Review: Diamine Maroon Ink

Just a few strokes into writing with this ink, I was already thinking, Maroon? Really? This just isn't what I think of as maroon, but maybe I don't have a good understanding of what maroon is. I expected it to be more of a burgundy color, but to my eye, this ink is more of a grayish-red. The color was somewhat unexpected.

If i was you, I'd trust that verbal description of the ink more than I'd trust my pictures. I did my best to adjust these scans so the color matched what I see on the paper, but I just cannot seem to get the hang of photographing or scanning ink colors correctly.

At work, I would probably use this ink only for editing. It's a little too red for me to favor for correspondence or notes, and I wouldn't sign anything with it. That's just me.

Otherwise, writing with this ink was pleasant. It seemed well-lubricated, neither particularly wet nor particularly dry. Flow seemed fine but, like several inks I've tried, it skipped severely with italic nibs on Rhodia paper.

On fountain-pen friendly paper like the Rhodia pad, the shading is significant in all nib sizes.

Diamine Maroon on Rhodia paper

On the Levenger wire-bound notebook paper, which is a little more absorbent, there was still a good deal of shading.

Diamine Maroon on Levenger wire-bound notebook paper

On the Tops Docket Gold yellow pad, the most absorbent of the three, the shading was far less. Then again, that's not really something I worry about when taking notes.

Diamine Maroon on Tops Docket Gold legal pad

One feature of the ink that is undeniably cool (and I can capture in a scan regardless of whether I get the color right -- yay!) is that it tends to outline the strokes. Look at that close-up, and you'll see what I mean. It's like someone took an ultra-fine tip and a darker ink and outlined the writing. If I can find this quality in a color I like more, I will have found a winner!

Outlining of Diamine Maroon ink on Rhodia paper

Having tried this ink on three papers, I think I can see it does not bleed or feather much. Like most inks I've tried, it did not bleed or feather on the Rhodia pad at all (on which almost nothing does, which is why I tried more papers), but even on the more absorbent Levenger paper, through which some inks do bleed, there was no bleeding or feathering at all. I was writing some notes for court the other day and got halfway down the backside of a sheet before I realized I even was writing on the back side. What a pleasant experience, given the bleeding Levenger papers I have tried before (circa and a grid pad)!  Even the show-through was very, very light (photo). Only on the Tops Docket Gold legal pad did the ink bleed significantly (photo), but it didn't feather even there.

An overall nice ink with a shade that isn't quite my cup of tea.  If I could get used to the color, though, I'd love to use this for correspondence because of the outlining behavior.

Flickr photo set here.

Review: Diamine Maroon Ink