Pen: Lamy 2000 – Medium Nib
Ink: Diamine Wild Strawberry
Paper: Rhodia dotPad, No. 16 – Top Spiral Bound
Notes:
Well, there’s a pretty good chance that if you’re a teacher, and you want to make your students know how bad they did on an exam, nothing says “this is wrong” better than Diamine’s Wild Strawberry. Now, don’t take that comment as a bad thing, because this is a super bright, vibrant red ink that’s well behaved and cleans out relatively easily. It goes on the paper nicely, but it’s very transparent. There’s some shading, but it’s not typical to what you think of when you hear the word shading. It’s a super bright red that is not going to be for everyone, but there’s no mistake that this is pretty much as red as they come. I feel like I’m being repetitive at this point, but as with every Diamine ink I have tried, this stuff has good flow, writes smooth, and is well behaved with no feathering or bleed through on Rhodia. It’s also worth noting that Diamine Wild Strawberry was pretty easy to clean out of the Lamy 2000 I had it in. No staining, and after a few minutes, the water was running clear out of the pen. While I don’t see myself buying an entire bottle of it, it was nice to try out a sample with a few fills worth.
Also, I would like to thank Brad Dowdy (aka The Pen Addict, @dowdyism) for sending me this sample!
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the review.
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Related Reading:
The Comparison Inks:
edjelley.com - Fountain Pen, Ink, and Stationery Reviews 
Nice review, but leaves me wondering why you wouldn’t buy a bottle of it. Which leads me to this: I need/want to buy two bottles of Diamine ink. I’ve already decided to get Quartz Black, and I’m trying to decide on some “other” color (outside of the blue color range). Any recommendations for a no-brainer Diamine choice?
Thanks! I already have a few reds, and it would be kind of redundant. I actually like to write with both J.Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite and Diamine Oxblood.
Which leads me to a Diamine no-brainer: Oxblood. Or Evergreen. Anything really, they’re great inks.
Oxblood is nice; I’ve used a sample of that already. I second guessed myself and got Diamine Eclipse instead of the Quartz Black. I wanted a little flair rather than simple black if you know what I mean.
I have yet to try Eclipse, but I completely get what you’re saying. I have my go-to black (Sailor Kiwa Guro Nano Black) which is super dark, no flair. Then I like Montblanc’s Mystery Black and Monteverde black because they’ve got some shading capabilities and stand out a little bit more. In terms of Diamine, I really enjoyed the samples I went through of “Denim” – which I only bought for the name at first, then ended up really liking. Best of luck in your ink hunt, it’s really a never-ending battle.
As an editor, I do distinctly hear this ink calling my name, and I’m going to run right out and get me some. 😉
It’s really perfect for that, good luck with it!