Diamine - Fountain Pen Ink (80mL) - Earl Grey

Lovely, well-behaved, pretty ink. Easy on the eyes, and easy to read. There isn't an insane amount of shading, but enough variation to make it feel unique and interesting.

The best

After three years of using regularly, this is easily one of the best inks. The flow is silly, always easy, never too thin though. On the page, the grey is soothing, easy to ready, and interestingly complex - at times warm, at times cool, with echoes of purple, well saturated, yet still capable of shading. It is balanced and well behaved enough to put in any pen. It also performs well on a variety of paper.

I bought a little sample size of this ink and it's currently loaded up in my Lamy Al-Star. The shading is wonderful, and the ink is a different colour when put down compared to when it dries. There is a wide range of saturation, but it won't be too light or too dark at the same time. Just perfect!

I hemmed and hawed over various different shades of gray before choosing this ink. I wanted something light enough to distinguish from black but dark enough to be legible. So far I’ve only tried it with an extra fine Lamy nib. It was rather dry and feint on Rhodia paper, so I dug up an old Moleskine notebook, and it’s perfect on the porous paper.

As Michael noted in his review, there is a lavender undertone. The depth of colour is exactly what I wanted.

Because it’s rather dry, this would be a great everyday ink to use on cheaper paper for school or work, if you’re like me and tend to use finer nibs. I look forward to trying it in a bigger nib, because the shading is lovely.