This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 11 door:

Day 11’s ink is Diamine Grotto, an “Extreme Sheen” reddish-orange ink. “Extreme Sheen” is a new ink property added to the calendar this year, and Diamine believe in truth in advertising: there’s an astonishing amount of sheen in this ink. I used Lamy Safari with a fine nib to test out Diamine Grotto and even with a fine nib the sheen came through on ever letter.

The base ink colour for Diamine Grotto is a deep, rich reddish orange, and it would have been welcome even without the extreme sheen, after all the grays and blues we’ve had.

The sheen, a golden green sheen, glows on every letter, making them pop almost as much as “Star Bright” glitter does. There’s a bit of shading with this ink, but it’s hard to see with all the sheen going around.

I compared Diamine Grotto with Diamine Fireside Snug, one of my favourite and most used inks from last year’s Inkvent, and Diamine Grotto is more saturated and tends a bit more to the red than Diamine Fireside Snug. It also has a lot of sheen, of course, which Fireside Snug doesn’t have.

If you prefer shading to sheen, you’d like Fireside Snug more. If you like a punchier ink, then Diamine Grotto is for you.

Here’s a writing sample on Rhodia paper. This Rhodia pad is fairly absorbent and so normally wouldn’t show much sheen, especially with a fine nib fountain pen, but even on this paper the sheen was obvious. However, because there was less sheen than on less absorbent paper you can see the base orange colour better here:

Angle the paper a bit and the sheen is immediately apparent. All the places that appear to glitter have the sheen effect on them:

Here’s a writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper, angled so that the light catches the masses of sheen here:

And here’s today’s sketch of one of my favourite bears, “Mud Pie”, on Midori MD Cotton paper. This ink is really warm and lovely and works well with the colour of his mohair.

And this is Mud Pie. He’s small and very cute and cuddly.

Diamine Grotto is a bright and warm ink with eye-catching golden green sheen that makes every letter glow. It’s not an ink I’d use in a vintage pen, but it’s still a fairly practical and fairly seasonal ink and a nice break away from the grays and blues we’ve seen in previous days. I have a bottle of Fireside Snug and so I doubt that I’d get a bottle of Grotto, but if you’re in the market for a reddish orange ink Diamine Grotto might be the ink you’re looking for.

Do you like sheening inks? Do you see yourself using Diamine Grotto? What do you think of the “Extreme Sheen” effect?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 10 door:

Day 10’s in is Diamine Chilly Nights, a blue-black “Star Bright” ink, which means shimmer, a lot of shimmer. I used a Lamy AL Star fine nibbed pen to test out this ink.

The base ink offers some nice shading, though you can barely see it because there’s so much silver shimmer going on. Here’s a close up of the Col-O-Ring swab:

It looks like there’s a hint of red sheen to this ink, which isn’t surprising as it’s a dark and pretty saturated ink, but again – the masses of silver shimmer mask all other properties of the ink. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing: Diamine Chilly Nights definitely has a wow effect to it, and it’s a stunningly beautiful ink.

You can see the letters glowing with shimmer here:

Here’s a writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper. You can see a hint of shading and sheening here:

And from a different angle you can see the dazzle of the shimmer effect. Compare it to yesterday’s Diamine Wishing Tree directly above it – that one’s a Chameleon ink. You can barely see the shimmer effect on Wishing Tree and you absolutely can’t miss it on Diamine Chilly Nights.

I flipped the nib around for the fine lines on today’s bear sketch. Teaberry is an unusually shaped bear but there are quite a few Charlie Bears that come in this style. I had to shade the lamp to get a decent photo due to the glint from all the glitter.

This is Teaberry the bear. If you watched the “Wicked” movie you’d understand me when I say that she would fit perfectly on Glinda’s bed.

Diamine Chilly Nights is a stunning, if impractical ink. It’s perfect for the season: a readable ink with a big wow effect, which makes it perfect for greeting cards. I don’t see myself using it regularly, but it definitely works as a “special occasion” ink.

What do you think of Teaberry, today’s bear? And would you buy a full bottle of Diamine Chilly Nights?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 9 door:

Day 9’s ink is Diamine Wishing Tree, a grey green ink with chameleon shimmer in it that is silver, green, blue and copper coloured. I used a Lamy AL Star with a fine nib to test out this ink.

Here’s a close up of the col-o-ring swab. You can see the shading on the ink itself (like Diamine Marley there’s a lot going on here in terms of shade), and a bit of the chameleon effect.

Here is a writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper. It mainl shows off the shading properties of Diamine Wishing Tree.

Diamine Wishing Tree is a greener and cooler toned ink than Diamine Marley, but it’s still very similar to it in terms of its general properties and tonal family. The chameleon effect is much subtler than regular shimmer, and it adds a mystique to this ink that is befitting its name.

You can see some of the shading and chameleon shimmer from this angle:

On Midori Cotton MD paper Diamine Wishing Tree’s shading properties are even more pronounced:

You can better see the shading and a bit of the chameleon shimmer here:

Today’s bear is Hogarth from Dean’s Rag Book Company. He’s a membership bear from 2007, and is a black bear, a relative rarity in the collectable bear world (it’s harder to see the seams and sew black bears properly and so there’s fewer of them).

If Diamine Marley wasn’t part of this year’s Inkvent, then I would have found Diamine Wishing Tree more impressive. As it is, it’s a very good grey toned ink with a lot of interest. It’s not the most practical (because of the chameleon shimmer) or the most festive (though the shimmer does add here), but it’s a solid entry for this year’s Inkvent.

Which of the two do you prefer: Diamine Marley or Diamine Wishing Tree?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 8 door:

Day 8’s ink is Diamine Marley, a purple grey standard ink that is actually multi chromatic, like some of the Sailor Studio inks. I used a Lamy Safari with a Fine nib to test out this ink.

Here’s a close up of the Col-O-Ring swab. You can see that Diamine Marley shades a lot, but in the swab itself it’s easy to see just how many shades of colour are in this ink: grey, pink, purple, turquoise, green.

Here’s a writing sample of Diamine Marley on Rhodia paper. It writes like a Sailor Studio ink, but it’s a Diamine ink, so it will be a fraction of the price. It didn’t photograph very well, but this is far from a bland warm grey. You want to just keep exploring this ink as you write with it.

Here’s a writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper. I wasn’t able to capture the full magic of the different shades of colour in this ink, but it’s there. It may not be the full Sailor Studio experience, but it’s close enough.

Here’s today’s teddy bear sketch. Diamine Marley has a good flow and excellent shading properties, and it’s a lot of fun to sketch with this ink. Is it grey? Is it purple? Was there a hint of blue there? And a hint of pink? This ink keeps you guessing.

This bear is one of my only Steiff bears (I don’t like the Steiff look), and one of the few bears in my collection that is unnumbered (though he’s more expensive than a good number of my one of a kind artist bears). It’s also a black bear, which is uncommon, and is a replica of the first black bear that Steiff ever made. It’s called “Teddy bear 1912” and it has an interesting story. From Steiff’s site:

After the dramatic sinking of the “Titanic” in 1912, Steiff produced black Teddy bears for the very first time to reflect the mood of the grieving nation of Great Britain. These “mourning bears” have remained in the memory of many people to this day . This beautiful black bear with its copper-backed, “red-cried” eyes honours the memory of the people aboard the “Titanic”, but also looks to the future with hope.

Diamine Marley is the first ink of this calendar that I will be purchasing. I like grey inks, and this one is a more accessible and affordable Sailor Studio style ink. It scores high on the pragmatic side for me, as it’s a standard ink that’s not overly saturated and yet remains readable and conventional enough to use in many settings. By calling it “Marley” Diamine tied it to the Christmas theme, while in reality it’s not the most festive of colours. It is a nice wintery colour though, and a very attractive ink.

What do you think of Diamine Marley? Do you write with grey inks?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 7 door:

Day 7’s ink is Diamine Lemon and Lime – a light lime green ink with green to gold chameleon shimmer. I used a Lamy AL Star broad nibbed fountain pen to test this ink out.

Here’s another angle of the swab, where you see a bit more of the chameleon ink in effect:

And a closer look at the swab that also shows some of the shading in this ink:

Here’s Diamine Lemon & Lime on the original Tomoe River Paper, which really shows off the shading properties of this ink:

Here’s Diamine Lemon & Lime on a Rhodia paper notepad. This ink dries a bit darker than it writes, but is still pretty unreadable because it’s so light. The photo darkened this writing sample a bit and this pen lays down a good amount of ink, which also helped a bit with legibility. It’s an interesting ink and a unique one, due to the combination of the base ink colour and the chameleon effect.

Here’s a close up of today’s bear sketch, made on Midori MD Cotton paper. You can see the shading properties of this ink and a bit of the chameleon shimmer. I laid down a lot of ink but as it’s a very light, unsaturated ink there was no bleeding or show-through.

Here’s a look at the full sketch. If you look at the writing sample you can see how hard it is to make the writing out because there’s so little contrast between the Lemon & Lime ink and the white page.

Today’s bear is one of the few that I have that have clothes. His name is, unsurprisingly, Sherlock, and I purchased him in York. He’s a Canterbury Bear, designed and made in England by Maude and John Blacktown.

Diamine Lemon & Lime may add some interest and bright cheeriness to this year’s Inkvent, but it’s a completely impractical ink because it’s too light to be legible and it has the chameleon shimmer added to it, which makes it harder to clean out of a pen. It’s somewhat appropriate thematically, but I still don’t ever see myself using it, let alone buying a full bottle of it. I will actually be dumping it out of the pen and cleaning it the minute this review has been posted.

What do you think of Diamine Lemon & Lime? Do you see yourself using it? Do you use yellow or very light green inks?

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?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 5 door:

Day 5’s ink is Diamine Icy Lilac, a light bluish purple shimmer ink with silver shimmer. I used a Montrverde Giant Sequoia with an ominflex nib to test this ink out.

It’s difficult to properly photography purple inks, and doubly so when they have shimmer in them, so here’s a photo of a different angle of the Col-O-Ring swab of Icy Lilac.

Since it’s hard to properly capture purple inks, here’s a comparison layout of a few other light purple inks from recent Inkvents. Icy Lilac is very close to 2021’s Night Shade (with added shimmer), and bluer than Memory Lane, Rainbow’s End and Jacaranda.

Diamine Icy Lilac is an attractive, wintery ink and the shimmer enhances what would otherwise be a slightly anemic colour. It’s dark enough to be readable, and light enough to pass for a dark grey when sketching. I used it in a figure drawing session (it’s a nude, which is why I won’t upload it here) and it worked well for that. If you’ve always wanted to sketch directly with ink, I recommend starting with a lighter coloured one, as opposed to black. A grey ink or even a bluish purple one like Icy Lilac works well for this: you can make mistakes without them being too glaring. And surprisingly I didn’t feel like the shimmer got in the way.

Here’s the bear sketch of the day. This is Wablemar, a German, Steiner bear designed by Antje Zahl. The shading of Icy Lilac make it work well for line sketches, as you can see here:

This is Wablemar the bear. I love his fur colour and his characterful face.

Diamine Icy Lilac is a wonderful bluish-purple ink that is light enough to be useful for sketching and dark enough to be readable. The silver shimmer add a wintery air to it, and though it means that I won’t be able to use it in my vintage pens, the ding to its practicality is worth the bump up to its seasonal theming. This is actually an ink that I would consider purchasing a bottle of, despite having a bottle of Diamine Memory Lane. We’ll have to see how it fares against the rest of the inks in the calendar in the end.

Do you enjoy purple inks? Would you consider sketching with Icy Lilac? Would this be an ink you’d purchase for yourself or as a gift?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 day 4 door:

Day 4’s ink is Diamine Forest Gateau, and unfortunately it’s a scented ink. The base colour is a rich, dark claret that is very saturated, and so doesn’t offer much shading. I used a Lamy Safari medium nibbed fountain pen to test out this ink.

Diamine Forest Gateau is a darker shade of red than last year’s Diamine Bah Humbug. It also doesn’t shade as much as Bah Humbug and it doesn’t have the attractive Chameleon effect. What it does have is a smell.

I don’t like scented inks for two reasons:

1. They always smell like cheap potpourri. It doesn’t matter if they’re supposed to smell like violets, strawberries or chocolate, they always smell artificial and sickly sweet.
2. They always have terrible ink flow: they’re ultra wet and bleed easily.

Even if I disregard the smell and the flow, the ink itself isn’t too great as it doesn’t offer much beyond a nice base ink colour. There are a lot of dark red inks in the market that have nice shading, better flow, and oftentimes some other point of interest. And they don’t stink.

Today’s bear is one of my favourites because of his unique face style. I like the base ink colour of Forest Gateau so this would have been a nice ink to use for this sketch if the ink itself was better behaved. As it is, I will dumping it out of the pen and cleaning it as soon as this review is up.

This is the bear. He’s got a round, elongated face and ears way at the back of his head. And surprisingly, no name.

I obviously won’t be buying a bottle of Forest Gateau. If you enjoy scented inks, then maybe this one’s for you as it fits nicely enough theme-wise. In terms of practicality it scores low in my opinion because of the scent and because of the flow.

Do you like scented inks? What do you think of Diamine Forest Gateau?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 day 3 door:

Day 3’s ink is Diamine Noble Fir, an apple green star bright ink. Star bright inks feature extra shimmer, as in all the shimmer that Diamine could plausibly get their hands on. It shimmers, I promise, you won’t be able to miss it. I used a Lamy Safari with a medium nib to test this ink out.

Here’s a close up on the ink, wherein you can see that it is indeed a star bright ink, and you can see some of its shading properties.

If this ink feels somewhat familiar, it’s because it’s basically last year’s Diamine Merry and Bright but one shade darker (and bluer) and with a lot more shimmer. You can see the two side by side below and also see the difference between what Diamine calls a shimmer ink and what they call a star bright ink.

Here’s a writing sample on Rhodia paper with this ink. Diamine Noble Fir flows well, has some shading and a ton of silver shimmer. More than you think is healthy for any pen, which is why this ink will get nowhere near one of my vintage fountain pens.

Also, I kind of wish that they would have called it “Diamine Elphaba” after seeing and enjoying the movie “Wicked”. It’s too sparkly for Elphaba, I know, but it’s also nowhere near dark enough to be called “fir” and yet here we are.

Here’s a closeup on the writing sample, where you can see the ink shading and the shimmer.

Today’s sketch features a German bear which is called “Spooky” for some reason. It’s not spooky at all. You can see some of the shading properties of this ink and again the ever present shimmer.

And here’s Spooky, the not-at-all spooky bear. There’s actually something about him that reminds me of Elmo from Sesame Street.

In terms of practicality, Diamine Noble Fir scores higher than you’d think. This isn’t by any means an everyday ink, but for the holiday season it’s pretty much perfect. Select your pen carefully and clean out the ink once you’re done writing all those cards and letters, but Noble Fir is surprisingly well behaved. It’s also the most Christmasy of all the inks we’ve seen so far, so it scores very high on the theming side. Would I buy a bottle of this? No, as I don’t have a need to write a thousand holiday greeting cards. I will, however, enjoy writing this pen dry as soon as possible, before it becomes impossible to get all the glitter out of it.

Which pen would you use Diamine Noble Fir with? Do you see yourself needing or wanting a full bottle of this ink in your collection?

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 day 2 door:

Day 2’s ink is Diamine Wilted Rose, a standard ink in a dark dusty rose shade. I tested it using a Lamy fine nibbed fountain pen.

Diamine Wilted Rose has an interesting colour and a good amount of shading. It’s dark enough to be seen on both white and cream paper (and it would work particularly well on cream coloured paper). It’s well behaved though it’s a wet ink, so I would shy away from using it in wide nibs. I find the decision to include it in a Christmas themed product like the Inkvent calendar a bit peculiar, but Diamine have made stranger choices in the past.

As Diamine Wilted Rose is pretty similar to last year’s Diamine Masquerade (minus the shimmer), I decided to compare the two swabs. Wilted Rose is darker and redder than Masquerade, and more easily readable. It is also a wetter ink that shades a bit less than Masquerade as it’s more saturated.

Which one of these do you prefer? I like Masquerade’s colour more, but Wilted Rose is a more practical choice.

Today’s bear sketch features a charity collectible teddy bear that was originally part of a pair, but when I purchased him had been separated from his counterpart. Joshua has his paw in a sling, and has a lovely Dean’s Bears face. There’s something childish and innocent about him, which fits the charity he’s supporting very well.

You can see Diamine Wilted Rose’s shading well here, much better than in the writing sample, likely due to the Midori MD Cotton paper.

Here’s Joshua from the Two’s Company Dean Rag Book company. He’s a British bear, and I bought him second hand in York from a store called Mary Shortle’s.

Diamine Wilted Rose scores relatively high on practicality, as it’s a standard ink that is readable. It’s not a perfectly practical ink, as it’s on the wet side and you can’t use this shade of ink for everything. It is a good ink for journaling and personal correspondence though, as it’s an interesting colour of ink with a good amount of shading. I wouldn’t hesitate to use in my vintage pens.

In terms of theming, I think that it likely adds variety and interest to this year’s Inkvent but it’s not a very “Christmasy” colour (nor does it have a very festive name). It’s a good addition to the Diamine lineup, and while I don’t see myself buying a full bottle as I don’t use pink very often in my pens, it is a much better purchasing choice than yesterday’s Baltic Breeze.

What do you think? Do you use pink inks in your pens often, and would you buy a bottle of Diamine Wilted Rose? Would you rename the ink to something more seasonally themed?