Ink Swatch Wednesday: Diamine Flower Ink Set
A long while ago I went searching for Diamine Pansy ink because I'd heard it was very similar to the original Lamy Dark Lilac (LDL) ink. It was kind of an impulse hunt that I got swept up in, since I wasn't even familiar with LDL, and therefore didn't know what I might (or might not) be missing. Anyway, I found a couple eBay listings, one for a single bottle of Diamine Pansy and another for the Diamine Flower series of inks, which includes Pansy. I ridiculously bought both, as I wanted to have enough of the Pansy ink, in case I really loved it (spoiler alert: it's okay). 😅
Anyway, regardless of the silly way I ended up with this batch of inks, I thought I'd share the swatches for Ink Swatch Wednesday.
The set comes with 10 30mL glass bottles of flower-colored inks: Marigold, Carnation, Pansy, Bougainvillea, Cornflower, Aster, Burgundy Rose, Tulip, Iris, and Gerbera.
Marigold, Carnation, Pansy, Bougainvillea, Cornflower ink swatches
Aster, Burgundy Rose, Tulip, Iris, Gerbera ink swatches (ignore the stray blue dots on the Gerbera swatch, swatching mishap 😅)
These vibrant inks do a great job of matching their namesake flowers! I was pretty impressed by the colors. The inks I like most from the set are Marigold, Pansy, Bougainvillea, and Iris. Bougainvillea is such a surprisingly vivid magenta, rivaling Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Budo. It even has the golden sheen of Yama-Budo (barely visible in its Rhodia swatch above). Marigold is a sunny, happy orange-yellow. Pansy is an okay dark, sort of cool violet color, which I think also has a golden sheen like Lamy Dark Lilac. Iris is my favorite, a bright bluish purple.
Small note about Carnation: it reminds me of Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz, even down to the weird brownish, muddy undertones that are so visible when you first lay down the ink. The muddiness doesn't really show in the dried swatch, which is weird. I'm not sure what it is about this shade of pink and the initial muddiness, but it is kind of off-putting, beyond my regular dislike of pink shades (of anything, not just ink). 😛
I think this set has been discontinued, but it can still be found on eBay, if you're interested. I might also be persuaded to share some ink samples in trade, as these 30mL bottles hold a lot of ink that I will never finish on my own. 😅 Feel free to reach out here or on Mastodon.
