INK SWAB: 106/365 – Diamine Amber

DIAMINE 002

 

I looooove the way Diamine Amber swabs. The color is pretty amazing and it looks like it has some potential for shading.

As part of a mega-review, I looked at it in detail here and didn’t love it. Reviews on Goulet Pens say that the ink is great, but not for very fine nibs – that may have been my issue and I should give it another go sometime.

What is your experience with Diamine Amber?

FOUNTAIN PEN INK REVIEW: Diamine Terracotta

Diamine Terracotta

Terracotta was released late last year as one of eight inks Diamine created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the brand.

Over the past couple of years, Diamine released a couple of limited edition sets of inks, but they had to be purchased as a complete set. It’s nice to see that each of the eight inks in this Anniversary Collection may be purchased separately.

Here’s a picture of the arranged bottles (and swabs – always swabs!) I posted on Instagram awhile back.  I love that they remind me of Trivial Pursuit wedges – collect them all!

A photo posted by Christine Darling (@pentulant) on

I Love This Ink

The color is a unique and pleasing brownish-reddish-orange that doesn’t remind me too much of terra-cotta pots and their traditional chalky band-aid color.

Terracotta is well-saturated and it shades beautifully – just enough to give it some character. Flow is good from the pen and I’d say it’s on the wet side of average, but definitely not wet. There was no significant ghosting and no bleeding. All very good things.

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There are two “features” of this ink that may be a deal breaker for some people . . .

  • there’s no resistance to water
  • dry time is longer than average (or at least it was in my bold-nibbed pen). Even at 45 seconds, there was a little smear.

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I can live with both of the downsides of this ink quite easily and am finding myself using it every day for various notes.

Here’s the entire handwritten review of Diamine Terracotta.

Diamine Terracotta

 

If you’ve tried Terracotta, I’d love to know your thoughts. Or maybe you’ve tried another one of the Anniversary inks?

 

New Look, Happy New Year, and Winner Winner!

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Oh, you guys, It’s been so busy behind the scenes over here.

While everything hasn’t been moved over yet and some of the links are empty, I’m really happy to present the brand new Pentulant website. As part of the new look, I’ve moved everything over to WordPress and I’m feeling confident that this is the correct platform for growth in 2015.

In other words:  FUN TIMES AHEAD!

And while we’re on the topic of new things – Happy New Year! Did you stay up too late last night and are now faced with sleep lines criss-crossing your smiling face? Are you sporting the best case of bed head ever?  Wait. Wait. That’s me!  Happy New Year!

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Finally, we have a winner!  Remember way back before sleep lines and bed head? The contest was to guess the number of cotton swabs in the above pictured gallon-sized bag.

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The winner gets samples of each of the eight Diamine 150th Anniversary inks!

How many swabs in the bag?  A whopping 729.

And our winner? Jackie! Jackie guessed 725.  I’ve already contacted Jackie about collecting the prize.

Have you tried any of the new inks? I’ve used Tropical Green (not my favorite color, but it writes really well) and Terracotta (a truly unique orange/brown with some great shading).

GIVEAWAY/CONTEST: Diamine Ink Samples!

Diamine recently released a set of eight inks to celebrate their brand’s 150th (!!) anniversary.

I ended up buying all of the bottles for myself – and got a set of samples for you!

The set includes 2 ml samples of the following inks . . .

  • 1864 Blue-Black
  • Blue Velvet
  • Carnival
  • Regency Blue
  • Safari
  • Silver Fox
  • Terracotta
  • Tropical Green

Well, except Tropical Green. I spilled about one ml of the ink. Arrgh.

How to win?
 
Come closest to guessing (over is fine) the number of inky cotton swabs in the gallon-sized bag shown below.  If more than one person guesses right on the number, the person who entered first will win the samples.
These are nearly all of the swabs I used during 2015. It’s been a busy year! Last year, the jar I use was only about half full, this year it overflowed with inky goodness.

I’ll be back after the beginning of the new year to announce the winner.

Until then…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!



So, what’s your number?  
Contest open to US/CAN only.  Sorry to my friends in far away lands!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This isn’t a sponsored post. The samples (and my bottles) came from Goulet Pens, but they don’t know what I’m up to over here today.