BlueBlack x Diamine - Namsan Cherry Blossoms
남산벚꽃 (Namsan Cherry Blossoms) is the final ink in the Seoul City set from BlueBlack Pen Shop and Diamine. Although Namsan means “South Mountain”, the popular city icon is located in central Seoul. With its beautiful park, wonderful city views, and the needle-shaped Seoul Tower near its peak, the mountain is well-loved to locals and visitors to the city. Namsan park is a popular spot for seeing the cherry blossoms in spring. If you’ve been to Seoul, you’ve likely been to Namsan.
Namsan Cherry Blossoms isn’t as pink as you may expect, but that just makes it match its name more accurately! It’s a soft, pale blend of peach and pink at its lightest. In saturation, it’s a darker, dusty rose pink with orange and grey influences. It perfectly mimics cherry blossom petals late in their cycle and those already blanketing the ground beneath trees. It’s a beautiful ink that conveys a lot of emotion and easily conjures memories.
This is a wet ink with a consistency like that of the first six inks in the set. Strokes were clean and sharp overall, but the ink is sensitive to oils on heavily handled areas and feathered in those places on some coated papers. Drying was longer than average on coated papers, but similar to all inks in the set. Not a problem.
I think this beautiful ink is especially well-suited to drawing and water brush art. It’s an unusual color, as the comparison image shows. I’ve shown it amongst lighter and darker pinks, but PenBBS 337 Macau was the only real similar.
I’ve really enjoyed the Seoul City set. The beautiful packaging and well-chosen selection of inks make it an easy recommendation. It’s a BlueBlack Pen Shop exclusive. You can find it in the Seoul store or on their website.
Keep scrolling down for ink comparisons, the bottle, and the entire set.