Diamine 150th Anniversary ink: Tudor Blue (40 mL)

Tudor Blue is a lovely ink with a slightly redder undertone than the traditional royal blue inks such as Aurora Blue, J.H. Éclat de Saphir, Waterman Florida/Serenity Blue, Stipula Deep Blue, CdA Idyllic Blue, R&K Königsblau, P.W. Akkerman Delftsblau or S.T. Dupont Royal Blue. Even with its red undertone, I don’t consider this ink to be a blurple like Montblanc Royal Blue.

The ink behaves flawlessly on all my papers and with all my pens, and rinses out easily from converters. It has red sheen around the edges of the letters, but it is not overpowering like Diamine Majestic Blue or Tchaikovsky from their music collection. In pens with a stingy flow, Tudor Blue dries much lighter than it goes down, like a washable blue—which is odd since it’s not at all undersaturated. It’s a clear and clean ink, vibrant enough to pop off the page with a wet nib, but not enough to become eye-searing; depending on what a person is looking for, this could be a good or a bad thing!

Compared to Waterman’s washable blue, I find this ink to have a slightly drier flow without it being a dry ink. It doesn’t feel thin under the nib, but the traditional Sailor feedback is more perceptible when writing with it. Feathering and bleedthrough are not present; only slight ghosting on thinner papers. I’ve experienced no hard starts or skipping, not even out of my driest pen. It’s readable from all my nib widths, from Sailor H-EF to H-B, on 1911L and S alike.

A perfect birthday gift—from me, to me, with love!