Diamine Inkvent 2022 – Day 13

Posted bykillerpuppytailsPosted inFountain PensTags:

I thought there was NO way that I would react to the next ink as well as I reacted to the last one. No freaking way.

The thirteenth paper door on a green and silver Advent calendar. The number 13 is drawn in gold in a Nightmare Before Christmas style and looks like it is drawn to be partly hiding behind one of the green and silver branches on the door. Below the 13 is a large silver faceted gem just sitting on its smallest end on the branch, and the end of the branch sports another, smaller version of the same kind of gem.
Door #13, reminiscent of Nightmare Before Xmas writing.
A paper Advent calendar door has been opened to reveal a small plastic-wrapped bottle inside. It has a metallic cobalt blue label that reads "Upon A Star" in silver script under the diamond Diamine logo.
Behind the door is a cobalt ink called Upon a Star

Day 13’s ink is called “Upon a Star.”

I tested, as per usual, using a borosilicate glass dip pen in a Maruman Mnemosyne notebook. The paper in the Mnemosyne is good for sheening inks but isn’t as thin as Tomoe River, making it easier to use a sharp glass pen.

Handwriting in a multicolored blue and red ink on white paper that reads "Day 12: Upon a Star." Below and slightly to the right of the writing lays a small square bottle with a metallic cobalt blue label that reads "Upon A Star" in surprisingly easy-to-read silver script under the diamond Diamine logo.
This ink was very varied, so I didn’t succeed in photographing it well. Text reads “Day 13: Upon a Star” in my blocky handwriting.

Wow, this one is really unique. Upon a Star is both a blue AND a red ink, in a way I found truly impressive. It doesn’t look purple, even from a distance. It looks shimmery dark cobalt blue from one direction and sparkly copper from another. Did they somehow invent a more matte sheen to do it? Did they invent some technology to make the red show up differently than the blue?

No freaking clue, but it was fun to watch it dry and go “what the HECKING HECK”

A closeup of some handwriting of the letters T, A and R next to a splotch of ink has shades of medium dark brick red, navy blue, and multicolored shimmer.
A closeup of some of the writing and the ink splotch, demonstrating shimmer, shading, sheening… seriously what even is this

I had to scribble a little bit to get the splotch going, but once I did the ink obliged nicely. Also, in the above photo the writing looks more black. It sure as hecc doesn’t look like that live.

A closeup of a splotch of ink has shades of medium dark brick red, navy blue, and multicolored shimmer.
A closeup of some of the writing and the ink splotch, demonstrating even more of the … whatever it is that makes it so cool.

It’s a brick geode! Wait, no, it’s a nebula in infrared! Wait, no, it’s the unknowable void exploding from a cranberry!

- A closer closeup of the splotch shows off how ambery the red is, as well as how dark the navy blue is.
Shimmer!

And then there’s the fantastic multicolored shimmer. Red, blue, green, silver.

After it had been dry for a while, the brick color solidified into a coppery sheen, but the way it behaves is still unlike most sheening inks I’ve used. It still looks like I’m seeing two different inks overlaid on one another, one with one set of colors and properties and one with totally opposite colors and properties. Most sheens obfuscate what’s underneath them.

So yeah, massive kudos to the Diamine team. This ink is even more impressive than the last one.

But.

I won’t use this one.

As impressive as the ink is, neither of the colors would be something I’d write with too often, and I would have to practice WAY too much to understand where the blue and the red would represent in order to use it successfully in painting.

That’s okay, though. This ink is, in my opinion, a pretty remarkable piece of art, all on its own.

Next up: Day 14!

Published by killerpuppytails

Really Quite Deadly.

2 thoughts on “Diamine Inkvent 2022 – Day 13”

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: