This is the Diamine Inkvent 2023 day 25 door:

Day 25’s ink is Diamine Raise a Glass.

It’s the final ink of Inkvent, and as usual it’s a 30ml bottle of ink in the colour of the calendar: purple.

Diamine Raise a Glass is a dark royal purple with green sheen and what I think is chameleon shimmer (the bottle isn’t marked so it could just be regular shimmer, but it looks like a chameleon shimmer to me).

This ink is Diamine throwing everything it has on this ink: a super saturated, rich, dark purple base with a lot of green sheening and then the chameleon shimmer on top. The base ink is so dark it often appears to be black, and the chameleon shimmer works well with it. This is an ink for wide nibs and patient people as it takes a looong time to dry.

I smudged this sketch because I forgot how long this ink takes to dry and wasn’t careful enough. This is Arthus and he’s my favourite bear. I bought him 20 years ago at Hamley’s Toy Store in Regent street, London. They have a rather hidden display for collector’s bears and once I saw him I knew I had to have him despite his high price tag. The seller at the till was so taken with him she held him in her arms and had trouble letting him go. The sketch was done from an above angle that doesn’t do him justice, but look at his photo later on and you’ll see why the lady reacted as she did: Arthus is a bear that begs to be picked up and cuddled.

Here’s Arthus, my absolute favourite, in all his cute glory:

This brings this year’s Inkvent to a close. I will post a summary post with all the inks side by side as well as in colour groups tomorrow. In the meanwhile: Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!