Ink Review #1133: Diamine Imperial Blue

Today’s ink is Diamine Imperial Blue. I purchased my bottle of ink from Cult Pens a few years ago.

The color:

Imperial Blue is a medium blue-violet, definitely not just blue.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper there’s a little bit of shading and some fun gold sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, medium gold sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was some feathering in most nib sizes and a few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Imperial Blue is a little bit more blue than Monteverde Charoite. Click here to see the Diamine inks together, and click here to see the purple inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Lamy Al-star Purple with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, I like everything about this ink except the name-it really is more “blurple” (blue-violet) than blue.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored in any way.