Diamine - Terracotta

Diamine Terracotta - burnt orange ink drop

From Diamine’s 150th Anniversary collection, this is Terracotta. The name refers to traditional, baked-clay material used in arts and construction for ages throughout the world. This is a beautiful, burnt orange ink!

Diamine Terracotta’s shades and sheen

As you would expect, Terracotta is a deep, earthy, burnt brown-orange ink. I really like the color, but I find it a bit darker, than I think of from the name. As you can see in the chromatography next to the swatch card below, there’s a potent red element that is the personality in the color. There’s a dark stroke-edging that makes the ink pop on coated papers particularly nicely. The splatter image shows off the green-gold sheen that is often seen in writing, as well. Shading is less prevalent, but present, and it closely mimics the earthiness of terracotta pottery. It’s a very attractive, nicely crafted color profile.

Diamine Terracotta - dark sheen edging

Like so many from Diamine, Terracotta flows smoothly and freely, and it wrote very comfortably on all six test papers. Coated papers show far more pop and variation. On some uncoated papers, I did find a few small instances of feathering, but I wouldn’t call it a problem. On coated papers, it's especially sharp and well-defined due to the strong edging. Very nice! Drying was a bit longer than average, but again, not really to where it’s a problem. It’s impossible to predict for all pens, but for the several I’ve inked with Terracotta, I haven’t found any crusting (maybe a key difference from Diamine Ancient Copper). All-in-all, this is a nice writing ink.

Diamine Terracotta - crisp stroke edges and shading

I like Diamine Terracotta, but maybe not as much as I expected. (Although, it’s great to have an alternative to Diamine Ancient Copper, and the lack of crusting is so very welcome!) If you don't have anything similar, I think you’ll really enjoy the rich, earthy color. On coated papers, it’s quite a nice ink. Diamine inks are also very affordably priced, so grab a bottle! Enjoy!

Diamine Terracotta’s ink swatch card and chromatography

Diamine Terracotta - ink swatch comparisons

Diamine Terracotta - a beautiful ink!