Terry Finney
This is the second in this batch of ink reviews, for Diamine 150th Anniversary Regency Blue ink.
I had expected Google or Wikipedia to give some guidance on what distinguishes “Regency Blue” as a description from other darker blues, such as the traditional version of Royal Blue, but I drew a blank. Wikipedia itself doesn’t even have an entry for the colour, so I won’t read anything into special into the name.
The ink cost £7.75 (including VAT), for a 40ml bottle, from a UK supplier, which along with the other inks in this series I would class as moderately priced.
I gave descriptions of the box and bottle of the 150th Anniversary series in my review of Diamine Anniversary 1864 Blue Black Ink, so I won’t repeat them here. The only difference is that the backgrounds of the box and bottle labels are a close approximation of the Regency Blue ink colour.
The test pen was a Pilot Metropolitan Violet Leopard with a medium nib.
Water resistance was non-existent and text was obliterated by water drops. The pen was very easy to clean. Drying time was around 20 seconds on Rhodia paper.
Rhodia Dot Pad No 16
A good performing ink, and an attractive deep shade of blue, with a hint of violet. Some slight smudging, but not as pronounced as 1864 Blue Black.
Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm
Good performance on this paper, with slight smudging again.
Yellow Post-It
Nice contrast, good performance, a little more smudging that on Rhodia or the Ryman Memo Block.
Field Notes – Pitch Black
No smudging this time. The written comments are a little harsh in hindsight – the writing sample isn’t too bad at all.
Mnemosyne Word Card
This shows much more violet than the writing samples.
Conclusion
It should be clear from previous reviews that I’m a sucker for deeply saturated blues, especially if they lean towards violet, so I’m taken with this ink. Yes, some smudging is present, but not serious enough to discourage me from using it again. I’m thinking of creating a new tag for inks like this along the lines of “challenging but worth it” – I need to find a more eloquent way of expressing that first.
