Day 16’s ink is Diamine Ruby Taffeta, a very red ink with chameleon shimmer. The photo here doesn’t capture how blood red this ink is, but believe me, spilling this ink would make people call an ambulance (possibly a unicorn ambulance, because of the shimmer).

I find this ink name peculiar. I understand the ruby part of it, but why is taffeta fabric involved? Because of the sheen and sparkle of the chameleon shimmer?

Diamine Ruby Taffeta is a great ink for a Christmas themed calendar, and the ink is bold and beautiful.

Today’s bear is Oliver by June Kendal of Hardy Bears. He’s one of a kind, and tiny but handsome.

While Diamine Taffeta is a great Inkvent ink, I don’t see myself ever reaching for it for journaling or everyday use. It’s too bright and bling-y, it really calls attention to itself, and that’s a bit too much for needs. Would you buy a full bottle of Ruby Taffeta?

Day 15’s ink is Diamine Frostbite, a dark royal blue ink with light blue shimmer. It’s a nice ink and aptly named, but I feel like I’ve seen others like it in other Inkvent calendars – particularly in the first Inkvent calendar (the 2019 Blue Edition).

In fact I’m a bit surprised that Diamine haven’t had a “Frostbite” ink as part of their Inkvent calendar yet. This is a handsome and worthy ink to carry this name, even if there are other inks like in the Diamine lineup.

Diamine Frostbite is a saturated ink, which means that it has a purplish red sheen to it as well as a light blue shimmer effect. It’s not new or exciting but it works well as a holiday/winter themed ink.

Here’s a closer look at the sheen and shimmer of Diamine Frostbite:

Today’s bear is a tiny but perfect, handmade teddy bear that serves as the teddy bear for another, bigger teddy bear. Complicated, I know. Just enjoy looking at him instead:

Diamine Frostbite is the first “proper” blue of this year’s Inkvent, and it’s a good one. It’s funny that Diamine have waited so long to issue an Invent ink called Frostbite, but this ink has definitely earned the name and is pretty enough to be worth the wait.

What do you think? Is Frostbite interesting or too similar to other Inkvent inks from previous years?

Day 14’s ink is Diamine Mittens, a fuchsia pink pigment ink with some nice shading to it.

I like the colour of Diamine Mittens, and I like the shading, but I wish it was a standard ink and not a pigment one. I just don’t see myself using it in sketches, though I might experiment and maybe find that it works. It’s also considerably darkened in my Lamy Safari – I thought that maybe the pen wasn’t properly cleaned, but after double checking I think that it’s just something with the ink. In any case I like the colour – it’s got a nice purplish tone to it.

This little fellow doesn’t have a name, but does have a great little scarf and plenty of personality. I like him.

Diamine Mittens has a delightful name, and is a nice and interesting colour. It remains to be seen if it’s useful in watercolour sketches, but even if it isn’t I guess it would be nice to use it in greeting cards and letters and know that it won’t smudge if a splash of something lands on it.

Happy Hannukah!

Day 13’s ink is Molten Basalt, a standard dark blue ink with so much brown sheen that I don’t understand why this ink wasn’t categorized as a sheen ink. It’s a baffling ink, not something that I’d expect in an Inkvent calendar.

Something about this ink reminds me of Montblanc Around the World in 80 days – it’s a dark indigo blue ink that looks like spilled petrol more than anything. It reads as a dirty black ink – a brownish black.

This ink is interesting, even though I’m not sure it should be part of the Inkvent calendar. There’s something about its strangeness that makes me think that it could have been one of the those inks that Diamine designs with input from the community – like celadon cat.

The only way to see the base colour is to look at it while it dries. Once it’s dry you see the brownish purple sheen settle on every letter.

Today’s bear is Alex by June Kendall of Hardy Bears. I have several of her bears and I like her work.

I’m still not sure what I think of Molten Basalt. I will likely not buy a full bottle of it – will you?

Day 10’s ink is Diamine Nostalgia, a maroon chameleon ink with some shading. I used a TWSBI GO with a 1.1 nib to test out this ink, and it really showed off both the chameleon shimmer and the ink’s shading properties well.

There’s gold, copper, pink and red chameleon shimmer in this ink, and the effect is quite fetching. There are angles where you see little to no shimmer, and others where all the lines shine. An ink full of surprises.

The chameleon shimmer lightens Diamine Nostalgia, at least in certain angles, and the base maroon colour is warm and attractive. I think this combination works really well, as brown inks can be either very interesting or very flat and boring. Diamine Nostalgia has depth and interest because of the combination of the base colour, the shading and the chameleon effect.

I redrew yesterday’s bear. Dixie, as I didn’t like my sketch yesterday. I like today’s sketch more. Look how Dixie’s nose glows in this angle:

Closeup of the chameleon effect:

Today’s bear is Dixie from J&P bears – the same bear as yesterday, just reposed and redrawn.

I like Diamine Nostalgia – I think that it’s a good addition to the calendar, that it has a great (and appropriate) name, and that it will likely work fantastically well on cream coloured paper. What do you think?

Day 9’s ink is Diamine Bittersweet, a minty green standard ink. I used a Pilot Metropolitan with a fine nib to test this ink, and it lays down a fine and relatively dry line, but still there was a hint a shading with Bittersweet.

There is something about this ink that makes me think that Diamine Bittersweet is simply Diamine Mint Twist but without the chameleon shimmer. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just something that I’m curious about. In any case Diamine Bittersweet is a nice, solid ink and a good addition to the Inkvent calendar. It may not be the most interesting or unique ink of the bunch, but it’s still an ink that I can see myself journaling with – it’s very calming.

I’m tired so the bear in the sketch is off. I will redraw this bear with a different ink tomorrow, but for now here’s Dixie, my third and final J&P Bears bear.

What do you think? Are Diamine Mint Twist from last year’s calendar and Diamine Bittersweet related?

Day 8’s ink is Diamine Dream Catcher, a dark blue “extreme sheen” ink. It’s a super saturated ink with so much red sheen that it makes the ink look a bit purplish.

Here’s another angle of the sheen:

As you can see, the base ink colour barely appears in these samples:

I was using a TWSBI GO with a 1.1 nib to test out Diamine Dream Catcher and I hadn’t seated the nib properly after cleaning (a common issue with my TWSBI GOs is how hard it is to get the nib and feed assembled well enough to not burp out ink or wobble when writing with them). This meant that I almost had the nib burp ink on the page, which is why there are a few smudges in this sample.

You can see the lovely dark blue base ink colour pretty well when you write with it, but as soon as the ink dries practically all you can see is red sheen. It also (unsurprisingly as it’s such a saturated ink) takes a long time to dry.

Today’s bear is called Tilly, and she was made by J&P (Jean & Pauline) Bears. I like her face but I don’t like that she’s clothed.

Diamine have a lot dark blue inks with varying degrees of red sheen, and in this Diamine Dream Catcher is a bit of a disappointment as it doesn’t really stand apart from its predecessors. If you want a super sheen ink, then maybe this will be for you. Personally I don’t plan on buying a full bottle of this.

Day 7’s ink is Diamine Blush, a standard blush pink. This ink is a “super-shader” and the colour is lovely – a dusky pink that will work wonderfully well for greeting cards.

Whoever named this ink did a fantastic job – Blush perfectly describes the ink colour and the intense amount of shading that you get. It was a lot of fun sketching with this ink, and if it was waterproof it would be an interesting addition to my sketching rotation. As it is, it’s a very attractive ink that I’m pretty sure will be easy enough to clean out and well behaved enough to be safely used in vintage pens. It is slightly on the dry side, so take that into account when selecting a nib to go with it. I used a fine Lamy AL-Star nib.

I think that today’s bear is called Abi – her tag was a little confusing. In any case she’s a British bear, made by J&P Mohair Bears – a small maker – and purchased in Stonegate Bears in York. I don’t like bears that are clothed, but I liked this bear’s face enough to overlook her knitted dress.

Diamine Blush is a wonderful ink, and a good addition to Diamine’s pink ink lineup. I don’t see myself purchasing a full bottle of it, but I will enjoy this sample while it lasts.