DiamineFountain Pen Bottled Ink, 80ml - Sargasso Sea

I'd been about to give up on using any blue on my very dry, extra fine nib pen. They'd all dry up into a faint wisp of a light blue, nothing close to the color they initially lay down. But then I tried the Sargasso Sea on a whim, not really ready to be impressed because it's yet another blue in a sea of blues.I was wrong. This blue does not fade away after drying. It stays dark, vibrant, and beautifully similar to Tanzanite. My dry little ef nib now writes excellently, thanks to the wet properties of this ink. Who needs blue-black (what kind of color is a blue black anyway? dark blue? colored black?) when you have a dark, vibrant blue that isn't plain and boring, but has a delicious hint of indigo in it and best of all, writes nice and wet and stays vibrant with time? This unique-named ink from Diamine might end up becoming my go-to, everyday professional ink.

A nice deep blue that covers well. A pleasure to write with this ink. Thanks to the seller for this service.

As others have stated, this ink is very saturated and has a vibrant but dark blue color. It flows well, and because it is so saturated, I wouldn't say it shades really at all. It performs/behaves well, especially on good paper (Rhodia, Tomoe), but also fairly well on the cheap paper in a Top Flight composition book. If evaluating the color alone, this is a great ink worth checking out.The only hangup I have about the ink is that it smells weird. It's like a strong chemical musty smell, enough that I was wondering if it could possibly be contaminated with mold (a known but rare problem with fountain pen ink!). After some further research, other users have reported the smell for this ink as well, which on the whole is very rare for Diamine inks. I have a sensitive sense of smell, and can usually smell subtle things from inks (Sailor Manyo inks are kind of scented) and this is by far the smelliest ink I have ever used.It's not a dealbreaker for me, though. You can definitely smell it when filling your pen and have the bottle open, and you can smell it on your nib if you deliberately tried. I could kind of smell it when writing, but the smell went away on the paper after the ink dried. So at least if you're writing letters I don't think you'll be sending someone pages of stink. The smell really might bother some people though.If you want a nice saturated and vibrant ink, Diamine Majestic Blue is nice, and it has a sheen to it (but that makes it a little bit harder to clean out of your pen).

Beautiful shade of blue!

VERY swift shipping, got it 2 days after i ordered it. Packaging and bottle were in great shape- looked fresh off the shelf. Thank you so much!!!This ink has a golden red sheen to it- it appears on medium-to-very-wet pens, meaning, not TOO wet, but not too light either; I haven't tried it with fine nibs, but I have tried it with medium nibs and it shows well on slightly resistant paper. The acid-free paper I tried it on seems to absorb too much ink from the nib and affects the visibility of the sheen. The swatch they show is fairly accurate, though for the pen I use it's come out richer than that, like the top tip of the swab shows. I was afraid that the golden red sheen would be too intense on the blue color of the ink, but it truly is a rich, saturated blue, like a deep dusk to night hue, with little dustings of shine, like a star behind each letter. It is very beautiful and well worth every dollar.I use my pen every day for signatures and small status update notes at work, and I've used about 3 ounces of it over the course of 3 weeks.The glass bottle was green for me, so don't be alarmed! When I first opened it I thought I got an ugly dark green color by accident, but i was pleasantly relieved when i opened the cap. LOLThis ink has started me on a journey with Diamine inks. Originally when i saw the swabs for their colors I was mostly uninterested, except for the anniversary ink, which also has a sheen. I was pleasantly delighted with this particular ink and have since quested for more rich, saturated Diamine inks. Not too wet, not too light- a perfect ink for an everyday writer and artist.Thank you again!

I usually prefer bright blues. This is darker, rich, and shades red in the sunlight. Gorgeous color. Nice flow.

Fan of this ink. Discovered it as a sample a few years ago. It plays very nice with my Pilot Custom fountain pen with a Falcon nib. It lays down a nice uniform color line. I haven't noticed any bleeding on fountain pen friendly paper.

Leaked a bit in the box, but didnt break and doesnt leak now, plus I didnt lose too much ink. Basically five stars. The weather is ridiculous and I ordered the ink fully knowing, but still. The noodlers that I ordered with it that’s full to the brim didnt leak a drop. I chalk it down to different materials handle thermal dynamics differently. Virtual five stars.