BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - Ink drop
Piccadilly is an interesting and unusual ink. It’s part of the City of London set from BlueBlack, and one of three sets in the City series. There are also sets for New York City and Seoul. These are beautifully presented sets with inks from Diamine.
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - Color Range
From the bottle’s label, I expected Piccadilly to be a burgundy red, similar but a bit darker than Diamine Oxblood. In reality, it’s much more a deep, reddish walnut brown. In the occasional shading at stroke ends, you find almost a sepia brown that is shown in the ink swatches and ink splatter images. It’s different from expected, but attractive. My closest match is probably Graf von Faber-Castell’s popular Hazelnut Brown, but there’s more red in Piccadilly.
Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River
Piccadilly is wet in flow and performs very well. This ink provides a wonderful writing experience. I didn’t find any issues with feathering or spreading on any of the papers tested. Drying was reasonably fast, too. For such a saturated ink, I expected ghosting to be a concern. Although there is some, it’s only really a concern on the cheapest of office copy papers. The vibrant chromatography shows the complexity of the ink and suggests very nice water resistance, as well. Solid writing performance!
Shading and Stroke Edge on Cosmo Air Snow!
There’s another dark brown in the City of London set, but it’s quite different and lacks the red undertones seen here. I like Piccadilly, and the set provides a nice mix of attractive, popular, very versatile colors. Unlike the other two sets in the series, there’s probably nothing in this set that you couldn’t take to the office.
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - Writing Samples
You can find Piccadilly and the City series sets at BlueBlack in Seoul or order them online. They have both a Korean and an English website, but the Korean site offers a wider selection. BlueBlack has a lot of store-exclusives, and you’ll enjoy taking a look.
Special thanks to BlueBlack for surprising me with the gift of this set. It hasn’t influenced my review in any way, but it is appreciated!
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - Swatch Card
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - Comparisons
BlueBlack x Diamine - Piccadilly - 30 ml bottle
BlueBlack x Diamine City of London fountain pen ink set