Ink Review: Diamine Meadow

Diamine Meadow Ink

I was recently reminded about Diamine Meadow (available in 2ml samples for $1.25 and 80ml bottles for $14.95) 30ml bottles for $7.50 and from my Secret Society of Enablers (you know who you are!). I’m lucky I know so many people who share my love of green. I had a sample of it in my stash from a Goulet Pens Ink Drop so I finally pulled it out to give it a good going over to determine if this was an ink worthy of a full bottle purchase, seeing as I already own many bottles of yellow-green ink. I have to be choosy about how many more lime green inks enter my house for fear of mojito overload.

I filled my Lamy Safari with 1.1mm stub/calligraphy nib and set forth to give this ink a thorough testing.

First, I did my watercolor brush painted lettering, to see the range of color and was pleased with the range of color. Meadow varies from a deep almost kelly green to a light lime depending on how much ink is applied.

Then I started my writing tests. It seemed like the color was coming out much darker than most people had described it. I kept thinking that maybe I had some fugitive color from poor cleaning and the more I wrote the lighter the color became. Yep. Fugitive color.

Diamine Meadow Ink close-up

By the time I was halfway down the page, I am pretty confident I was getting the true color, consistent with both the color in the painted lettering and the swab. Its a bright, happy grassy green with lots of shading and it looks great in the wide 1.1mm nib. It does seem to dry a bit darker than when its wet … almost a little olive-y which is actually quite legible.

I was concerned about overall legibility so I switched out the 1.1mm nib to a F nib just to see for myself and the ink maintained both shading and legibility, at least with the European F nib. A Japanese F nib might lose some of the shading because it would be much finer but I think the color would stay dark enough to be usable unlike Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-Rin which I sometimes find too light in very fine nibs to be useful.

Diamine Meadow Ink comparison

Overall, I think Diamine Meadow strikes a nice balance between being a bright green and being a usable color. I love the hue of Chiku-Rin but there are instances where its just too light. Caran D’ache Delicate Green is kind of ridiculously expensive for how kelly green it is and Monblanc Daniel DeFoe is a little subdued, not to mention limited edition. So if you’re in the market for a good green ink, Diamine Meadow is a good candidate and a favorite among the green beans. I think its a keeper.


DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Goulet Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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3 comments / Add your comment below

  1. (you should probably reread/edit the first sentence of your review; I think you moved some clauses out of place)

    I’m really pleased to see a side-by-side comparison of Daniel Defoe and Chiku-Rin. I only own the Montblanc, but I’ve been vacillating for months and months on whether or not to buy the Chiku-Rin. Iroshizuku ink is just so damn expensive. I think these cards have finally settled the debate: I actually don’t need that particular ink.

    Yellow/lime greens are my weakness as well – J Herbin Vert Olive is one I keep coming back to, for lack of a better/more cost-effective option. But I’ve got Noodler’s Army Green on order (bless the Goulets for stocking the Karas in olive green with the new army green Leucchturm and the perfect army-olive ink). Hopefully the ink will be visually distinct from the Noodler’s Sequoia I already own, which is more of a dark emerald color.

    It looks like Meadow is a pretty near match to the Caran d’Ache – except I like the Meadow better, which is good, because Caran d’Ache is much too rich for my blood.

  2. I got a sample of Sailor Kobe # 19 Minatogawa Lime a few months ago. Since Sailor inks are so expensive stateside, I was recommended that Diamine Meadow might be a good match! I will definitely have to check this ink out soon!

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