Diamine - Majestic Blue

Diamine Majestic Blue - classic blue and red ink drop!

Majestic Blue is from Diamine’s standard line of inks. Like all of Diamine’s standards, it’s available in both a 30ml bottle, and an 80ml bottle. These are some of the most affordable inks on the market. There’s a lot to like with Majestic Blue, but the heavy sheening on many papers won’t be for everyone.

Majestic Blue is a luxurious, lush, deep medium-dark blue. It has a plushness that makes me think of velour or velvet. Shading is limited, but there were visible traces on all six test papers. Together with the blue, the defining feature here is the swampy abundance of cinnamon-pink sheen. As the splatter shows, it generously covers even the slightest pooling, and it paints a wide stroke edging on all papers except office copy.

Diamine Majestic Blue - ink swatch card and drying

As a writing ink, results were mixed. This is a high viscosity ink, but it can be quite wet at the same time. On office copy, feathering was a bit of an issue with wider nibs, but EF and F nibs limit this problem. Strokes were mostly clean on premium papers. I liked the results on Fabriano (uncoated) and Kokuyo (coated) best, as they balanced sheen, sharpness, and drying times quite well. For me, sheen was a bit overwhelming on some of the coated papers, and drying suffered, as well. Drying averaged 30-45 seconds on coated papers, 15-30 seconds on uncoated, and 10 seconds on office copy. This is a nice writing ink on premium papers, but not as clean on office copy.

Diamine Majestic Blue isn’t a bad ink, but to me there are some problems. It’s a very appealing blue, and the sheen is brilliant, and contrasts nicely, but you have to play by its rules. If you don’t, it lacks the control and finesse that a great sheening ink requires. With the right paper and nib, it’s an attractive, fun ink. With heavy sheening inks like this, I want the experience to be as majestic as the aesthetics, and in too many cases here, it just isn’t.

January 2021