Van Dieman's Underwater Collection Part 4

So far we’ve covered most of the Van Dieman’s Underwater Collection. Today let’s look at the last four inks. I purchased my samples from Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: Deep Sea Diver, Sea Urchin, Sunken Treasure and Royal Starfish.

Writing samples:

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

Dry Time: 70-120 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None-Low

Other properties: medium shading (Royal Starfish and Sunken Treasure), high sheen (Sea Urchin and Royal Starfish) and gold shimmer (Deep Sea Diver and Sunken Treasure).

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was lots of feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Deep Sea Diver is a little more brown than these other shimmer inks.

Sea Urchin is closest to Monteverde Midnight Black, but Sea Urchin can look more purple in some lighting.

Royal Starfish is closest to Sailor Ink Studio 950, but its sheen is closer to Lamy Azurite.

Sunken Treasure is more blue than the other purple shimmer inks I have.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook, all four inks had a slightly dry flow.

Overall, out of the four inks I think Royal Starfish and Sea Urchin are my favorite. Both have high sheen but I didn’t have smearing issues with either one. I love the color of Sea Urchin-in some lighting it’s black, in the sun it’s more purple. The downside to all four inks is the long dry times.

Disclaimer: I purchased these inks myself. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.