Diamine - Arabian Nights

Diamine Arabian Nights - Wow! Beautiful ink drop!

Arabian Nights was a 2017 addition to Diamine’s Shimmer series. Seeing this ink brings to mind a clear night’s deep, dark, twilight sky, and the crystal-clear sparkle of countless twinkling stars. The name definitely matches the ink!

Diamine Arabian Nights - color palette and shimmer

Visually, this ink takes what could be a sedate, even humdrum color, and infuses it with vibrancy and life. The base is a deep, eggplant violet that leans slightly blue. At its darkest, you might even be tempted to call it a blue black. Shading is minimal, but it lightens to a mid-to-light lavender. In the splatter, pooling is edged with a burnt copper-brown sheen, but none carries over to written strokes. The life of the party is the dazzling platinum shimmer. It blankets the dark violet-blue truly creating a star-filled night’s sky.

Diamine Arabian Nights - sharp stroke profiles

As a writing ink, Arabian Nights was sharp and crisp on all four premium papers. I liked it best on Kokuyo (coated), as strokes showed the most depth. There was almost no sheen, shading, or halo on the premiums. Drying times ranged from 15-20 seconds on Apica, and 20-35 seconds on the others. Overall, it’s very nice on premium papers. However, on office copy it showed some feathering. It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t terrible. There was significantly more shading here than on the premiums, and drying times were 5 seconds. It’s usable, but not rewarding on office copy.

Diamine Arabian Nights - ink swatch card

Arabian Nights is beautiful on premium papers, and it’s a decent writing ink, as well. Diamine make some really nice shimmer inks. The only question with Diamine shimmer inks, is what colors do you prefer? Enjoy!

November 2020