Diamine Inkvent - Advent Calendar madness!

[Ashenden]

Inkvent Calendar Madness, Day 5

 

Yes! I am still behind! And I realized that I somehow lost the part I wrote about yesterday's ink, Forest Gateau (I find the spoiler function on this website very hard to use, but that's just me, I guess). Anyhoo, you should know the very important fact that Forest Gateau is a scented ink... and it smells just like Black Forest cake, which is lovely and fitting because the ink to me looks just like black cherry in color. The scent doesn't last super long, but boy, is it delicious while you're using it. And unlike some of the past year's Inkvent scented offerings, this one behaves beautifully and doesn't feather at all. I love it. I will be buying a full bottle of this one. Don't tell anyone I plan to just open the bottle and inhale the aroma—who cares about actually putting it in a pen.

 

We are going to our local Christkindlmarkt today, and I'm hoping to pick up the gourmet chocolate advent calendar that I bought there last year. If I can find it, I think it will be incredibly fun and tasty to catch up all at once to day 6....  

 

Anyway... on to Day 5 of our ink offering. 

 

Spoiler

Oooh this one is a goodie. I'm a big fan of pale purples and lavenders, and this one is just making me happy! It's called Icy Lilac, and the name absolutely fits. It's kind of a paler version of Diamine's Lilac Satin, which is already one of my favorite inks. It tends to the gray side a little bit more than Lilac Satin. It's an understated version of lilac which I can see myself using a lot. It's a shimmer, so some glitter but not as much as Noble Fir. This appears to be another candidate for a full bottle purchase. 

 

The wine tonight was delicious! I love very fruity reds and this fit the bill perfectly. The votive candle today smells great and Christmasy but I can't pin down any exact smell, nor does the name give any clue. As for crochet, I'm impatiently waiting for the next installment. Just a day or two now! 

 

 

 

[Ashenden]

15 hours ago, AmandaW said:

OK, so Forest Gateau goes on the list of inks I would order (right after Wilted Rose, which I want so badly I am wondering if there are any calendars left anywhere... Ok, maybe not, since a bigger bottle is... well... bigger...).

 

Agree, very cute beanie. I am now tempted to try Tunisian crochet, so surprised to see the end result looks like knitting... not crochet.

 

I think you can probably find calendars still. Now that it's past day 1, they usually discount them, too. I honestly prefer the smaller bottles of ink that these calendars offer... they are easier to store, there isn't a huge bottle of some color I hate, I always have the option of buying a big bottle of a color I love, and then I have a super wide range of all kinds of colors without a lot of monetary outlay.

 

If you already crochet, I think you'll pick up Tunisian fairly easily. The stitches aren't any harder, especially if you can see them done on a video. The worst part for me was managing holding all the work at once on the long hooks. I had to frog the project entirely once about 10 rows in bc my tension was all over the place. The second go-round went much smoother and I really got the hang of it. I was super pleased that you can make it look like knitting also. And it makes a nice drapey, stretchy fabric that's really nice.

[AmandaW]

Black Forest cake minus the calories... that sounds like my kind of treat.

 

Thankyou for today's inky art.

[PithyProlix]

I love Icy Lilac! But not sure if it is different enough from PenBBS Misty Mountain to warrant a purchase (when the big bottles come out).

 

Three out of the first five are wonderful for me. I think that already might be more than any other whole Inkvent!

 

Thank you again for doing these!

[lascosas]

Just saw this thread.  So great! 

 

For those thinking of Forest Gateau I would warn you it is one of the two scented inks in the calendar.  Fairly subtle, not like the hideous fruit cocktail, but still...scented.

 

I used a Conklin omniflex nib for Noble Fir.  I love the ink, but I had to repeatedly clean out the feed.  Tons of glitter!

[Ashenden]

Inkvent Calendar Madness, Day 6

 

Alrighty. It seems I am still a day behind but there is just SO MUCH TO DO during the holidays. We went to the Christkindlmarket yesterday and I found the same chocolate advent I got last year! Not only that, but we found some delicious penuche fudge and cocktail-y truffle chocolates. It was tasty and fun to open the chocolate advent and catch all the way up to day 6, although my waistline probably isn't going to be happy about it come January.

 

Today is a busy day as well. Locally, some folks have put together a pen meetup and I'm tootling down there in about a half hour. I hope they get good turnout. It's a first attempt at starting a pen club here and I hope it's successful. I threw together a bag with some of my recent fountain pen acquisitions to show and tell, and some inks I don't use that I'll try to sample off to those that want to try them. Hopefully I'll have a pic or two to add to tomorrow's Inkvent post.

 

Now on to the lovely ink for day 6: 

Spoiler

This one is very aptly named. It lays down as a wet, very cranberry-colored deep red, but in the thick areas after it dries it sheens a bit to a sort of dark brownish-greenish-yellowish, almost mustardy color. I don't quite know how to describe this effect but it's really interesting. Diamine isn't calling this one a sheening ink; it's labeled Standard but the way this changes color, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be classed as a sheen or at least a chameleon. You can see a little bit of this effect in the Col-o-ring swatch card. I love the way the color looks on the Tomoe River paper. A nice rich red in the larger thinner areas, but with the little added extra depth of that color change. 

 

And just willya look at those chocolates!?!?!? There's only five in the pic because I couldn't stand it and ate one before taking the picture. Holy moly were these ever good. The peanut one was especially nice, like a really good Reese's cup with some crunch to it. Wine of the day is a Sauvignon. Pretty decent, but not enough of it, so I had to switch to a festive cocktail later  I've got about 10 hours until they release the second installment of the crochet advent patterns, so waiting patiently for that one.

 

I've got the whole day free tomorrow so I'm hoping to catch up with Inkvent day 7 and 8. 

 

Enjoy my little ink swatch and hope your holiday season is going great!

 

 

 

[AmandaW]

Thankyou. Or not. I want chocolate now and can't have any... I will go ink a pen with a chocolate-coloured ink! Or order another chocolate ink. Or toffee. And add Cranberry to my wishlist. ♥️

 

[inkstainedruth]

@Ashenden Hmmm.  I'd have to see Day 5 in person because on my screen it looks more grey.

As for Day 6?  On the Tomoe River paper it definitely looks nice (and I say that as someone who isn't really a fan of dark red/burgundy inks in general).  But the swab on the Color-o-ring card?  Ehhhhh.  You wouldn't know it was the same ink.  So, again, I suspect I'd have to see it in person....

But thanks again for doing this (not, of course that I need ANY more ink at the moment... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ashenden]

Inkvent Calendar Madness, Day 7

 

I spent the ENTIRE day carving out time to catch up on this advent calendar, and hopefully I'm there. Although I think it's just easier to post these the next day as we always have something going on in the evening, so I guess don't be surprised if I go late again. 

 

I don't like today's ink. Not at all. Read on for more.

 

Spoiler

Lemon & Lime. Ugh. Not another one of these very light yellowish inks. Diamine did one in last year's calendar and I didn't care for that one either, except for maybe some art purposes. I cannot imagine ever using this in an actual pen that I'm going to write words with, since it is so light as to be nearly unreadable. My photo here gets way more depth out of it, and makes it look far darker, than what is actually visible on the paper in real life. I will say that the greenish to yellow shading is an interesting tart, citrusy thing to do, but that's about all the good I have to say about it. 

 

I do not love it. If someone gave me a bottle of it, I'd turn around and give it away at the first opportunity. That is, if anyone would even have it.

 

The saving grace to tonight's calendar is the pinot noir that we got out of the wine advent. It was delicious and fruity, just the right balance between dry and sweet. And the chocolate calendar is truly living up to expectations. I can't tell you HOW good that caramel turtle was. But I could have stood a pound size box of them, if that's any clue.  

 

 

 

 

[LizEF]

44 minutes ago, Ashenden said:

I don't like today's ink. Not at all.

  This seems like an ink that is absolutely no good for writing, and yet your presentation of it is lovely!  And it's the best presentation of it that I've seen.   So thank you for that.

[Sailor Kenshin]

And behold the shading!  Thanks.

 

 

...now wanting both wine and chocolate Advent boxes...

[Ashenden]

Inkvent Calendar Madness, Day 8

 

I went to a local pen meetup on Saturday. The meetup was organized by the same person who was in charge of this year's local Pelikan Hub, and it seems she wants to start a pen club here in our area, which I'm totally on board with. We met upstairs at a local business and maybe 8-9 people showed up, which honestly was pretty good turnout considering past pen events I've been to around here. It was fun to see everyone's pens and journals. There was one fellow there who had the most extraordinary tiny writing I've ever seen, just perfectly formed and very elegant... it was interesting looking at his journal entries in this so-very-precise handwriting. I brought my own journal and one or two people actually recognized my Inkvent posts from it, which was kind of fun and, I have to admit, disconcerting at the same time. Some people brought items to give away and there were inks to sample or trade, and it was cool to see pens in person that I'd only seen online... really useful for deciding whether it's something I'd want to buy or not. I'm really hoping they do this again; a meeting every couple months would be fun to "nerd out" with fellow pen enthusiasts and make some friends from the community.

 

I got the next week's installment of the Hobbii crochet calendar, and it's a very interesting color work project using fine cotton yarn. I'm pretty excited about it; I'm a relatively new crocheter (a little over a year) and I like projects that push my skills a little bit. I'm starting this project today, so we'll see how it goes. Stay tuned.

 

Ok, on to today's ink:

 

Spoiler

Today's ink is called Marley. And this is a very understated, ghost-like grey/black that befits the name. I like the ink well enough from a behavior and wetness standpoint, but I'm not a huge fan of understated colors or typical pen colors, so it's unlikely I'd purchase a larger bottle of this. I will use up my Inkvent sample bottle, however, because it's not exactly black, so not 100% boring, and is very legible. I like it way, way better than yesterday's ink, that's for certain. It looks great with my silver DecoColor pen.

 

Look at those yarn colors for this week's crocheting advent! I wouldn't have normally picked colors like this but they really seem to fit together. They also included the little notions shown here; some decorative ribbon, some cedar wood yarn balls, and some ziplock bags. The bags are quite substantial plastic and are not the disposable ones for food; they are meant to reuse over and over. They're actually kind of nice and I wouldn't mind more of them for storing some of my craft supplies.

 

We didn't do last night's chocolate or wine because the spouse was out visiting with friends, so we're going to double up tonight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AmandaW]

Exciting project!

 

I do like the Marley. 🖤

[inkstainedruth]

Me too.  Marley DOES look interesting.  

@Ashenden Is that shading or sheen I'm seeing on the swatch card?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Ashenden]

Inkvent Calendar Madness, Day 9

 

Sigh. Still behind. I've been busy working through the Hobbii crochet advent, so not as on top of other things as I'd like. However, I DID get all my Christmas packages mailed that needed mailing, so yay for me on that front. Be glad for small victories, right?

 

Now on to today's ink:

 

Spoiler

Wishing Tree, Day 9. This is a beautiful gray-green ink with a green shimmer. It does tend to be on the paler side, but it's still quite readable and although a subtle color, it's got some depth. I quite like it, honestly. It would be the perfect match for my Kilk Yggdrasil Limited Edition fountain pen, except for that pen is an extra fine... drat! I will have to find some juicy broad, stub, or italic that will show off the green sparklies. Wishing Tree is a nice neutral color, but with a wild side!

 

The Hobbii advent is coming along swimmingly. This looks like a much harder project than it is, and once you're 6-8 rows into it, it all starts to make sense. I can't wait to use this inline mosaic technique on some other projects. I quite enjoy it and it's relatively easy for such an interesting payoff in color work. I'll update this one as I go along so you can see how it turned out.

 

We had two wine calendar and two chocolate calendar entries at once last night, due to the spouse being out with friends the day before. I kinda like that... more wine and more chocolate at once  All of it was great, especially the little chocolate-covered nut cluster... wow! I need a whole box of those.

 

 

 

 

[Ashenden]

Duplicate post, sorry. Moderator can remove if they want.

[Ashenden]

22 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Is that shading or sheen I'm seeing on the swatch card?

 

 

It's more a color change than anything. It's definitely not sheen; this is not a sheening ink at all. The dark areas or thick areas of ink tend to turn a bit purplish or even dark magenta. 

[LizEF]

Love the layout you did for Wishing Tree, @Ashenden!

 

Totally understand being behind - why they had to cram Thanksgiving so close to Christmas, I do not know¹.  I think we should spread the big holidays evenly throughout the year, with Christmas and Thanksgiving pretty far separated.  Christmas should be in the spring anyway, so we could move it...   Anywho, hope you're enjoying your various advents and am grateful you're sharing your inks and calligraphy-art with us.  I'll happily accept them delayed.  

 

¹Yes, I know, harvest, blah blah.  Alas, I don't care.  I want them farther apart!

[AmandaW]

Phew. Very thankful that Wishing Tree is a shimmer ink cos I don't use shimmer inks so that's one less to add to the um... er... Wishing List.

 

 

[InesF]

Thank you, @Ashenden, for doing such a stunning work with the inkvent inks! 

What a pleasure to read and watch!