Updating Prior Reviews: Platinum Curidas Feed Issues and the Diamine Music Set

May 28, 2020

In light of recent news surrounding what sounds like a design flaw with the Platinum Curidas, it’s appropriate for me to take a minute and update my recent review. For those who have not heard, there have been numerous reports of the feeds on the Curidas cracking, and apparently the problem is pervasive enough that Platinum has stopped shipping the pen to retailers while they figure things out. Brad provides a good update on Episode #411: Curious Case of the Curidas Cracking.

What about my Curidas pens? After learning of the issue with the feeds, I closely inspected both of my pens and was pleased to discover the feeds intact, with no signs of cracking. That was Monday morning. Yesterday morning (Wednesday), I checked again, and noticed that the feed on my red pen was split down the middle.

The cracked feed on my red Curidas (right), compared against the normal feed on my green Curidas.

So far, this has not caused any performance issues with the pen. It doesn’t leak, burp ink, hard-start, or show any symptoms that you might typically find in a fountain pen with a damaged feed. Will that change? Who knows. I plan to keep using this pen until it starts causing problems, and hope that Platinum comes up with a fix. I can only assume that some part of the mechanism is too tight, generating pressure on the feed and causing it to crack over time. While design issues are inevitable in a pen this complex, it surprises me that something this basic didn’t show up in Platinum’s prototypes, especially given how prevalent the cracking issue seems to be. It’s a shame, because otherwise I’m really starting to enjoy the Curidas as a daily writer. I’ve kept my two pens inked up since writing my review, and for my grip and writing style, it’s an extremely comfortable pen to use.

Meanwhile, on a Happier Note…

Diamine-Music-Set-Tchaikovsky-Chopin-Schubert

In March I reviewed inks from the Diamine Music Set, which contains 10 inks all “themed” around a different composer. At the time of my initial review, I had used two of the ten: Strauss and Vivaldi. I’ve since inked pens with three more, all of which are excellent. Tchaikovsky (a rich royal blue) and Chopin (a dark grey with blue undertones) easily could serve as daily drivers. Schubert (a darker teal green) has had less time in the pen, but I’m enjoying this color that I wouldn’t typically pick for myself. You can read my full review of the Music Set and see a full set of swabs here.

Follow Up: Diamine Music and Flower Ink Sets

April 8, 2020

A couple of weeks ago I posted a review of “Vivaldi” and “Strauss,” two inks from Diamine’s ten-bottle Music Set. Since then, I’ve had a chance to sample and swatch the other eight Music inks, each of which is themed around a different composer, as well as the ten inks from Diamine’s other ink set, Flowers. I’m pleased with both purchases - for years I held off ordering these sets because I thought the colors would appear boring, or possibly duplicative of Diamine inks I already owned. Not so - especially Music. I think I’m going to enjoy using these darkly muted colors, especially at work and in other professional settings.

Chopin (a dark blue-grey) and Tchaikovsky (a rich blue) are the two inks from the Music Set that I have lined up to use next, once my fills of Strauss and Vivaldi run out.

Marigold and Cornflower both caught my eye, as did Bougainvillea.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

As I mentioned in my review of “Vivaldi” and “Strauss,” Diamine inks are generally regarded as safe inks that don’t cost a lot of money and behave well on the page in terms of feathering and bleed-through. I’ve not had any issues with Diamine in this regard. The one quibble I do have with Diamine inks is a tendency for some colors to precipitate out on the nib in the form of “nib crud,” which appears as a crust around the tines of the nib that you need to periodically clean. It’s not dangerous - it’s just precipitate from certain dyes used in the ink - and it happens to me most often with oranges and greens if I let the pen sit unused for a few days. So far I’ve not noticed it with any inks in either of these two sets, but I’ve also not used these inks extensively.

I purchased both sets pictured here from site sponsor Appelboom. The Diamine Music Ink Set and Flower Ink Set are priced at just under 50 Euros, which comes to around 5 Euros per 30ml bottle. Given that I generally like all of the colors in both sets, it worked out to a pretty good deal for me. I’ve heard anecdotally that you can purchase refills of the individual inks directly from Diamine, but I’ve been unable to find a link on their site and suspect you would need to reach out to them directly.

Disclaimer: I purchased the inks featured in this review from site sponsor Appelboom, using store credit generated through the Appelboom affiliate program, which is one way I support the site and obtain new products for review. This post contains affiliate links.

Diamine-Ink-Set-Vivaldi-Strauss-Swatches

Ink Review: Diamine Music Set Vivaldi & Strauss

March 29, 2020

If it’s one thing I can appreciate, it’s any product designed and built around a core theme. So what exactly do I mean here? You sometimes see “themed” products that just don’t work, mainly because the connection between the theme and the product design isn’t readily apparent, or where the two make a poor match because the release is nothing more than a cash grab. You can also have themed products that are so over-the-top that they end up being more collectible - or even tchotchke — than usable stationery. Diamine avoids both with its conservatively designed ink sets “Music”, a set of ten inks named after various composers, and “Flowers”, another set of ten where the theme is well, self-explanatory.

The understated set design matches the theme: while the bottles themselves won’t win any design awards, the colors themselves were interesting enough to intrigue me, and I’ve not seen these specific colors released under other names.

Diamine’s “Music” set includes the following inks: Chopin (grey-blue), Vivaldi (dusty purple), Handel (brighter purple/magenta), Mozart (darker brick red), Wagner (green-gold), Strauss (orange-red), Schubert (teal-turquoise), Tchaikovsky (a brighter blue), Beethoven (green), and Bach (burgundy/maroon/brown). I don’t know how Diamine picked each ink color to match the composer, but they work, and what’s most interesting about these inks is that the colors themselves are a bit difficult to describe. Being somewhat muted, the tones pair well with classical music (at least in my mind). I immediately inked up “Vivaldi” and “Strauss”, as they suited my mood at the time. Both are very nice colors, flow quite well, and while muted, still show up visibly on the page.

Diamine Vivaldi writing sample was done with the Leonardo Furore (fine nib), and the Strauss Writing Sample with a Lamy 2000 (EF nib). Writing samples are on Write Notepads dot grid paper.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Ink sets have become more common in recent years, and I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing more of them as long as the colors are thoughtfully curated. Diamine originally pioneered the idea, releasing its Music and Flowers set several years ago, and continues to sell them without much fanfare - these really should get more attention than they do. I’m looking forward to testing out all the other colors in the Music set and digging into Flowers when it arrives.

I purchased the inks featured in this review from site sponsor Appelboom, who currently has the set in stock and priced at just under 50 Euros. That’s roughly 5 Euros per 30ml bottle, representing good value. I’ve heard that you can order refills of the individual colors directly from Diamine if you run out, but I’ve been unable to locate the link on the site.