Ink Review #2675: Diamine Grotto

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It’s Day 11 of the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Calendar! You can still find the Inkvent Calendar for sale at Cult Pens, along with many others. Thanks to Diamine for sending the Inkvent Calendar over for review!

The color:

Grotto is a medium red with a whole lot of sheen.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper you can see a the green sheen better. This ink is advertised as extreme sheen.

Writing samples:

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

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low

Other properties: no shading, high green sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had feathering in all nib sizes and some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Grotto is right in-between Cross Red and Lamy Red. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pilot Vanishing Point Crimson Sunrise with a fine nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink has an average flow.

Overall, this ink has high sheen-it’s just short of being a monster sheener. I appreciate that it doesn’t smear after drying.

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Disclaimer: This product was provided by Diamine for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.