Diamine Inkvent (Red edition) Calendar 2021

[Uncial]

Thank you for doing this, I really enjoyed it.

[Audrey T]

On 12/30/2021 at 4:15 PM, Uncial said:

Im loving All The Best. An unusual burgundy.

It's beautiful. Depending on all the usual variables, one sees more of either the green-gold sheen or the violet shimmer effect. I like both, though I wish there were somewhat less shimmer. In writing (but it depends on how you hold it to the light), the shimmer can overpower the base color. However, if the paper isn't directly angled into the light, the glitter effect is more subtle, and nicely accentuates the red.

 

[tubular]

This has been such fun to read.  Thank you!

[PithyProlix]

Thanks very much to everyone who contributed images to this thread, especially @JulieParadise's (always) wonderful peeks! For another view, Penboutique (I'm not affiliated) has individual photos of each on their site.

This was a much more interesting set than 2019's Blue edition, at least to my tastes. Based on the online pics, here's the ones I'm most interested in and, assuming Diamine issues them in individual bottles as they did with the 2019 set, have gone on my want list:

• *Seize the Night (cuz purple yams, ya know ...)
• Ash
• Harmony (not real sure about this one, though)
• Storm (same - not real sure)
• *Night Shade
• Yuletide
• Brandy Snap (because I am really starting to get into brown-y/orange-y/ochre-y colors; possibly Brandy Dazzle without shimmer) 

* Pretty much 'must buy'.

 

I liked many others but not enough to want to have them.

 

Which were your favorites?

[JulieParadise]

How nice that my small ... spotlight collages could spark some joy and *cough* enable some of you! 😇

 

My favourites are
1. Seize the Night, which I liked from the get-go, but it grew on me even more over the last few days

2. Night Shade, as it has the special-ness colour-wise of weird multi-chrome inks without being so annoingly dry

3. Yuletide, cuz: teal/turquoise/petrol/aqua/call-it-what-you-want

4. Wonderland, because it is a really nice, bright, but not gaudy or neon-leaning orange.

5. Subzero, because I find colour so beautiful, plus: SHIMMER all over the place, how great!

6. Pink Ice, that colour, the shimmer, wow!

7. Vintage Copper, what a glorious ink! This should have been the last (red) Christmas ink, much more fitting in my eyes!

[Licue]

16 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

Which were your favorites?

 

(Just from pictures) my top 6 are:

 

- Seize The Night

- Winter Spice 

- Tempest

- Storm

- Night Shade

- Ash

- Subzero

- Black Ivy

 

I'll probably NOT get all 6 in big bottles tho - maybe 2 or 3 at most.

For the rest I'm gonna wait if maybe someone wants to get rid of a few of their small Inkvent bottles.

 

I agree that the 2021 selection is more appealing than the one from 2019 🙂

 

[Licue]

3 minutes ago, JulieParadise said:

7. Vintage Copper, what a glorious ink! This should have been the last (red) Christmas ink, much more fitting in my eyes!

 

That would have been pretty disappointing for me 😆 (if I had gotten a calendar).

Vintage Copper is my bottom one - the one ink from this Inkvent I'm not interested in at all.

[PithyProlix]

I just found a wonderful blog where you can find really, really nice pics of all of these inks: https://susiegstudio.com/

 

(I am also adding Brandy Snap to my favorites list.) 

[TSherbs]

10 hours ago, JulieParadise said:

How nice that my small ... spotlight collages could spark some joy and *cough* enable some of you! 😇

 

My favourites are
1. Seize the Night, which I liked from the get-go, but it grew on me even more over the last few days

2. Night Shade, as it has the special-ness colour-wise of weird multi-chrome inks without being so annoingly dry

3. Yuletide, cuz: teal/turquoise/petrol/aqua/call-it-what-you-want

4. Wonderland, because it is a really nice, bright, but not gaudy or neon-leaning orange.

5. Subzero, because I find colour so beautiful, plus: SHIMMER all over the place, how great!

6. Pink Ice, that colour, the shimmer, wow!

7. Vintage Copper, what a glorious ink! This should have been the last (red) Christmas ink, much more fitting in my eyes!

Why aren't you guys picking "All the Best"? Is it too over-the-top? 

[Uncial]

I didn't realise All The Best was a shimmer ink so I've been using it unshaken. I think its better for it that way to be honest.

[dftr]

I think im one of the few going through the inks in order.  Ill open ashe next week when i refill. Some of the yellow and pinks are going to be rough to get through…. Im hoping in 2022 theyll add separate shimmer additives so you can make any ink shimmery (or choose not to).  

[mizgeorge]

13 minutes ago, dftr said:

I think im one of the few going through the inks in order.  Ill open ashe next week when i refill. Some of the yellow and pinks are going to be rough to get through…. Im hoping in 2022 theyll add separate shimmer additives so you can make any ink shimmery (or choose not to).  

You can add your own (pearlex or similar) or Pennonia have a great range of ink shimmer additives designed for ink which are very easy to use.

[Licue]

38 minutes ago, Uncial said:

I didn't realise All The Best was a shimmer ink so I've been using it unshaken. I think its better for it that way to be honest.

I like shimmer inks, but yeah, All The Best would probably be better without the blue glitter.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, TSherbs said:

Why aren't you guys picking "All the Best"? Is it too over-the-top? 

 

I don't need several sheen+shimmer inks from each season or edition of a line of ink. In the Inkvent Blue Edition, Winter Miracle was my pick for the best one of those; this time around, I think Winter Spice is the best out of those. I like burgundy/maroon/crimson as a colour family, but brown wins. Stargazer comes second.

 

The ink that is singularly the standout for me is Night Shade. I can see myself ordering bottles and bottles of it.

[TSherbs]

4 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

I just found a wonderful blog where you can find really, really nice pics of all of these inks: https://susiegstudio.com/

 

Wow, those pics on that blog are fantastic! I see two of those inks on my wish list now. Bring on the sheen! And I am usually more subdued in my preferences, but holy cow. 

[Audrey T]

Those are indeed very cool, powerful images. Fun and engaging.

 

Some of the swabs are pretty different from what I got from the 25 bottles, though -- is it because she is adding something to the ink in some cases ? -- not just drops of water, but ...? I'm thinking of the Black Ivy ink sample, in particular. Could she be using bleach, for example? (I know at least one blogger tests ink with bleach -- among other things -- but I'm not sure why. Could anyone clarify that for me, while I'm on the topic?)

[A Smug Dill]

6 hours ago, Audrey T said:

(I know at least one blogger tests ink with bleach -- among other things -- but I'm not sure why. Could anyone clarify that for me, while I'm on the topic?)

 

It's … art, and of course (the appeal of what may or may not be considered) art is subjective, and one's practices does not have to be aligned with what is considered ‘mainstream’ applications. I always ‘review’ inks, including and in fact mostly on FPN, by writing also in languages other than English, even though some members of the prospective readership may question what the relevance of that is, while forgetting that writing in a cursive hand, Spencerian style, in English and having American (or ‘Western’) sensibilities is not representative of the majority of users of fountain pens and inks. For what it's worth, I mainly write in English, so I never treat it only as a sidebar; but I'd make sure that's not portrayed as the only application or concern, either.

[JulieParadise]

7 hours ago, Audrey T said:

[...] using bleach, for example? (I know at least one blogger tests ink with bleach -- among other things -- but I'm not sure why. Could anyone clarify that for me, while I'm on the topic?)

Yep, art, as @A Smug Dill already said. (You probably mean Nick Stewart nickstewart.ink)

 

And, adding to what A Smug Dill also said, I might say that I do find some inks, especially shading inks, to have another look or rather 'feel' when I write in my sloppy Kurrent (a more slanted form of Sütterlin), as the different movement and rhythm of pressing down and releasing the pressure in this script containing so many long downstrokes does make inks look different than with the much rounder and less accentuated cursive writing or printing I use otherwise. 

[Licue]

5 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

I always ‘review’ inks, including and in fact mostly on FPN, by writing also in languages other than English, even though some members of the prospective readership may question what the relevance of that is, while forgetting that writing in a cursive hand, Spencerian style, in English and having American (or ‘Western’) sensibilities is not representative of the majority of users of fountain pens and inks. 

 

I'm not questioning how you do your ink reviews, as a) this is obviously your decision and b) I have no reason to because I enjoy seeing ink in a variety of forms, including fonts and languages I can't read 🙂

 

But I'd think western style writing IS representative of the majority of FPN users, isn't it?

[Audrey T]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

It's … art, and of course (the appeal of what may or may not be considered) art is subjective, and one's practices does not have to be aligned with what is considered ‘mainstream’ applications. I always ‘review’ inks, including and in fact mostly on FPN, by writing also in languages other than English, even though some members of the prospective readership may question what the relevance of that is, while forgetting that writing in a cursive hand, Spencerian style, in English and having American (or ‘Western’) sensibilities is not representative of the majority of users of fountain pens and inks. For what it's worth, I mainly write in English, so I never treat it only as a sidebar; but I'd make sure that's not portrayed as the only application or concern, either.

Thank you -- that's very cool to know. I did realize that the use of bleach was artistic in the case I was thinking of, but I couldn't determine whether it was, in addition, something FP users had specific questions about.

 

Love that you multiply languages & FP/ink uses.