Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering Fountain Pen ink is one of 40 colors from Diamine Ink Company’s “shimmering” fountain pen ink series. Established in 1864, Diamine inks are all made in the UK. They offer several different lines of inks: their regular line, guitar line, 150th Anniversary line, and Shimmering inks. A few years ago, we saw a flurry of shimmering or glistening inks explode onto the market. Many of today’s top ink manufacturers now produce shimmering inks, but no company produces more shimmering ink colors than Diamine ink company. They even include both gold and silver shimmer options.

Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink is a unique shade of blue-grey with a tint of teal infused with a silver sparkle or shimmer. The combination is an ideal ink choice for that special letter, card or project and shows up reasonably dark on paper. It’s also easy to use and produce the shimmer, especially with a large nib or dip pen. To capture the shimmer in each pen stroke, shake the ink bottle before filling the pen. The silver shimmer comes out with proper use, which may necessitate gently rotating the pen before use to distribute the shimmer particles evenly. Shimmering inks may not be for everyone, but they are more than a passing trend. They’re here to stay. They’re splendid for many projects, notes and letters, requiring a little special added sparkle to the written word.

Generally speaking, Diamine inks are well regarded for their quality, price, and color variety. All Diamine inks are made in the UK.

Continue reading for a chance to win the bottle of Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering Ink we used for this review.

Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering Ink

We found the following traits during our review of Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering Ink. You may find the info helpful when choosing your next ink purchase:

Testing Factors

For our review of Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink, we used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on Rhodia dot pad paper. The dip pen has a tip that is comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib.

Bottle Size

Diamine Ink Company produces several different sized bottles. The regular and guitar series of inks come in a unique 80 ml. glass bottle and a smaller plastic 30 ml. bottle. The 150th Anniversary inks come in a unique triangular pie-shaped 40 ml. glass bottle. Unfortunately, the Diamine Shimmering ink series comes in a basic round medicine shaped container with a narrow neck and small lid. The bottle does have a large capacity of 50 ml. It also comes with an easy to identify sticker showing the color of ink and the color of the shimmer in silver lettering.

Cost

Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink retails in the US for $20.00. The price is reasonable, particularly when you consider that most shimmering inks cost more.

Dry Time

Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink is a medium saturation ink. During the Pen Chalet review, we saw a dry time of approximately 9-10 seconds. We regard inks with a dry time of 10 seconds or less to be everyday inks, so this Diamine ink fits the bill for everyday use. Remember that your dry time will depend on various factors, such as nib size, the heaviness of your penmanship hand, paper type, etc. As with any shimmering or flecked ink, the best results come with the use of a larger capacity nib to avoid clogging during use as you may experience with a smaller tipped nib. Although, this may extend the dry time.

Bleed Through

During the Pen Chalet review of Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering ink, normal use did not result in any bleeding. However, during our cotton swab test, we did find a minimal amount of bleed-through, but only at the wettest part of the cotton swab test.

Feathering

During normal use of Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink on Rhodia dot pad paper, we did not experience any feathering. However, other paper and nibs may produce different results. We did notice a small amount of feathering during our water test.

Water Test

During our review of Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink, we conducted a water test. We ran a soaking wet cotton swab over an ink sample after allowing it to dry for about 3 minutes. Our results were typical for non-waterproof ink: color smearing, and a slight amount of feathering and line distortion. Overall the lines remained quite legible.

Shading/Shimmering

Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink excels in its shimmering trait. It is easy to mix just by shaking the bottle before filling your fountain pen or using with a dip pen. It will also shade a bit with a variety of colors between dark blue lines to a softer shade of blue-grey with even a slight amount of sheen coming through on very wet lines. The silver shimmer infuses perfectly with the blue-grey ink. It’s a unique and beautiful writing experience.

Conclusions about Diamine Enchanted Ocean Shimmering Ink

Although shimmering inks are not for everyone, they do have their place. If you have not yet tried shimmering ink, we suggest you use either a dip pen or a large nib pen such as a broad or stub to test it out. When considering shimmering inks, Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink is an excellent option since the ink dries fairly quickly. It’s also a lovely, everyday shade of blue. The purchase price of Diamine Enchanted Ocean ink is very reasonable, and it’s easy to clean and use. We recommend that you clean your pen periodically, usually every week or so, to avoid unwanted clogging of your nib and feed. (This tip applies to any medium to high saturation ink, shimmering or sheening ink). Use a good cleaning solution, like Pen Chalet’s Fountain Pen Flush, for this periodic cleaning process. Happy Writing from the UK!

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