BlueBlack x Diamine - Westminster

Ink ReviewBlueBlackDiamineCity of London setBlueDark BlueLavender

Dec 19

BlueBlack x Diamine Westminster fountain pen ink review — **BlueBlack x Diamine - Westminster** - **Ink drop**

Westminster is the first of three blues in the City of London set. This is a store-exclusive from BlueBlack in Seoul with inks from Diamine. It’s part of the City series, which includes previously reviewed sets for New York City and Seoul. These sets are among the favorites in my collection.

BlueBlack x Diamine Westminster Fountain Pen Ink Color Range — **BlueBlack x Diamine - Westminster - Color Range**

Westminster is a dark blue with heavy lavender undertones. On some papers, it lands clearly in the blue category. On others, the balance tips and the lavender influences make it feel more appropriate to call it a violet. The ink drop shows two-toned sheening around the most saturated areas, but in writing, traces were very rarely visible. I like the mysteriousness of this ink.

BlueBlack x Diamine Westminster fountain pen ink on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River papers — **Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River**

There are occasional spots of shading at stroke ends on coated papers. When they appear, they are potent and welcome flashes of lavender, but they don’t appear as often as I’d like. Much more consistent is the dark stroke edging that frames and accentuates the color of stroke centers. The two Cosmo papers really show this off nicely.

BlueBlack x Diamine Westminster fountain pen ink writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow — **Shading and Stroke Edge on Cosmo Air Snow!**

This is a wet ink. (With the valve open on my TWSBI Vac 700r (m), it’s almost too wet!) This ink writes beautifully, and I think it’s a great choice for your pens that have trouble with drier writing inks. For such a wet ink, there were no issues with feathering, and drying times were good, too. On thing to note is show-through on uncoated papers. It was pretty heavy, and there were spots of bleed at the most saturated stroke ends. If you’re going to use cheap copy paper, I’d recommend fine or extra fine nibs to minimize these issues.

BlueBlack x Diamine Westminster fountain pen ink writing samples — **BlueBlack x Diamine - Westminster - Writing Samples**

Westminster is a nice daily ink. It’s attractive and appropriate for any setting. There’s enough lavender to make it interesting, but it never becomes excessive. It’s easy to recommend. BlueBlack has a wonderful store in Seoul that you really should visit if you have the chance. If not, they have both a Korean site and an English site, but the Korean site offers a wider selection. It’s well worth checking out!

Special thanks to BlueBlack for surprising me with the gift of this set. It doesn’t influence my review in any way, but it is appreciated!