Diamine – SusieG Studio

My Two Black Fountain Pen Inky Colors

I found this blog post in my drafts folder from late last year and I forgot to share it. I thought I would go ahead and publish it for those of you who were curious about these limited edition ink colors.

There were two inks I received back in June of last year. I wrote a blog post for each ink color and forgot to show writing samples and swatches together.

I currently have two pens (GO with Medium nib) inked with each color. I’ve been writing with these pens for a few days and wanted to share some of the writing and sketching experiences while using these two black ink colors.

At first, one would think a black ink is basically a black ink color. True. For me, it’s much more than the basic black color. These two inks have their own unique personalities and I like each of them for what they show on paper.

SHOGUN

Let’s start with my first black ink called Shogun. The base color of this ink is a true neutral black ink color. When I say neutral, it does no possess any other underlying color(s) other than black or dark gray.

When I applied water to this ink, the underlying color I saw is a neutral gray color. I really enjoyed this neutral ink’s personality/characteristic. It’s a lovely and subtle black ink color.

Sheen: There is a slight dark sheen in this ink. It’s not noticeable in regular writing, but I can see it in my swatch.

Shading: There’s not much shading that I can see in this ink and from my writing samples.

Shimmers: The shimmers at first appear to be pink. When I look at the shimmers in the bottle it appears to be more rose gold or coppery-like. It’s a gorgeous shimmery color.

PATINA ROARING BLACK

This beautiful ink appeared on my radar because of the swatches I saw on social media. Since I was in a black inky mood, I thought I would give this ink a try. If some of you have been following me for a few years, you know that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with some of the earlier FWP inky colors that were too light in color to write with and also too dry to sketch with.

This particular inky color changed my mind about FWP. My swatch showed quite a bit of personality for a black ink. It showed a lovely blue underlying color along with golden shimmers. My swatch also showed a lovely robust red sheen. Oh and who could not resist the cute perfume-looking bottle?

Sheen: A bright and lovely red sheen can be seen on my swatch.

Shading: There’s not much shading that I can see in this ink and from my writing samples.

Shimmers: This ink has golden shimmers.

If I looked straight on at the writing sample I did with both inks, they looked very similar in color. The only way I could tell them apart was when I used my water brush and painted over the lines. Shogun has a neutral gray underlying color while Patina Roaring Black has a lovely blue color.

Shogun (top) and Roaring Patina Black (bottom)

I just realized that FWP Patina Roaring Black has been sold out. That makes sense since that was a limited edition ink. A very nice and very similar inky replacement would be Diamine Tempest which comes in a 50ml bottle. Tempest is actually a dark blue ink with golden shimmers with a slight and subtle pinkish sheen. It’s not an exact match, but fairly close.

Inks: Jacques Herbin Shogun. Ferris Wheel Press Patina Roaring Black. Diamine Tempest (Red Inkvent Calendar)

Pens: TWSBI GOs with Medium nibs. Lamy Al-Star Marron with Fine nib.

Journal: GLP Creations The Author Tomoe River Paper 68gsm

Another Jinhao x159 with (#8) Extra Fine Nib

I wanted to provide one more Jinhao x159 blog post for those who are interested in how their Extra Fine nibs behave.

I had written in my previous blog post that I already have the Avocado Green version of this pen with an Extra Fine nib and it wrote like a wet EF. I was curious to see if another EF nib would write the same way. I went ahead and ordered the orange version.

After my orange pen arrived, I checked the nib with my loupe. I could tell the nib was going to write well. I examined the feed and found the familiar blue ink that Jinaho uses to check their nib’s writing experience. I removed the section from the body and dropped in some water and let it run through the feed until the water came out clear.

I filled my orange pen with Brandy Dazzle and did a writing sample comparison. My sample shows my orange pen writes a bit finer than my green pen.

The nib writes smooth with just a tiny bit of feedback.

The line differences between these two Extra Fine nibs could be the result of the different inks I’m using. I find Oklahoma City to be a bit on the wet side and Brandy Dazzle to be a tad bit drier.

I’m happy to see the EF nibs, in general, write well on non-fountain pen paper and shows no bleed through. I have several desk journals I’ve been saving for my finer nib pens.

The EF nibs can handle shimmering inks without any issues.

Pens: Jinhao x159 with Extra Fine nibs in Orange and Dark Green

Inks: Diamine Brandy Dazzle (shimmer) and Robert Oster Oklahoma City

Journal: GLP Creations The Author Tomoe River Paper 68gsm

More Jinhao x159s…Please

Back in December of last year, I shared a blog post about my lovely Jinhao x159s. I started out with two of their basic pen colors that were readily available: a dark blue with gold trim and the basic black resin color with silver trim.

I mentioned at that time, I saw an Avocado green and a few other colors would be available at the beginning of this year.

Fast forward to now and here is a picture of my current Jinhao x159 family.

x159 colors: black, dark blue, avocado green, wine red, and dark green

The avocado green color is quite pretty. I’m also thinking about adding the orange pen color later this year.

My writing sample shows the top three written with a fine nib and the last one written with an extra fine nib.

My four x159s with fine nibs (blue, black, avocado, and red) have unique personalities. The are all smooth nibs, but I can see they write with different personalities. My Wine Red writes the finest (but still wet) and my Black pen writes the wettest.

I was curious about Jinhao’s extra fine nib and how well it would perform with my writing and sketching. I decided to add a Dark Green color with gold trim. When I received this pen, I could see remnants of blue ink that had dried on the feed. I was glad to see that Jinhao tested my EF nib before packaging and shipping. I gave my pen a good rinse and filled it with some lovely olive green ink called Oklahoma City.

The EF nib is smooth with a tiny bit of feedback. It writes like a dry fine nib. Just slightly narrower than my Wine Red fine nib pen.

I’ve been leaning towards the gold trim as it comes with the two tone gold and silver nib.

I wonder if Jinhao will produce additional colors. I could use a purple and a teal pen color to match my favorite ink colors.

Pens: Jinhao x159 in Black, Dark Blue, Avocado Green, and Wine Red with Fine nibs. Jinhao x159 in Dark Green with Extra Fine nib.

Inks: Robert Oster Blood Rose (shimmer) and Oklahoma City. Diamine Enchanted Ocean (shimmer). Van Dieman’s Ink Devil’s Kitchen.

Day 25: The Last Day with My Swatches of Green Inks

We are at the end of our Diamine Inkvent Calendar. I want to say a huge thank you to T for providing me with her lovely swatches. Today’s Diamine ink is Best Wishes a shimmering and sheening ink. It appears to be a dark green ink with a massive amount of red sheen and green shimmers.

I pulled out my green swatches from my collection.

Enchanted Woods was the only green ink I had that contained green shimmers.

Upon further inspection, the shimmers looks more like a silver-green.

I narrowed down my choices to three ink colors that had no shimmers.

Black Ivy, which also has a massive amount of sheen, was from last year’s calendar. There’s a dark blue underlying color in Black Ivy which makes it lean a bit towards a teal blue color. Sea Turtle is a true green ink color with lovely red sheen. River of Fire is a green ink color that leans a bit towards blue as I can see some blue in the underlying color.

Yes. Best Wishes made it to my wish list.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Black Ivy. Diamine Golden Ivy (shimmer). Van Dieman’s Ink Sea Turtle and Enchanted Woods (shimmer). Taccia Midori. Robert Oster River of Fire and Peppermint.

Day 24: More Blue-Purple Swatches

Today’s Diamine Inkvent color is One More Sleep. This is a standard blue ink. It reminds me of a blue-purple color with cornflower blue and pink underlying colors.

Here is T’s lovely and interesting swatch of this Diamine ink color. I’ve read this ink leans a bit more on the wet side.

I immediately found a few blurple swatches from my collection.

Yes – Grey Seas, Evening Sapphire, and Midnight Sapphire look very similar. Especially when I use use all three in my pen & ink wash sketches. It’s hard to tell them apart.

Grey Seas is a medium blue color while Midnight Sapphire is a dark blue color. Evening Sapphire falls somewhere in between the two other ink colors. It’s more prevalent in my writing on my swatch cards.

I narrowed down the choices to three. Storm and Night Shade are from last year’s calendar. Storm has a lovely golden-green shimmer.

One More Sleep did not make my wish list as I have plenty plenty bottles of blurple ink color.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Storm (shimmers) and Night Shade. Robert Oster Grey Seas, Evening Sapphire, and Midnight Sapphire.

Day 23: My Non-Coral Red Swatches

Today’s Diamine ink color is Celebration. This is a coral-red-peach color with golden shimmers. Thank you T for sharing your lovely swatches.

When I first saw a few swatches of Celebration, the first color that came to my mind was coral. The closest swatch color I had was from last year’s Red Inkvent calendar called Peach Punch. This is a red that leans a bit towards orange.

I initially pulled a few other swatches and ended up with the following colors that leans a bit more towards red-pink.

Red Lustre and Pink Glitz has golden shimmers.

I picked Sushi because it’s another fave color of mine. A plain pinky-red ink color that creates a lovely light pink wash.

Looks like I will be adding Celebration to my wish list as I do not have a true coral ink color.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Peach Punch. Diamine Red Lustre and Pink Glitz (shimmers). Robert Oster Sushi.

Day 22: My Eggplant Purple Swatches

Today’s Diamine Inkvent color is Deck the Halls. It’s a stunning chameleon ink with rose gold and copper shimmers. As more folks are posting this lovely ink color on social media, I’m seeing a purple color leaning towards red. The first thought that popped into my head was eggplant.

T’s swatch shows a pretty display of rose and gold shimmers.

Since this is called a chameleon ink, I expected to see two different shimmers in this ink. I can definitely see some rose and gold shimmers from T’s bottle.

I mentioned in my last blog post how I enjoy a good medium to dark pink color. I also enjoy a good purple leaning red color. You can see from my selection, this purple is also one of my fave colors.

I enjoy having a good range of colors. Each one has a unique personality or two.

I tried to narrow down my selection.

Sunset has a pretty rose gold shimmer.

If I had to choose three colors from inky collection, it would be these three.

Sydney Lavender and Summer Purple are my favorite purple ink colors.

Here’s a pen & ink wash circle I created back in November showing off Sydney Lavender’s underlying colors. Gorgeous, huh?

Yes, I will be adding Deck the Halls to my wish list as I do not have an eggplant ink color with the rose, gold and coppery shimmering particles.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Harmony. Diamine Frosted Orchid (shimmer). Robert Oster Sydney Lavender, Velvet Crush, and Silver Dawn (shimmer). Kaweco Summer Purple. Montblanc Amethyst. Van Dieman’s Ink Black Tongue Spider Orchid and Beetroot Relish. Dominant Industry Sunset (shimmer).

Day 21: My Lovely Red Swatches

Today’s Diamine Inkvent color is Cosy Up. This is a lovely standard red ink color. It’s a basic medium red ink with a pink base.

Here is T’s ink swatch and writing sample.

A close up of T’s swatch shows a tiny bit of dark sheen.

I have to mention again how lovely this Cosy Up ink color is. It wasn’t too hard for me to come up with several comparison swatches from my inky collection.

I’ve included last year’s Red Robin swatch along with other Diamine and Robert Oster reddish-pinky ink swatches.

Here are three standard inks that remind me of Cosy Up. Sushi is a fave ink of mine.

Here are my dark pink and red inks with shimmering particles.

Pink Glitz has gold shimmers while Pink Ice has silver shimmers. These two are my favorite medium to dark pink shimmering ink colors. No Fixed Address is a red color with blue shimmers.

I prefer to use medium to dark pink ink colors for my journal writing and sketches. My pink inks are used as a substitute for using red in my sketches. I find reds to be a bit bold and overwhelming while a good pink ink can be subtle and blends well on art paper.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Red Robin. Diamine Pink Glitz and Pink Ice (shimmers). Robert Oster No Fixed Address (shimmer), Red Candy, Rubine, and Sushi.

Day 20: My Dark Blues Swatches with Sheen and Shimmers

Today’s Diamine daily ink color is Arctic Blast. This is a dark blue chameleon ink with lots of sheen and shimmers. There’s a lot going on in T’s writing sample.

In T’s photo, I can see the blue shimmers in her bottle. Others have mentioned seeing turquoise blue and pink shimmers.

Here is my swatch selections for today. All five show off some lovely red sheen.

All but my Ruby Blues have shimmering particles.

I’ve narrowed down my swatch selection to three choices.

Each of these three inks have a unique personality especially with their shimmering colors. I really do enjoy a gold rose gold/copper shimmering ink. That’s probably why I like Ham so much. For Stars & Stripes, the ink appears to have slightly larger shimmering bits or perhaps the shimmers are more metallic and shows off the bright sparkles more.

Ham does lean more towards a dark teal color. It’s a beautiful ink to write with and creates a beautiful color wash.

Yes. I have too many bottles of blue ink. Yes. I will be adding Arctic Blast to my wish list.

Ink swatches: Diamine Red Inkvent Ruby Blues. Diamine Jack Frost. Colorverse Stars and Stripes and Ham Glistening inks. Robert Oster Blue Moon (shimmer)

Day 19: My Dark Blue Swatches

Today’s Diamine Inkvent color is Silent Night. This is a standard dark blue ink color with a some red sheen.

T’s swatch shows an amazing amount of red sheen.

Silent Night is what I call a true blue ink color. I came up with four ink swatches that have similar personalities.

I found a sketch online where I could see some hints of pink in the underlying color.

It’s early in the morning and I was not able to find too many swatches online to help me with the color comparisons. For now, I’ll go with what I have.

Ink swatches: Robert Oster Great Southern Ocean and Tokyo Blue Denim. Diamine Blue Black and Denim.