Diamine Twilight - Is This The Right Color?

[Intensity]

Just got my order of various Diamine inks and tested them really quick on two different papers with thin single-use sticks (please forgive the chicken scratch, it's hard to write with those thin sticks). Diamine Twilight was a surprise. It's nothing like the many photographs and scans of it that I've seen on-line. Everything else is mostly as expected.

 

Does this look right for Twilight or did I get a mislabeled bottle (or an odd batch):

 

 

My Twilight is very gray and kind of desaturated. I was expecting something like a darker and more green Tsuki-Yo. I would venture to call it a tinted gray, like Graphite is murky green-tinted gray, and my Twilight is teal-murky-green tinted gray.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Intensity

[Uncial]

Looks about right to me

[Sailor Kenshin]

My Twilight is a deep blue-black-teal. And I just used it yesterday. Has the formula changed?

[Intensity]

Looks about right to me

 

 

My Twilight is a deep blue-black-teal. And I just used it yesterday. Has the formula changed?

 

Hmm. The deep, saturated blue-black-teal is what I expected. What I got is low in saturation, heavy on gray, and kind of murky-green-teal.

 

This is what I expected:

 

 

But it's not what mine looks like at all.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Intensity

[Intensity]

Here's a better representation of my Twilight -- you can see it's close to J. Herbin's Vert de Gris in color saturation, just a bit different in hue. The Signo blue-black gel is very close to my Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo, a tad more saturated than Tsuki-Yo. For reference on the kind of saturation and color family I was expecting out of Twilight, based on others' photographs. Did not expect it to be more like Vert de Gris. It's actually even more green than Vert de Gris.

(P.S.: made a mistake with the date--was supposed to be March 2, of course).

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Intensity

[Jadie]

Looks about right coming from a fine tipped nib like that. In my experience the deeper color shows in wider nibs and next to less blue tinted inks. The green isnt noticeable until you have Twilight side by side with a bluer teal.

[Intensity]

The pen it's in is medium-tipped and a wet writer. But I did add a droplet of ink near the writing to show how it looks when highly concentrated. I won't see that amount in normal writing unless I put it in a really wet writing pen gushing out ink or dump droplets of ink onto paper. I've also added a similar droplet of Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo to show an actual saturated teal-leaning blue-black, similar to what's shown on Goulet.com and other places for Twilight, but a bit more blue.

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Intensity

[A Smug Dill]

Aside: Anyone who thinks the Jinhao 992 is essentially the same as the Monteverde Monza, in spite of the latter having a Monteverde-branded nib, is badly misguided.

[Eclipse157]

Looks very much like my own twilight, also close to R&K verdigris. I was suprised at how green it goes when drying, the wet line is much bluer.

 

Edit: maybe try mixing with a deep pure blue? Like sargasso sea or majestic?

Edited March 3, 2020 by Eclipse157

[mhguda]

If you're unhappy with the bottle, write to Diamine.

Some years ago, I bought a batch of those 30ml bottles, from a store that was going out of business (I bought it online), one of which was Prussian blue, and I was very disappointed. I wrote directly to Diamine, explaining I was unhappy with that particular ink, and they sent me a new bottle. That was closer to what I expected. I think you may have gotten a slightly off bottle. It seems that sometimes, that happens.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Hmm. The deep, saturated blue-black-teal is what I expected. What I got is low in saturation, heavy on gray, and kind of murky-green-teal.

 

This is what I expected:

 

 

But it's not what mine looks like at all.

That's mine all right.

[Intensity]

So it looks like there are two varieties in the wild: one like mine and one like A Smug Dill's and Sailor Kenshin's--the one I was expecting.

I'll write to Diamine and ask about the difference, and which version should be the correct recent color.

 

Edit: I did write to Diamine!

Edited March 3, 2020 by Intensity

[Uncial]

Mine isn't like that deep teal in the picture from Anderson's Pens. I'm jealous.

[Tas]

Mine, albeit six years ago, was a LOT more saturated than others have shown here.
I much prefer the "newer" version

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_diamine_twilight.jpg

[sombrueil]

Mine is very like Sailor Yamadori. It's quite wet, and in my fine flex nibs it is nearly black, teal-black. It is not gray at all. Like Tas'.

 

My bottle is probably six years old or so too.

Edited March 3, 2020 by sombrueil

[Intensity]

Well, even though this ink is not at all what I expected, I ended up loving it! It is super nice to write with, and I love the hue range, especially on cream and ivory paper. Great for writing with, great for sketching, great for drawing. Check out the cool constituent hues: from turquoise to teal, to gray, to even a murky pink color! All fitting twilight colors.

 

[mhguda]

Funny how an ink can grow on you...

And shown this way, it doesn't look so bad to me either.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Ooo...I like what's going on with the chroma.

[DianaMurray]

On 3/3/2020 at 1:36 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Aside: Anyone who thinks the Jinhao 992 is essentially the same as the Monteverde Monza, in spite of the latter having a Monteverde-branded nib, is badly misguided.

 

That is what I heard on a YouTube video.... if you're saying no, I feel a tad better. 

 

But let's hear your reasoning. Because right now I don't know who to believe.

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, DianaMurray said:

But let's hear your reasoning.

 

I'm pretty sure I already gave my reasoning, in that other thread on the same page of posts (ten replies below) where you told us about your woes.

 

On 12/23/2020 at 10:38 AM, A Smug Dill said:

The nib on the Monteverde Monza is much, much better than the one on the stock Jinhao 992, though, in my experience.

 

The Jinhao 992's nib is not fit for purpose as a Fine nib, but the Monteverde's Monza nib is. If it isn't apparent from the scan of the second sheet posted above, comparing the output of two pens that are supposedly the same in every way other than price, then there isn't really any more explaining to be done.