This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 6 door:

Day 6’s ink is Diamine Cranberry, a saturated magenta coloured standard ink with a good amount of green sheen. I used a Lamy Safari with a medium nib to test out this ink.

There’s a lot of sheen in this ink because it’s so saturated. You can see it in this angle of the Col-O-Ring swab:

And on this writing sample on the original Tomoe River Paper:

As the paper in the Rhodia pad that I’m using is more absorbent, you don’t see much sheen on it (sheen requires a saturated ink and a paper that is coated so the ink takes more time to dry). The ink itself is a lovely shade of magenta with very little shading because it’s so saturated. On uncoated paper Diamine Cranberry will likely bleed and feather, because it’s so wet and saturated. This is an ink that really needs top notch fountain pen friendly paper to shine (and sheen).

Today’s bear sketch is of Franz, a small, limited-edition Dean’s Bear British made bear that I bought second hand at York. I was looking at the bear from above, hence the somewhat weird looking proportions of it. On Midori MD Cotton paper you really get to see Diamine Cranberry sheen, though you don’t get to see it shade very much.

Here’s an angled view of the sketch. You can see the sheen on the bear’s badge and his tie.

Here’s another angle. You can see the sheen in the shadow the bear casts. I wanted to show off the sheen so I added the shadow here – wherever there’s a lot of ink laid down, there’s a lot of sheen.

And here’s Franz, today’s bear:

I very rarely use pink or magenta inks so I don’t see myself buying a full bottle of Diamine Cranberry. In terms of practicality this ink is so-so: it’s a standard ink but it’s super saturated and on the red range of inks so it may stain pens, particularly white and light bodied pens. Also, Cranberry is a cheerful colour, but not something that is appropriate for every setting. In terms of seasonality, it’s a bit of a stretch, but a welcome one. You can’t have a calendar full of just green and red inks, and Diamine Cranberry adds to the Inkvent’s variety while still remaining a Christmasy ink.

Do you like sheening inks? Do you see yourself using Diamine Cranberry?