One of the new Diamine inks is Bilberry, a really deep purple with the barest hint of blue in it. I had to give this a long, hard look to see if the color was a true purple or whether it leaned to blue or red, and I have to say it does go a touch to the blue side.
Two other colors to show against it are EVERFLO Orchid (below) and J. Herbin Violette Pensee (right). Both are truer purple colors, no where near as dark as Bilberry.Drying time is okay, my Monte Verde Invincia medium nib might have had more to do with the large amount of ink laid down than for that to be a quality of the ink itself. And it's not water resistant, so if you get your writing wet it will definitely fade. But I'm more interested in the color, which does have a beautiful subtle shading to it.
Definitely if you want something a bit more interesting than black you should try out this new Diamine color (and take a look at Ancient Copper as well).
Thanks for the review, Diane. Folks who balk at anything but black ink may want to rethink (I did), and try one of those "blended" (my term) blacks. They'll give you a writing ink conservative enough for ordinary correspondence, but with enough difference for a good change-up, to add interest, etc.
ReplyDeleteI got a PR Ebony Purple by mistake. Although I thought of returning it, I looked instead at those color charts and color solids, and talked myself into thinking it was Tyrian purple, the royal color of the Caesars. I opened, I inked, I wrote. I like the stuff. BTW--I'm pretty sure Note Booker Esq. once reported using non-black in business correspondence, and it was acceptable. Jack/Youngstown