Diamine Earl Grey Ink is a highly anticipated new release for 2017 by Diamine Ink Company. Diamine Ink Company has a wide variety of ink colors and bottle sizes as well as different types of inks as shimmer inks.
Diamine Earl Grey ink has sparked tremendous excitement and fanfare amount fountain pen writers. Although the color is a muted color, it is not a standard grey color of ink such as Diamine Grey or Sipula Fading Grey ink. Diamine Earl Grey ink has a darker shade of grey, allowing it to be used as an everyday ink color, The grey color doesn’t fade or diminish as it dries and has a slight purple hue to the color. Some reviews mention the ink as a slight blue hue, but we found the more of a purple hue to be prevalent.
Diamine inks are manufactured in the UK and are known to be easy on fountain pens. They are an inexpensive ink option in today’s ever increasing ink choices.
Continuing reading for a chance to win the bottle of Diamine Earl Grey Ink we used for this review.
Diamine Earl Grey Ink
We found the following traits while reviewing Diamine Earl Grey ink that you may find helpful:
Testing Factors
For our review we used French made Rhodia dot pad paper with a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen. The glass dip pen has a tip that is equivalent to a fine fountain pen nib.
Bottle Sizes
It was first reported, or better speculated, that Diamine Earl Grey ink would only come in Diamine’s larger 80 ml. standard glass bottle size. However, Diamine has released the Earl Grey color in both their regular 80 ml. standard size bottle as well as their smaller travel sized 30 ml. plastic bottle. This makes it easy to test the ink without making a large purchase commitment. The smaller plastic bottle has a small opening, which makes it harder to gather those last few drops of ink but is more economical as a trial.
Cost
Diamine Earl Grey ink is reasonably priced for a UK imported ink at $15.00 for the large 80 ml. glass bottle and less than half that price for the smaller 30 ml. plastic bottle, retailing for $7.00.
Dry Time
We experienced a fairly quick dry time of 4-5 seconds when testing Diamine Earl Grey ink. This makes this ink a easy option for every day use.
Bleed Through
We did not experience any bleeding while testing Diamine Earl Grey ink, even during the cotton swab tests.
Feathering
We did not experience any feathering during normal use with Rhodia paper using Diamine Earl Grey ink. However, during the water test, we did see some slight feathering, but only at the wettest point of the test.
Water Test
During our water test, where we ran a wet cotton swab over a dried ink sample of Diamine Earl Grey ink, there was some feathering at the wettest points as well as slight color smear. Although, Diamine Earl Grey ink is not water proof, it held up reasonably well under the water test.
Shading
Diamine Earl Grey ink produces some nice shading characteristics from a dark grey color to a lighter grey-purple hue. The contrast is very nice and distinctive.
Conclusion about the Diamine Earl Grey Ink
Diamine inks are always a good buy and a reasonable value They offer a wide assortment of colors as well as other ink characteristics that we love. The dry time for Diamine Earl Grey ink is fantastic and the color is unique. Because the color is darker than normal grey ink, it shows up well and can be used as an every day color. The two bottle size options are great for those that would like a travel size or just a “sample” size to test a new color such as Earl Grey. Happy Writing!
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