Ink Swab: Diamine Denim

My favorite blue black ink is Noodler’s Blue Black. It’s the kind of ink that makes you do a double-take because you can’t figure out if it’s really black or blue. Unfortunately, it’s always out of stock at Scribe Writing Essentials. It gets sold out as soon as it arrives (I should probably ask for a bottle to be reserved for me).

I did find a decent dark blue ink this week, though–Diamine Denim.

This was part of a package offered by Elias Notebooks (buy a journal and add +100 for a 30ml bottle of Diamine Ink). Since I bought a large and small journal, I also bought Diamine Denim and Macassar along with them. Macassar is also quite luscious. I would describe it as black-brown or dark chocolate.

Anyway, Diamine Denim is exactly the color of dark denim. It’s still more on the blue side rather than on the black side like how I prefer blue black inks, but this dark blue is very beautiful. It’s a formal blue, a subdued tone compared to other bright blue inks. It’s highly saturated and does not show too much shading when used with wet writers. In low light, it can pass for black. It also doesn’t change its color too much after drying for a while. It just darkens a bit after a day or two.

It’s also pretty well-behaved. It flows well, does not clog or dry up, not prone to nib creep either. It dries a little bit slow, but that could just be because I tested it with one of my wet writers (Pelikan M200, medium). It’s a pretty gorgeous shade of dark blue, immediately making it to my top three favorite blue inks.

By the way, I’m using Elias Notebooks for my ink journal now. It’s got the best paper I’ve tried so far. Brings out the ink properties very nicely.

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Elias Notebooks. I buy my own pens and paper products. 😉