Looking back at an ink: Diamine Tchaikovsky

I first reviewed Diamine Tchaikovsky ink, one of their Music Gift Set inks, just over 3 years ago. Now seems like a good time for another look.

My Bexley “America the Beautiful” pen was the first pen I ever purchased from another forum member. It came with a broad, 18ct gold stub nib, that I’ve narrowed down to a medium width stub nib that I like writing with. The Bexley performs well with Tchaikovsky ink, so these two have been regular partners in my collection.

I would call Tchaikovsky a mid to dark blue ink. I freshly filled the Lamy Safari pen, but only refreshed the ink that was already in the Bexley pen. You can easily see the difference: they look almost like two different inks. Tchaikovsky becomes darker and more concentrated if you leave it in a pen for some time.

Tchaikovsky always exhibited its red sheen in pens with good flow and slightly broader nibs, long before all of the new “super sheen” inks appeared onto the scene. In pens with finer nibs it exhibits some nice shading instead of, or as well as, the red sheen.

Tchaikovsky flows very well and lubricates the nib very well. I didn’t experience any start-up problems. Nor any stopping or skipping. I’ve never seen any “inky crud” residue on my Bexley pen nib, and it has been filled with Tchaikovsky ink for months!

It washed off my hands with ordinary bar soap and easily flushed out of my pens with warm water.
It is currently available in the Diamine Music gift set in 30ml glass bottles that are stable and user-friendly.
It’s also now available in 30ml plastic bottles as refills.
Diamine sells it directly to end-users on their web-site.