery on my Xerox smooth Colour/Mono laser 100gsm paper. The flow was OK, certainly not wet, but I would have liked a little more lubrication on some of the papers I used.

It’s a subtle, subdued colour, that’s easy on the eyes.

It exhibited good shading and it didn’t feather or spread on any of the papers I used it with. It didn’t show through as much as more saturated inks either. Although it showed through slightly on the papers listed, it didn’t show through as much as the scans suggest.

It showed some water resistance.

If you’re a fan of muted inks that exhibit sharp, crisp lines and good shading, this could be one for you.

• Flow Rate: OK. No hard starts during my writing.
• Lubrication: OK. I would have preferred more.
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: Not at all saturated
• Shading Potential: Plenty of shading seen.
• Sheen: None noticed.
• Show-Through:
  • Field Notes
  • Hobonichi Techo paper.
  • Tomoe River 52gsm paper (not very much)
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen on any paper even Field Notes
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over 1 week in the pen
• Staining (pen): Not seen after several days - very easy clean-up
• Staining (hands): Very easy clean-up off of skin.
• Clogging: Not seen.
• Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof, but shows good resistance.
• Availability: Available from Diamine Inks web-site and many other outlets.

[lapis]

Thanks for this nice review. I'm baffled (but just a wee tiny bit). {a} I love this colour, being a bluish grey. {b} To me, the word "indigo" always meant a very dark blue, having almost the shortest wave length in a rainbow, just before violet.. Ach ja....

[minddance]

Thanks Chrissy for the review:) have a bottle of this and love this colour!

[Bluey]

Great review again! This is another fave of mine, not quite blue but not quite grey. Subtle, subdued, easy on the eye, and with excellent shading. This is like the blue version of Diamine Amazing Amethyst which is the same but towards the purple, so perhaps Indigo would be a more apt name for it..

 

 

To me, the word "indigo" always meant a very dark blue

 

I would take it to be a purpley blue

[Aysedasi]

Thanks Chrissy - great review. The colour is slightly on the dull side, but that could well make it a very good ink for me to use at work.....

Edited February 8, 2018 by Aysedasi

[Chrissy]

Thanks for this nice review. I'm baffled (but just a wee tiny bit). {a} I love this colour, being a bluish grey. {b} To me, the word "indigo" always meant a very dark blue, having almost the shortest wave length in a rainbow, just before violet.. Ach ja....

 

You're welcome. Actually I'm sitting looking at the review sheets on my desk, and the colour is growing on me, but I agree Indigo should be darker....

[Chrissy]

Thanks Chrissy for the review:) have a bottle of this and love this colour!

You're welcome. Perhaps I just have too many saturated inks.

[Chrissy]

Great review again! This is another fave of mine, not quite blue but not quite grey. Subtle, subdued, easy on the eye, and with excellent shading. This is like the blue version of Diamine Amazing Amethyst which is the same but towards the purple, so perhaps Indigo would be a more apt name for it..

 

 

I would take it to be a purpley blue

You're welcome. According to Wikipedia it seems it can be either.

[Chrissy]

Thanks Chrissy - great review. The colour is slightly on the dull side, but that could well make it a very good ink for me to use at work.....

You're welcome. If you can't use bright colours at work, then I agree, this might fit the bill.

[The Good Captain]

Thanks for this nice review. I'm baffled (but just a wee tiny bit). {a} I love this colour, being a bluish grey. {b} To me, the word "indigo" always meant a very dark blue, having almost the shortest wave length in a rainbow, just before violet.. Ach ja....

Quite agree, old campaigner. If I'd have got it wrong in my photographic career, there'd have some petty miffed people out there!

[alexander_k]

Thanks for yet another great review, Chrissy. Recently I've turned to such greyish inks because I like how they work with broad nibs.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for yet another great review, Chrissy. Recently I've turned to such greyish inks because I like how they work with broad nibs.

 

You're welcome. Yes I agree. This one performed and looked much better when I used it with my M nib and stub nib

[TheDutchGuy]

*bump*

 

There are quite a few reviews of this ink here on FPN but I bumped up the most recent one. For those who’d the summary: what an awesome ink this is!! For those who’d like a bit more context, read on.

 

As mentioned by the OP, this is indeed a subtle, subdued colour that’s very easy on the eyes. Depending on one’s reference point, it might be called ‘pale’. However, it isn’t boring in the least. This is a very rewarding, complex ink.

-very well suited for wet and/or broad nibs: a crisp, thin line that’s exactly as wide as the contact area of the nib: no spread whatsoever.

-this is one of those inks that changes colour when it dries on the page: it actually becomes less saturated! In other words, the ink in the bottle and fresh ink on the page are what one might usually be called ‘indigo’. Once dry, it becomes an intriguing shade of what might be called ‘midnight blue’.

-lots of shading, but gradual, subtle shading

-a bit of haloing

-very well-behaved

 

If you like complex blues that don’t jump out at you from the page, that will tame your broader and wetter pens and that will grow in you every time you use it, give this ink a try. It’s hard to photograph how it looks for real - it’s a very rewarding, complex ink.

 

PS I’m guessing that fans of iroshizuku shin-kai and P4001 Blue-Black will love this. I sure do.

[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.

 

Diamine Indigo is a little secret, isn't it? In the German PenExchange forum it did not even have a dedicated review although it is available for some years now. And it did even hide before my eyes, in plain sight or better: in my drawer.

Indigo I bought almost 4 years ago, used it once or twice in nibs that I would now call "inappropriate" as they were too dry, a trait that just does not reward you with fun and fanfare when it comes to inks & their colour magic.

 

So when I dug out Indigo some weeks ago for this challenge, I wanted to give it a fair chance, a nice and juicy nib. My three (each very individual) Pilot Custom Heritage 912 FA nibs always do any inks justice, so this was my choice, and, hooo0OO! What a difference! All of a sudden this ink has catapulted itself into the favourites! I should have emptied out this pen some weeks ago already to prepare for the second tier of the challenge, as I really inked up all my favourite pens and used them to write out the script you see, instead of just dipping or rushing through the inks. Indigo was refilled twice and behaved well all the time; and I am a bit sad that I had to let it go for a while to continue with the other inks I still have to go through.

Regarding the colour, I would liken it to iron gall inks after they have been on paper for a while, hours or days. Indigo has this soft and warm brownish touch to it (the pictures are not 100% colour-correct, sorry), that certain blue blacks exhibit, namely Lamy Blue Black, so it is rather a greyish blue. It is well behaved and wet enough for flexy nibs like the FA. It looks classic and subtly beautiful, has shading without being too flashy.

I am very happy to discover this forgotten treasure, and even more so as Diamine inks are (under normal circumstances) easy to acquire and quite cheap here in Berlin, where 30 ml can be had for ca. 4€ or 80 ml for ca. 10€.

[Tas]

You rascal

 

 

[TheDutchGuy]

All of a sudden this ink has catapulted itself into the favourites!

 

Same here! A wonderful ink in wet pens, understated yet complex. Freundliche Grüsse aus dem Harz!

[JulieParadise]

You rascal

 

In your pic it says you'll get your money back, so where's the problem with some free ink?

 

@TheDutchGuy: Sonnige Grüße zurück aus Berlin!

[GreenMountain]

Chrissy, thanks for the review. This is an ink I think I'd like, except that I already have Prussian Blue, which looks from your pic at the top of the page to be very close in color. Is it?