Ink Swab: Diamine Wagner

Yesterday, a couple of loose ink bottles were delivered to our house, and I was so excited to try this out since I saw the swatches and samples through my friend Lexie and other online reviewers. Diamine Wagner is being sold as part of Diamine’s Music Set. I was very interested in it because it’s got this golden green color that I find very beautiful. Since the bottles were delivered at night, I had to put off writing the review until there’s enough daylight to take proper photos. 🙂

This is a very beautiful, interesting-looking ink color. It’s certainly a color that would make you look twice. In wider/broader nibs, it’s a rich golden olive green color, but in finer nibs it tends to be more of a yellow-green shade. I like using it in my medium, stub and CI nibs that are wet writers because it shows off the shading quite beautifully. The review in the photos was mostly written with a Bexley Corona and a 1.1mm Goulet nib, except in parts where I wrote with a Lamy Studio for comparison. The shading is a lot more expressive with the stub nib.

Wagner is a unique green color, as far as my collection is concerned. I’ve never used anything like it before. It looks like a cross between Iroshizuku Ina-Ho and Diamine Safari. Perhaps it’s not a color that you would use for official writing (like work-related documents, forms, etc), but it’s saturated enough to use for daily writing. It’s not hard to read.

It is a well-behaved ink, not prone to feathering and does not flow overly wet. It dries fast too, even with my 1.1mm stub (just a bit over 10 seconds on Elias Notebooks). The shading is very expressive! A dark olive green that’s rich and beautiful. Please note that shading depends on how wet a writer your pen is and of course the quality of your paper. I prefer to use Elias because it shows off the shading excellently. The ink doesn’t have any sheen, as far as I can tell. It’s not very water-resistant, though. At best, it leaves just an impression of what you wrote and most of it gets smeared off.

Here are a few close up photos of the writing sample:

A comparison of a Lamy Studio (F) and a Bexley Corona (1.1mm stub)

I have several pens inked with different green inks in my current EDC. Here’s a comparison of them.

Sigh. These green inks are wonderful. 🙂

Overall, I think Diamine Wagner is da bomb. It’s a fascinating shade of golden green, and I’m very happy to add it to my EDC.

What I used on this review:
Bexley Corona Blueberry Cream (1.1 mm stub from Goulet)
Lamy Studio Stainless Steel (Fine)
Elias Notebook (dot grid)

Leave me a comment with a valid email if you want more information on how to purchase inks and fountain pen friendly notebooks in the Philippines. I’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction. 🙂