Diamine 1864 Blue Black: Ink Review

Hi there! This week's Monday Matchup ink is Diamine 1864 Blue Black. I'm a huge Diamine ink fan, and I especially love their anniversary ink collection. I chose this particular ink because I love to use Blue Black inks for art. They provide so much color variation allowing you to create really dynamic pieces. I fell in love a little more with this ink when I realized you can see some red sheen in it when it pooled. I really enjoyed working with Diamine 1864 Blue Black and think you would too! Now on to the review.

Supplies Used:

• LAMY Al-Star with medium steel nib (also EF and B nib)
• Rhodia No. 16 dotpad, 80g white paper
• Tomoé River white paper
• Moleskine notebook

Smear Test (Dry Time):

• Slow– This ink had a 30 second + dry time, but I think by a minute it would have been dry. I've definitely worked with wetter inks!

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

• Medium– Since this ink has darker pigments, they stick around for longer. It is by no means water proof, but you'll know if you wrote something with it.

Saturation:

• High-This is a dark ink with plenty of pigmentation. It's nice, dark, and deep.

Ease of Cleaning:

• Easy– Despite the dark color of this ink, it was pretty easy to clean the pen after use. A lighter shade would obviously be easier, but for a highly saturated ink, it was no problem!

Shading:

• Low-You could see a bit of shading, and with a flex pen you may be able to see more. All in all, the shading was much lower than others. It's a nice full-bodied blue black!

Flow:

• Medium– This ink had a great flow! Not too wet, not too dry, it flowed nicely from the pen.

Packaging and Aesthetics:

• 40ml glass bottle with box and a 2ml ink sample
• The bottle has a skinnier opening than others, but it's still easy to fill a pen. If ink was low, it could be problematic.
• The bottle is shaped like a slice of pie or pizza. Looks great when you have a few anniversary inks together!

Summary:
This ink is superb. For writing, drawing, ink washes, you name it, it's going to perform beautifully. It'll work well at work, but is still fun and vibrant enough to be enjoyable. I think I'm going to have to dedicate a pen just for this ink…

Diamine 1864 Blue Black is available at Goulet Pens in a 40ml bottle or a 2ml ink sample.