Diamine Oxford Blue: Ink Review
Diamine Oxford Blue is often a surprise for people because it has a bit of sheen, but it's well behaved. Diamine Oxford Blue is a classy, dark, and sophisticated blue with enough saturation to make it incredibly beautiful. On top of all that goodness, it has some red sheen! Read on to discover all the ins and outs of this awesome ink.
Ink Review:
Supplies Used:
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Lamy Al-star with medium steel nib (also EF and B nib)
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Rhodia No. 16 dotpad, 80g white paper
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Tomoé River white paper
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Moleskine notebook
Smear Test (Dry Time):
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Medium– This ink was dry in 20+ seconds, making it an average ink. It would be good for every day writing, but will not be ideal for lefties or for lighting fast page turning.
Drip Test (Water Resistance):
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Low- This ink blurs quickly when water hits it. It would be used for gorgeous in ink washes, but if you are looking for your writing to stick around for awhile, look elsewhere.
Saturation:
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Medium- While this is a dark hued ink, you can certainly see a difference between the first and second swabs. The second and third look the same, however.
Ease of Cleaning:
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Easy-Since this ink has no water proof qualities and has low water resistance, it is easy to clean out of your pen!
Shading:
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Medium-While I'm generally a sucker for shading, I liked that this ink had a bit of shading, but not so much as to be distracting.
Flow:
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Medium– Fantastic flow! It flowed smoothly from the pen with no hard starts or gushes. In terms of flow, this would be a great every day writer.
Packaging and Aesthetics:
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80ml glass bottle with box, a 30 ml bottle, a 2ml ink sample, or cartridges
Summary:
This is truly a singular ink, and is a new favorite blue! It's somewhere in between royal blue and navy, making it a beautiful and classic hue that will go with just about anything. The saturation coupled with the slight amount of shading make it incredibly pleasing to look at. It looks fantastic on both white and cream paper. It's work appropriate while being pretty enough to make you look forward to filling your fountain pen. It's well behaved with great flow- perfect for long writing sessions.
You can find Diamine Oxford Blue in an 80ml glass bottle with box, a 30 ml bottle, a 2ml ink sample, or in a pack of cartridges.
