EFNIR: Diamine Manggis

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Diamine Manggis

This is review #256 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Dried so fast on the slide that I had to re-wet it to get the coverslip to stick. I don't really have any other inks quite this color: It would be purple on the page were it not for the solid goldish green sheen.  It's so dark that it looks black from this nib except with very good lighting.  (When diluted, the ink is pink, which is how it looked under the microscope.)  Functionally, the ink works in this nib and the sheen is easily seen on any paper.  But if you want to see the underlying color, you'll want a bigger nib.

Cleaning wasn't too bad, but this ink is highly concentrated and it may want to stick in some places, requiring either a swab or pen flush to get it to let go. Of course, you can just let the next ink take care of it, unless you have a reason for obsessing.

I may have underestimated how dry it is - look how fine that line is!  I didn't notice the ink running dry even in longer writing sessions, though.  (Honestly, I think flow is almost never going to be an issue with such a fine nib.)

Errata: "brigh" should be "bright".

Zoomed in photo (It's hard to tell, but you're seeing the sheen.)

Screenshot (Text is dark and desaturated.)

Scan of Completed Review (This is pretty much what my eyes see. Check the dry-time smear for the underlying color.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Like the zoom, you're mostly seeing the sheen.)

Line width (One of the lines used for dry time. Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 248µm. With 256 inks measured, the average line width is 295µm.) (Don't know why this was so black to the camera - my eyes saw lots of color - see the next image.)

Other ((Different line.) My eyes could see the color and the sheen, but the camera wouldn't picked them up.  I had to drastically over-expose to get this, which washes out the paper and the edges, but is a lot closer to what my eyes saw.)

Microscope image (400x. Even my phone camera wouldn't capture the color correctly, so I was fiddling with the microscope camera's controls and this not accurate but cool image resulted...)

Microscope image (400x. Closer to accurate color, but still nowhere near the color range. Each color also seems to be at a different depth.)

Previous Review: Noodler's Apache Sunset.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[lapis]

Nice! I'd call it a magenta (and/or fuchsin). Sort of like a really old bronze statue, where the green sheen fits nicely, too. Thanks for the good images!!

[LizEF]

23 minutes ago, lapis said:

Nice! I'd call it a magenta (and/or fuchsin). Sort of like a really old bronze statue, where the green sheen fits nicely, too.

Sometimes, I don't know what to call a color.  I think if it were diluted, you might be right.  Dark as it is, it looks purple to me (but then, I'm not one of those people who can easily distinguish between the zillion colors out there and remember all their names, like a walking paint chip library).

 

25 minutes ago, lapis said:

Thanks for the good images!!

You're very welcome!  This one really showed off under the microscope.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Where to begin?  What an interesting ink!  The sheen is amazing, the ink looks like the ichor of dragons, and the micro… what is going on?  A furious attack of comets on floating brains in a magenta sky?  (With Sparkles!) This ink is very tempting, so it may be a good thing I can't get my hands on it.

 

Run, Quin, run!  We want to see what happens next.  
 

Thanks so much, @LizEF, for making Tuesdays special.

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Where to begin?  What an interesting ink!  The sheen is amazing, the ink looks like the ichor of dragons, and the micro… what is going on?  A furious attack of comets on floating brains in a magenta sky?  (With Sparkles!) This ink is very tempting, so it may be a good thing I can't get my hands on it.

  Love your ink descriptions!

 

2 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Run, Quin, run!  We want to see what happens next.

 

2 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks so much, @LizEF, for making Tuesdays special.

You're most welcome!

[yazeh]

Another excellent review  @LizEF At first look I thought it was a review of Rome Burning 

This ink seems like the perfect artist ink to create amazing effects and washes... Like @Sailor KenshinI'm glad it's not easy to purchase

 

 

 

Anyone interested in the origin of name,  "Manggis is a Malay word for Mangosteen" and you can buy the ink here:

https://www.pengallery.com.my/diamine-manggis-fountain-pen-80ml-bottle-ink/

 

Thanks for making Tuesdays so memorable 🙏

 

 

 

 

 

[LizEF]

28 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Another excellent review  @LizEF

Thanks!

 

28 minutes ago, yazeh said:

At first look I thought it was a review of Rome Burning 

That sheen, man, it just obliterates the ink.

 

29 minutes ago, yazeh said:

This ink seems like the perfect artist ink to create amazing effects and washes... Like @Sailor KenshinI'm glad it's not easy to purchase

Yes.  And yes.

 

29 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for making Tuesdays so memorable 🙏

You're most welcome!

[inkstainedruth]

That's an odd color.  On my screen the ink looks like a sepia brown on the page (guessing that's the sheen I'm seeming) in some images -- even the close up photo it looks more brown than magenta, and you don't really see the "true" color until the microscope shots (I do really love Sailor Kenshin's description of those!)

Unfortunately, when I looked at the Pen Gallery website, the threshold for ordering enough stuff from them to get free shipping to the US makes it cost prohibitive for me.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 On my screen the ink looks like a sepia brown on the page (guessing that's the sheen I'm seeming) in some images -- even the close up photo it looks more brown than magenta, and you don't really see the "true" color until the microscope shots (I do really love Sailor Kenshin's description of those!)

Yep - that green plus purple combo ends up looking brown.

 

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Unfortunately, when I looked at the Pen Gallery website, the threshold for ordering enough stuff from them to get free shipping to the US makes it cost prohibitive for me.... 

Ditto.  If I'm going to ship ink from overseas, it'll be Gutenberg Urkundentinte G10 - looks like dirty dishwater, but for some inexplicable reason, I love it.  Of course, I'll have to smuggle it in, and its iron gall, so I can't get a lifetime supply in one go...   Ah well, it's good to have things you want but can't reasonably get.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Samples

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

 

Anyone interested in the origin of name,  "Manggis is a Malay word for Mangosteen" and you can buy the ink here:

https://www.pengallery.com.my/diamine-manggis-fountain-pen-80ml-bottle-ink/

Or samples are available - https://gourmetpensshop.com - for everyone, including me, that thinks 80ml would be way too much.

[AceNinja]

13 hours ago, LizEF said:

It would be purple on the page were it not for the solid goldish green sheen.  It's so dark that it looks black from this nib except with very good lighting. 

 

9 hours ago, yazeh said:

"Manggis is a Malay word for Mangosteen"

 

This ink is actually quite a good representation of the fruit's colour itself.  The fruit's skin is very dark purple, almost black, just like the ink's base colour.  And fruit has a bright green stem/clover atop, just like the ink's green sheen.

 

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, AceNinja said:

This ink is actually quite a good representation of the fruit's colour itself.  The fruit's skin is very dark purple, almost black, just like the ink's base colour.  And fruit has a bright green stem/clover atop, just like the ink's green sheen.

...

Thank you, @AceNinja!

[InesF]

Do I see crystals of 4-{Bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylidene}-N,N-dimethylcyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-iminium chloride? *

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for the always entertaining ink review and for the story part! It feels to me as if our heroes are on the flee for a long time now. Will they get a rest soon? I have some sympathy with them and grant them a more calm time.  

 

I didn't know this ink before. But from all you describe and what can be seen from the photos, it is kind of a twin to deAtramentis Aubergine; same base colour, same sheen. In contrast, the Diamine Manggis seems to be dry and less lubricated. As I love the Aubergine colour (my #1 ink) but often can't use the deAtramentis ink in wet pens and/or with broad nibs, the Diamine twin may be the perfect supplement. ... Neither InkSwatch nor Mountain of Ink know Manggis ... 😪 ... and none of my usual European shops does list it. 😭

 

So, I will continue to use Aubergine (original) in EF and F nibs and Aubergine + Gum Arabic for all the other.  

 

 

*PS, trivia: this is also known as Crystal Violet, a dye widely used in (vintage) copy pencils, as textile dye and in the microbiology laboratory (for Gram stain). However, I guess, neither Diamine nor deAtramentis will use it any longer as the substance is now suspect to be harmful (official note published in 2020).

[LizEF]

8 hours ago, InesF said:

Do I see crystals of 4-{Bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylidene}-N,N-dimethylcyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-iminium chloride? *

Erm, yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to show off, yeah...

 

8 hours ago, InesF said:

...Crystal Violet ... Gram stain...

Oh, yeah, this I know from my days making software for the lab.  I even walked through the gram stain process to give an estimate on automating the (data capture of the) process.  It would have been the easiest data entry and reporting system on the planet.  Fast development time and would have saved the users tons of time (because there was a lot of batching, that impacted multiple studies for multiple clients, so at the time, they were writing the exact same data on 10+ copies of the paperwork).  And yet, for some inexplicable reason, management never approved it.    (Until nearly a decade later, after I'd left the company and it took my replacement twice as long...)  Management are weird.

 

And if that's not cool enough, when I got my microscope, I also got (and still have, unopened):

• Crystal Violet Hucker's
• Gram's Iodine Stain
• Balsam Canada (Neutral in Xylene) - sounds like a type of Christmas tree were it not for the bit in parentheses
• Safranin O
• Methylene Blue Chloride
• Eosin Y

Pretty sure there's a booklet telling me how to do cool things with all those chemicals, somewhere...

 

9 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for the always entertaining ink review and for the story part! It feels to me as if our heroes are on the flee for a long time now. Will they get a rest soon? I have some sympathy with them and grant them a more calm time.  

You're very welcome!   We're fairly close to the climax of our quest to heal the Source - that starts in review 258 (not next week, but the one after).  I've tried to write it all in as few words as possible, but couldn't find a way to do less - the story demands what it demands...

 

9 hours ago, InesF said:

I didn't know this ink before. But from all you describe and what can be seen from the photos, it is kind of a twin to deAtramentis Aubergine; same base colour, same sheen. In contrast, the Diamine Manggis seems to be dry and less lubricated. As I love the Aubergine colour (my #1 ink) but often can't use the deAtramentis ink in wet pens and/or with broad nibs, the Diamine twin may be the perfect supplement. ... Neither InkSwatch nor Mountain of Ink know Manggis ... 😪 ... and none of my usual European shops does list it. 😭

Oh, I didn't think of that.  My sample of dA Aubergine was so dark that I gave most of it away.  That was pretty early on in my FP journey.  Manggis is exclusive to a shop in Malaysia, so you're not going to find it elsewhere.  See up-thread for links and one source of samples - Gourmet Pens (presumably in Canada).

 

9 hours ago, InesF said:

So, I will continue to use Aubergine (original) in EF and F nibs and Aubergine + Gum Arabic for all the other.  

Likely easier and cheaper than ordering from Malaysia.

[SashK]

Thank you @LizEF for a spectacular review! I am a big fan of this ink, I wish it was much easier to get for us. I do enjoy it and find that the color is more visible in B and BB nibs, though still mostly green sheen over everything. 

 

I think the color disputes is mostly due to it being a red / Tyrian purple color, that is where the brown look comes in. 

 

The microscopic look is really really fascinating. Thanks for that. 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, SashK said:

Thank you @LizEF for a spectacular review!

You're very welcome!

 

1 hour ago, SashK said:

I am a big fan of this ink, I wish it was much easier to get for us. I do enjoy it and find that the color is more visible in B and BB nibs, though still mostly green sheen over everything. 

  Yeah, I think you need a fat dry nib to see the actual ink!

 

1 hour ago, SashK said:

I think the color disputes is mostly due to it being a red / Tyrian purple color, that is where the brown look comes in. 

Could be.  Between different paper, lighting, cameras, monitors, eyeballs, and brains, it's a wonder any of us can come remotely close to communicating about color!

 

1 hour ago, SashK said:

The microscopic look is really really fascinating. Thanks for that. 

  Happy to do it!  It's really fun when I discover an interesting one like this.

[amberleadavis]

I don't need another ink in this color... but now I really think it would be a great addition to my collection! Thank you for the wonderful review.

[LizEF]

50 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

I don't need another ink in this color... but now I really think it would be a great addition to my collection!

Aren't there so many inks we could say that about!?

 

51 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

Thank you for the wonderful review.

You're most welcome!