Diamine Coral ink review

Crazy as it may sound, I've been using Diamine Coral in my Kaweco Sport Classic with broad nib and eyedropper conversion at work for the past couple of weeks. Yes, a hot pink ink. What baffles me is how my co-workers can be completely oblivious to the fact. Oh well, I like flying under the radar.

So here's my review of Diamine Coral, specifically a small sample of it since I didn't purchase an entire bottle.

Bottle and pricing

Bottle capacity: 80 ml / 2.7 oz
Price: $12.95
Price / ml: $0.16

Color and saturation

Diamine Coral is essentially a pink ink with a twist. You see, there are some hints of orange in it, and even magenta. It's practically borderline orange. While I put "medium-low" for saturation on the photocopy sample, it is actually a pretty well saturated ink, bright and vibrant. I will thus upgrade the saturation rating to "medium-high".

Notice that I compared it to several inks I've tested in the past, including Noodler's Dragon's Napalm (orange classification) to which it bears the greatest resemblance, Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki, and even Diamine Orange, which I used as a control sample since it is the most neutral orange in the comparison.

Shading

While not evident at first, Diamine Coral shades subtly, with the aforementioned hints of orange. You'd have to use thicker lines or swabs to see it though.

Feathering

None.

Bleedthrough

None.

Flow, lubrication, and smoothness

Diamine Coral flows liberally in the Kaweco Sport. While smooth, it may be a little too wet for some folks' liking. As the level in the eyedropper got low and the air inside expanded, it started spitting ink on the page, at a slightly higher rate than other inks. I'm used to that because it happens with every ink, but it's worth bearing in mind if you want to use this ink in an eyedropper fountain pen.

Drying time

It took a while for it to dry on Clairefontaine but I did use a broad nib, so it might vary for you. On cheap copy paper it dries quickly though.

Smearing when dry

None.

Water resistance

Diamine Coral is not water resistant.

Conclusion

I wasn't very keen on Diamine Coral at first but it grew on me as I used it. I guess the subtle shading played its part but I also liked how well and smooth it flowed. While I would personally not buy an entire bottle of pink ink, I'm sure it would be great for any artistic endeavor. There's one feature of Diamine Coral that I'm not too fond of: it tends to stain containers. The plastic vial it came in remained pink after I washed it, and my demonstrator Kaweco Sport is all pink, including the inside of the cap where the ink leaked. I'm preparing to give it a long and thorough wash when I'm done with it. But yeah, if you're looking for a pink ink, you can't go wrong with Diamine Coral.

Following are the two samples on photocopy and Clairefontaine 90g paper, respectively.