Today’s Diplomat fountain pen ink comparison is intended to give you a bit of an overview of this ink that isn’t available at many US retailers. If you’ve already discovered a love for Diplomat inks, you might still find the ink comparison useful since it can point you towards some interesting traits you may not have noticed yet, some stand out characteristics in this beautiful ink series, and it may even introduce a new color or two you haven’t had your eyes on yet.

Hoping to enter to win the giveaway and feeling antsy? Just scroll all the way to the bottom of the ink comparison, and you’ll find a link to enter to win. Good luck!

Diplomat Fountain Pen Inks: Adding More Colors to Inventory As We Go!

We’ve added more Diplomat ink colors to inventory since we conducted this Diplomat ink comparison, so you’ll see the following ink colors featured in today’s spotlight: Burgundy, Lilac, Orchid, Sepia Black, Red, Deep Green, Pine Tree, and Moss Green, but this is the complete list of Diplomat ink colors currently carried here at PenChalet.com:

• Black
• Blue
• Burgundy Red
• Caramel Brown
• Caribbean
• Deep Blue
• Deep Green
• Lilac
• Moss Green
• Orange
• Orchid Pink
• Pine Tree
• Purple
• Red
• Sepia Black

Other Products and Supplies We Used During Today’s Ink Comparison:

For today’s ink comparison, we used a J. Herbin Spiral Glass Dip Pen in Sand along with a Clairefontaine Triomphe notebook and a Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book. We also kept a Dee Charles Pen Wipe nearby to cover our bases.

The Best of the Best Inks from Today’s Diplomat Ink Comparison:

The “best” fountain pen ink choices always depend on several different factors, including the pen you’re using, the project you’re approaching, your writing style, and your personal preferences. Since we’re comparing inks today, we ran a few simple tests: writing sample, dry test, and water test. For the dry test, we wrote out 1, 2, 3…Dry Test, waited 3 seconds, and then ran a dry cotton swab over the writing. You can see the results in the video. For the water test, we wrote out 10, 9, 8…water test, waited 10 seconds, and then ran a wet cotton swab over the writing. You can see these results in the video as well.

Which Diplomat Ink Dried the Fastest?

The fastest drying inks out of today’s fountain pen inks were Diplomat Red, Diplomat Pine Tree, and Diplomat Lilac. Here are the results of the dry time test in order from fastest dry time to slowest:

• Diplomat Lilac fountain pen ink (approx. 5 seconds)
• Diplomat Pine Tree fountain pen ink (approx. 5-6 seconds)
• Diplomat Red fountain pen ink (approx. 6 seconds)
• Diplomat Orchid Pink fountain pen ink (approx. 7 seconds)
• Diplomat Deep Green fountain pen ink (approx. 8 seconds)
• Diplomat Sepia Black fountain pen ink (approx. 8-9 seconds)
• Diplomat Burgundy Red fountain pen ink (approx. 8-9 seconds)
• Diplomat Moss Green fountain pen ink (approx. 8-9 seconds)

Which Diplomat Ink Had the Most Shading & Sheen?

For your info: Sheen is a visible metallic-like overlay that some inks display when dry. Shading refers to variations of the ink’s base color (lighter or darker colors visible once the ink is dry).

Diplomat Orchid Pink ink showed the most sheen (an almost bronze sheen) during today’s ink comparison. Other inks in today’s ink comparison that showed sheening traits include: Diplomat Deep Green showed a red sheen at the wettest points, and Diplomat Moss Green also showed possibilities (another reddish sheen, but with more of a pink/purple element – and again only at the wettest points of the ink splash).

Diplomat Red and Diplomat Lilac inks showed the most potential as shading inks with the Lilac veering all the way from a light lavendar to a purple-black and the red showing a red veering towards pink at the light end of the spectrum and at other points exhibiting a strong blood red. Diplomat Sepia Black showed some interesting shading possibilities (not a huge aspect of most black inks, but the Sepia addition here made a significant difference). Diplomat Burgundy Red and Diplomat Pine Tree also showed possibilities, in both a more extreme manner and a more limited manner (both veered towards almost black at their wettest points (see the ink splashes), but definitely exhibited their brown and burgundy shades at other points during the test).

Which Diplomat Ink Was the Most Water Resistant?

According to our results, Diplomat inks are fairly resistant to water (even thought they are NOT waterproof inks). The MOST water resistant appeared to be Diplomat Pine Tree closely followed by Diplomat Lilac and Diplomat Red. We chose today’s Most Water Resistant Diplomat ink award winner based on which ink had the most legible writing with the least amount of distortion after the water test (described above).

Today’s inks in order of most water resistant to least water resistant: Pine Tree, Lilac, Red, Deep Green, Sepia Black, Burgundy Red, Orchid Pink, and Moss Green (with the last two inks appearing to almost wipe writing clean away with a swipe of a wet cotton swab).

Which Diplomat Fountain Pen Ink Comes at the Best Price? *

Normally, we’d list the inks included in today’s ink comparison in order from lowest price to highest price in this section, but that doesn’t work this week since we’re featuring 8 inks from the same manufacturer. But these German-made 30 ml fountain pin inks (in nice, heavy weight ink bottles with clear, simple packaging) are available at a fairly affordable price*. We’d place them at the lower end of the spectrum in comparison ink out on today’s market.

*Actual prices are not listed in the ink comparisons since they may vary depending on sale pricing, manufacturer price changes, etc. But you can always find the current discounted pricing on your favorite inks at PenChalet.com.

Check back often for full ink reviews (weekly along with an ink giveaway) and our new ink comparisons! And, as always, find your favorite pens and inks at PenChalet.com.

Enter to Win a Diplomat Fountain Pen Ink:

Enter to win one of the bottles of Diplomat fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink comparison (choose your color from in stock Diplomat inks):

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