Diamine Inkvent 2023: Day 15 — Walnut
Day 15!
Hello everyone! For day fifteen of Diamine Inkvent, we have Walnut.
The color/properties:
Walnut is a standard ink. It’s a deep brown that shades with a soft gradient where the ink pools. There’s not a lot of contrast between light and dark tones in the shading, but it’s noticeable enough to give it a smooth and lush appearance. When I did the ink splat and droplets for this ink, it formed a thick and cakey black layer. I’ve seen this happen with some of Diamine’s other brown inks, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect on normal writing conditions.
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
How did it perform?
Diamine Walnut has a very wet flow that remained consistent across each of the nibs. Despite this, I didn’t see any bleeding or feathering on either of the test pages and it provided a slick writing experience. I didn’t run into any hard starts, skips, or stops during my tests. Cleaning took slightly more effort than usual, but the color washed out after a few soaks and flushes without any traces of color or residue left in the pen or nib units.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
My personal thoughts…
After an exciting barrage of inks with spectacular and over-the-top properties, it’s easy to look at Diamine Walnut and think that it almost feels out of place amongst the rest of this year’s Inkvent inks, but I’m glad it’s here. I assume that because Walnut is so deep and rich, it was Diamine’s intention to base this ink on walnut wood rather than the nut itself. Either way, it’s perfectly wintry and on-theme in both name and color.
Walnut reminds me a lot of Diamine’s Chocolate Brown in both looks and performance, though Walnut is a slightly cooler, complex, earthier brown compared to the deep, rich decadence of Chocolate Brown. They’re both excellent brown inks, but between the two, I think Walnut is my new favorite.
Edit: It was brought to my attention by a user on Reddit that the color may have been inspired by inks made from the husk of walnuts — literal walnut inks! I wasn't aware of this at the time I originally wrote my thoughts, but that could very well be it. Actual walnut inks are very not fountain pen-friendly. (Thanks again, Reddit user!)
Written in a Leuchtturm1917 notebook
Color Comparisons:
More Images/Info:
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 3 nib units including a Fine, Medium, and Broad. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
Scan of the writing sample