Ink Comparison: Purple Diamine

With the Daughter/Director back on holiday, it is, I am learning, much easier and faster to make videos! Today I’ve the Diamine purples, violets and similar colours. With luck the sight of all these inks will give you a better comparison of the various colours and shades. Hope you enjoy this, and do please let me know if there are other inks or items you’d like covered. Thanks again to Diamine for providing testing samples of many of their inks!
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Cheers for now!
Mike

[@suenagle6608]

Love the Majestic Purple it reminds me of the ink you got in the old inkwells in primary school in the 60s. I went to a village school and they were phasing our the dip pens but loved them

[@writerlywitterings]

I know what you mean. I love the different purples that Diamine has produced. I have to admit, the Amazing Amethyst really has caught my eye, though. I can see myself using that and Grape a lot more!

[@joeymaximus8146]

I have a great fondness for your ink comparison videos. It gives me a far greater feel for what inks I want to purchase. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to do this, and it was fun to get to have the father-daughter team back together. All the best, from across the pond!

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks, Joey, and I'm glad that you enjoy the videos! I'm really enjoying making these - it's fascinating seeing how the different inks compare!

[@joeymaximus8146]

@@oldstyle-Danish-exmil.officer that's a great lineup of inks! That's a cool playlist.

[@juicylouisey]

Great video. I think what you refer to as outlining, I know as halo. It is one of the few effects we fine nibists get to enjoy.

[@writerlywitterings]

Thanks for the info! I hadn't heard it called that.

[@steveconquest6684]

Hello Michael, Thank you for a superb review. I ordered an 80ml bottle of Diamine Tyrian Purple today along with a signed hardback copy of Death Ship of Dartmouth. I know it won't add anything to your coffers but since I currently live on the opposite side of the pond I'll take what I can get lol. Please let your kind daughter know that I agree with her ink choices completely (sorry Michael). Cheers, Steve

[@writerlywitterings]

Every purchase helps my coffers - maybe not by a huge amount, but every sale is appreciated. I hope you enjoy Death Ship - I had great fun with that one, and it was shortlisted as the best crime story of 2007. A proud event!

[@vanessachishti1503]

I'm looking some good blue and purple inks, imagine my delight at seeing a detailed video that shows both :) thank you!

[@writerlywitterings]

You are so welcome! Glad it was helpful!

[@pamelaboxall7015]

Great series of ink sampling, most entertaining. I have Herbin Poussiere de Lune in one of my Waterman Hemispheres right now, and Waterman Tender Purple in my Lamy LX. My favourite of the purple inks I have tried was Lamy’s Deep Lilac linited edition a few years back. I haven’t shampooed my hands, although I do use Cif cream cleaner on them when I have been playing bicycle mechanics. I use a pumice stone to remove ink stains.

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks, Pamela. I do love Poussiere de Lune. A really gorgeous darkish purple that shades beautifully - but now I'm leaning towards Amazing Amethyst, which has such a delicious paleness and is slightly more purple than brown. Fascinating to put all these inks together and test them, though, and great fun!

[@JBFire97]

Thank you, liked the brown edge to the Macassar.

[@writerlywitterings]

It's rather lovely, isn't it? I'm really enjoying these colour comparisons - even if it takes ages to record them (well over an hour per film, sadly). But it's going to be a useful resource for me, and hopefully for you when the whole lot is done.

[@martinmcconigley5583]

So helpful. Lovely inks.

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks, Martin. I'm really glad people are enjoying the videos!

[@Thisreadingcorner]

Came for purples and got so much more, great video!

[@writerlywitterings]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@kevinu.k.7042]

A really helpful video. Thanks. Congrats on the book. I'll take a look.

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks, Kevin!

[@richardsimms251]

Great video. RS

[@writerlywitterings]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@timdraude3464]

Poussiere de Lune is one of my favourite inks.

[@writerlywitterings]

It is gorgeous, isn't it? I would recommend your taking a little Amazing Amethyst, though, just to try a slightly less red, more blue purple with similar shading. A really lovely colour.

[@conradsmith9332]

Superb video. I realy must expand my horizons ink wise as I only use black parker quink, but I just never get around to buying more colours, but some of these purples realy caught my eye so I must buy some ha!

[@writerlywitterings]

I do love a decent purple. It's so easy to get stuck into a blue or black rut, but there are so many other colours out there that give a little variety, that it's well worthwhile considering alternatives!

[@apontutul]

Thanks for the detailed blue review

[@writerlywitterings]

No problem! If you are looking at blues, I would also recommend my personal (current) favourite, which is Rohrer und Klingner's Blu Mare - a kind of light turquoise to cerulean blue which I find just gorgeous!

[@apontutul]

@@writerlywitterings thanks for suggesting that but unfortunately that's not available in India and even if it is, it will be way too expensive including the cost of shipping. Let me also suggest you something Indian. Have you heard of Krishna inks? It's a handmade ink, very popular here

[@evybrowning]

A jewel of a review - have loved purple ink since my twenties, Waterman's was my first but then had to switch to the more reddish Pelican when I couldn't source the Waterman, those were the days when any shade of blue or black was the norm & others so so hard to find except the Red or Green Quink. As a mature adult fell in love with one of Diamine's Greys, probably Graphite. Been a while since the fountain pen was in action sadly.............. not so easy for pattern drawing though I've seen some people do it.

[@writerlywitterings]

That's the nicest comment anyone's made about my videos! Many thanks, Evelyn. I'm looking forward to comparing greys and blacks. It'll take a while, because I want to show off all the other colours first, but it'll be fun doing that. Everyone has tried a black ink, after all. My own feeling is, I'd prefer almost any ink other than black! I find it too stark and uncompromising on the page. I used to love its clarity when I was a salesman, but now I prefer any kind of alternative shade!

[@user-ew9fu9fj8p]

My choice: Mediterranean Sea (real blue) and Violet (real violet) for me, for my pens. IMHO

[@writerlywitterings]

Good choices - Happy New Year!

[@sharon888b]

I enjoy seeing all the colors together with a substantial amount of writing for each ink. You can look at swatches but you can get a better idea of the ink when you see it used in a pen. At least how it will look in a 1.1 mm stub. Looking forward to more. Do you have photographs posted of the pages? That would be helpful. Thanks!

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks for the comment, Sharon. That was the whole idea of this series for me. I spent so long looking at videos of inks when I was trying to choose a different Teal, that it struck me that there were no comparison videos that were helping me. So I decided to make my own. That is an excellent idea about photos of the comparisons. I'll do that as soon as I have finished the writing and filming, so that the whole lot is up in one bunch - I'll probably put that up for free on Patreon, since the site lends itself to groups like that. Hope that will help!

[@sharon888b]

@@writerlywitterings Looking forward to seeing the images posted. Thanks!

[@XHobbiesPrime]

I bought a few Diamine ink bottles. I love the Sargasso Sea, Bilberry and Imperial Purple. I did not like the Eau de Nil really. I thought I would but it didn't look impressive in person. The Deep Dark Purple to me is almost black it is so dark. I wish it was a tad lighter but it is an interesting color. I really appreciate this video. I saw some more interesting inks to try here. :D

[@writerlywitterings]

Hi, Xombiticus, Very glad you liked the video. So difficult to get the colours/light right, so all my videos are in the same book, with the same daylight bulb overhead, and used in the same pen. But even then I'm not sure that the videos work perfectly because of variations in the camera or the way that KZbin receives and processes each film. Still, they do give an impression, which is the main thing! The Deep Dark Purple is slightly lighter on the page than it shows here, I think, and I wish now I'd used plain white paper rather than slightly ivory tinted, because then the lighter patches would show better - but of course it depends on your pen and nib combination too, as to how it looks on the page! Thanks for the comment!

[@andyprozeller4735]

Great review! I hope the director-director is being properly compensated!

[@writerlywitterings]

Surely you mean you hope the Presenter is compensated for all the laughing at his expense, let alone the cost of keeping her supplied with gin and tonic?

[@battybibliophile-Clare]

You've led me astray Michael. Off to check out some of the inks at Cult Pens, my favourite stationer, and Devonian to boot, so the money stays in our county. I shall spend the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and rereading "The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker", which I love as it's set in the city I was born in.

[@writerlywitterings]

Many thanks, Clare. Cult Pens are a dangerous addiction, I fear!

[@MrGyges]

Tea testing next

[@writerlywitterings]

Ooh, I could do that! Thanks, Peter.

[@BossPenguin]

Thank you as always for the video, it was very informative and relaxing to watch. I love your handwriting! Cheers! A question, do you still use that Pelikan M805 Demonstrator Pen from a few years back? I have the opportunity of buying a similar pen but I'm not sure how the clear resin will stand up to time. Do you have any experience on that matter? I love Pelikan pens, but the Demonstrator, being a limited run, now is worth a ridiculous amount of money, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

[@writerlywitterings]

Hi, Chris (and thanks for the inks) - no. I asked Pelikan for that pen so that I could launch my hand-written book project all those years ago, and they were really kind and sent me one. Unfortunately, I just could not get on with it. I loved the look and feel of the pen itself, but the nib was so hard and inflexible, that I found it uncomfortable to write with it. In the end, I apologised and had to send it back. Pelikan were very kind and helpful, and I really appreciated their loan of the pen, but it just wasn't right for me. And then I spoke to Dante del Vecchio, and he let me have the modified Visconti, which I still use daily. The nib is so soft, it's almost a flex, and I love the line variation I can get. The pen is made from the same lava-compound that my standard HS is made from, and very comfortable in the hand, and basically I love it!

[@BossPenguin]

writerlywitterings Hello again and thank you very much for the answer. I, too, have found the M800 nibs to be quite stiff, so I can totally understand your decision. I guess I'd better search for a M1005 demonstrator, I really love the M1000 nibs. Incidentally, I just received my new Visconti Homo Sapiens Dark Age and I'm very happy with it! It feels just like you described and it really is a joy to use. The feel of the material alone is simply unique. Cheers! Chris

[@nhuergop]

Not convinced about the audio quality, but great video!

[@marka.200]

I'm not sure what happened, the recent ones seem like he switched to a really awful microphone. Previously the audio was good.

[@writerlywitterings]

I'm really sorry about that - We had a slight glitch on this one ... the microphone was on the wrong setting! Hopefully normal service will return shortly!

[@writerlywitterings]

Yes, apologies. The microphone I have is rather fiddly at the best of times, and this went wrong! My fault. Hopefully it's going to return to normal with the latest video.

[@nhuergop]

@@writerlywitterings No worries! Still love the content!

[@marka.200]

Need you a Go pen with a finer nib to test the inks you find are too dark or otherwise show signs of too much flow from the wide nib on that pen. I have the same pen (after watching your review of it) and am enthralled with the ease of ink loading so I will probably try a finer nib, medium perhaps as I have too many fine nibs already). Thanks again for the ink reviews, so incredibly helpful.

[@writerlywitterings]

Hi, and thanks for the positive comments, Ryjox. My objective here is to compare all the inks with the same pen and same nib, so that people can see exactly how the inks work when used in the same manner. I would say, that the inks tend (to my eye) to appear darker when used in a fine or medium nib. When I use Deep Dark Blue from Cult Pens, for example, I find that they invariably look very dark indeed. When I use them in a broader nib, I can see much more variety and shading. I may think of comparing favourite colours in a finer nib at some point to see how they compare with the broader versions, though. It's an interesting thought!

[@marka.200]

@@writerlywitteringsit's unreasonable for me to ask you to, but your thorough testing inspires other ideas like that (same pen and ink, different nibs sizes side by side). Your idea of doing so with your favorites seems like a great compromise. Interesting you see darker from your fine nibs, mine seem to be very light with all but black ink. But they are different brands and I realize there are other factors than simply the nib width at play. I'm guessing you probably have very nice fine nib pens while mine are rather pedestrian (cheap) by comparison. In any case, I hope you enjoy testing inks and pens and paper enough to keep at it.

[@writerlywitterings]

That would be an interesting idea ... The main thing for me is to have a straight comparison, so each ink used in the same pen with the same nib, so that the flow and colour/tone can be directly compared - doing the same horizontally with the same ink but different pens would be quite an undertaking, but worthwhile ... hmm. I'll have a think about that.

[@muchasgracias6976]

Hello Michael. Nice useful video. Just wondering what size nib your pen has? Thanks.

[@writerlywitterings]

Hi, and thanks for the question. I should have mentioned this in all the videos - instead, like a fool, I only mentioned it in a couple of them. I was using TWSBI pens with 1.1 mm stub nibs. The reason being, I really wanted to see what the shading was like, and you're much more likely to see it with a broader, wetter nib than a fine or medium. The same nib was used for all the ink comparisons.

[@metalmethodist]

Dear Michael, of the blue inks from last video which do you feel has the most pronounced shading please? Right, off to shampoo my hands. Thanks :)

[@writerlywitterings]

Definitely the Majestic Blue. It is truly extraordinary. Looking at it, I would say that where you would expect lighter shading, with Majestic you have a strong blue colour that is pretty much a dark French Ultramarine (in watercolour parlance). The darker shades look as though they have been written with a red-coloured fine flake. I have never seen shading of this kind with any other ink. The only ink that is remotely similar is Sargasso Sea. All the other blues, the Royal, Presidential and Imperial show no sheen whatsoever. The Imperial almost looks like it's trying to, but close examination show no sheen at all.

[@metalmethodist]

writerlywitterings thank you! My bottle of Majestic Blue arrived from Cult Pens today. Thanks to your video I’m also trying Eau de Nil and, a colour I’m surprised I like but it is beautiful, Steel Blue (a fitting colour now I’ve moved to Sheffield I guess). Thanks again.

[@hemantkothari909]

Mike,it seems you have cut your thumb,otherwise the ink comparison videos are nice ,it is very impressive

[@writerlywitterings]

Yup - carelessness with dangerous inks! Thanks, Hemant!

[@christinearmington]

What paper are you using here? Having looked further I found Odessey et al. Odessey heading my way! Thank you! 🫠

[@writerlywitterings]

That is a small cahier which came from Goulet Pens, I think - it has 62gsm Tomoe River paper, I think. Lovely to write on!