Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink Review & Giveaway

This week’s ink review is all about Diamine Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink. Last week we looked at one of this prolific ink company’s 150th Anniversary inks. Since we wouldn’t want you to think we were showing a decided preference for Diamine’s anniversary inks, this week’s ink review showcases one of Diamine’s regular ink colors. Read on for all the details!

All About the Ink Maker: Diamine

Diamine Ink Company, a prolific and well-respected ink company established in 1864, makes all their fountain pen inks in the UK. Diamine inks are known for excellent ink flow, and the company offers several different ink series:

Regular Edition (30+ regular ink colors)
Guitar Series (5 ink colors)
Shimmering Series (40 ink colors)
150th Anniversary Series (13 ink colors)
New Holiday Inspired “Blue” Edition (Remember that Diamine Inkvent Calendar?)

As you can see, this week’s ink, Diamine Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink, is just one of many inks you could easily fall in love with from this popular fountain pen ink brand.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink

Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights or Polar Lights) is featured heavily on bucket lists worldwide. If you’re like many of us here at Pen Chalet, recent travel restrictions have you craving a bit of far-flung adventure, but your ability to follow through is likely a bit limited. So we’re bringing the Northern Lights to you! Typically, adventurers travel to Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, or Finland to view the magnificent array green colors of the Northern Lights. Diamine picked one of the glorious greens seen in this natural phenomenon and bottled it for you in this week’s featured ink, Diamine Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink.

Diamine Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink is a gorgeous teal color that shows up dark on paper.

*** We’re about to dive into the nitty-gritty details of this week’s review. If you’re a full review reader, enjoy. If not, you can skip to the bottom to enter to win the bottle of ink used in this week’s ink review. Just don’t forget to come back and read the rest of the review later if you’re interested in learning more about Aurora Borealis ink.

It’s Time: Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink Review

This week we put Diamine’s Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. Get ready to hear all the details!

Read the full Diamine Aurora Borealis ink review.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

For this week’s ink review, we tested Diamine Aurora Borealis using a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. Remember that using different papers or different nib sizes may produce different results!

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Diamine Use?

Diamine inks come in different sizes and different bottles depending on the ink series. This week’s ink, Diamine Aurora Borealis, is from the regular ink series, making it available in the unique 80 ml. Diamine ink bottle and a smaller, travel-ready 30 ml. ink bottle size. (The regular ink series 30 ml. ink bottle is plastic, so it really does travel reasonably well). Diamine’s 150th Anniversary Series inks come in a distinctive triangular shaped bottle. The Guitar Series comes in the same ink bottles as the regular ink series, and Diamine Shimmering inks are packaged in a basic, round “medicine” shaped bottle with a very small lid. The ink packaging is simple and straightforward with the ink color easily identified.

How Much Does Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink Cost?

Diamine’s regular ink series is available at a very reasonable price. Check for the latest discounted price at PenChalet.com.

How Did Aurora Borealis Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?

We use the 1-dip test to see how far the ink can write on paper with “1 dip.” We conducted the 1-dip test using a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen, Rhodia dot pad paper, and this week’s Diamine ink, Aurora Borealis. We dipped the pen in the ink once for each writing sample shown above (“S,” “X,” and scribble lines), and you can see it performed nicely.

How Fast Does the Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink Dry?

Diamine Aurora Borealis fountain pen ink had a dry time of about 5-6 seconds. (This a very fast dry time). We’re very comfortable recommending this week’s ink for daily use in the home or office.

Does Diamine Aurora Borealis Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Aurora Borealis ink on Rhodia dot pad paper. And there was only slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test – and only at the wettest points.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Aurora Borealis Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use of Diamine Aurora Borealis ink on Rhodia paper. We did see some slight feathering during the water test, but the lines remained clear and legible.

How Does Aurora Borealis Stand Up to Water?

For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. This week’s ink isn’t waterproof, and when we ran the test, we saw significant color smearing, and some light feathering, both of which is typical with a darker fountain pen ink. The lines did remain legible and clear.

Does Aurora Borealis Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

We saw many shading possibilities during our Aurora Borealis ink review – dark teal green to lighter shades of blue-green. We also saw a very slight dark black sheen on very saturated points – although the sheen is unintentional.

Final Conclusion on Diamine’s Regular Ink Series Aurora Borealis:

This week’s ink comes at a very economical price for an imported ink. Part of prolific and well-regarded Diamine Ink company, Aurora Borealis ink hails from the UK.
The beautiful, dark teal color flows well, has a speedy dry time, and is safe for fountain pens. Happy writing from the UK!