Diamine x Sugar Turtle Studio, Slowpoke Series 1

A few months back, I did a review of Sugar Turtle Studio’s four Diamine inks and recently remembered that I still had more of their inks in my review bin, so here we are! Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio released another collaboration with Diamine - a 3 ink set called “Slowpoke Series 1”, his first ink series!

The Sugar Turtle Slowpoke Series 1 is a set of 3 inks: Lollygag, Dawdle, and Trudge. This set of inks launched last summer and come in Diamine’s 30ml plastic bottles.

I love the design of this box! The 3 animals give you a hint as to the colors of the inks inside!

These inks are all snug in their drawer!

The side of the box also shows a “swatch” of the 3 colors, also pictured on Col-O-Ring swatch cards. As you can see, the colors don’t quite match the ink themselves.

As in the past, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib, while writing samples were done with a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib and a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib. The TWSBI Go is a wetter writer and the Lamy is a drier writer, so these two give me a good idea of how an ink will look from different pens. The notebook used for writing samples is the Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be below that and might also be shown with “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on paper like Cosmo Air Light, Rhodia, copy paper, or with drier or finer nibs, etc.

Tom describes Lollygag as a “cranberry ink with yellow sheen”, but I think of it more as a magenta ink with a greenish sheen. The sheen is not overpowering in writing samples, despite how it looks in larger swatches.

Writing sample of Lollygag on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook.

You get a bit of shading from the drier-writing Vista compared to the wetter Go. You can just see a hint of green sheen with the Go’s writing sample. In both cases, the ink is fairly saturated.

Lollygag’s chromatography looked a lot like one would expect, a lot of pink and a bright flash of magenta and purple at the top.

Inks similar to Diamine Lollygag: Vinta Malayan Apple Makopa, Troublemaker Magallanes Street (both are a touch brighter and pinker), Colorverse Purple Cosmo (more of a gold sheen and more purple), Van Dieman’s Aurora Australis (much more overpowering matte green sheen, the underlying color is a bit more purple and less pink.)

Dawdle is described as “blue-leaning gray…a Blue-Black”. Looking at the label and the cute koala, I was expecting a muted purple. When I swatched it, it looks a bit blue-black with a touch of purple in it, but I wouldn’t call it purple either. I checked the bottle to make sure I swatched the right one as well as checking the website’s swatches to make sure I had the right color.

Writing sample of Diamine Dawdle on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. Seeing the ink from two different pens is key - now the two descriptions make more sense!

The ink is much lighter with the Vista than the Go, especially with cursive vs print. Definitely a blue-leaning gray (or gray-leaning blue?) in a drier pen like the Vista, and more of a moody blue-black from a wetter pen.

I didn’t expect to see such a bright turquoise blue at the top, as well as the pink in the middle. The gray towards the bottom was what I expected from this gray-blue ink.

Inks similar to Diamine Dawdle: Montblanc Midnight Blue (less gray), Diamine Silent Night (slightly more blue), and Diamine Chilly Nights (shimmer). Not surprising that the two closest matches are also from Diamine.

Diamine Trudge on 68 gsm TR. Trudge is described as “deep teal with red sheen”. I was expecting more of a blue leaning teal, but it’s slightly more green leaning on the Col-O-Ring swatch card.

Writing sample of Diamine Trudge on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. I accidentally wrote with the Go for the first paragraph (instead of the second). Comparing the writing sample to the TWSBI Go’s blue barrel, it is a bit more of a green-leaning teal.

As usual, the ink is much lighter with the Vista than the Go, with shading more prominent in print. The red sheen doesn’t show up much with the Vista, so if that’s your jam, make sure you’re using a wetter pen.

A mix of blue and green for this teal, but the chroma is also showing a fair amount of blue, including that electric blue at the top.

Inks similar to Diamine Trudge: Diamine Garland, Diamine Smoke on the Water, Pure Pens John Frost (I believe their inks are also made by Diamine), Diamine Season’s Greetings. Not surprising that all of the matches are from Diamine. The other inks that I had that were “similar”, were actually more blue leaning and not weren’t close when I put them next to these swatches.

Swatches of Lollygag, Dawdle, and Trudge on 52 gsm TR in a 2021 Hobonichi Weeks.

Swatches on 68 gsm TR in the Endless Recorder.

All 3 inks behaved well and wrote nicely. Dry times weren’t too bad, but Dawdle was the fastest to dry 30 seconds, while the other two were 45-60 with a wet writer.

The Diamine x Sugar Turtle Studio Slowpoke Series 1 set is currently available on their website or in their Etsy shop for $25/set (shipping is not included). Given that this is Series 1, I hope this means that a second series will be coming soon!

(Disclaimer: Brad bought these inks from Sugar Turtle Studio. All other inks and notebooks are my own.)

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Sugar Turtle Studio - Four Ink Reviews

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I may have twisted the Bossman’s arm when I said we HAD to get these Diamine exclusive inks from Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio. These inks came out in two releases in 2023 and 2024 - the first two inks were Turtle Belly and Wet Turtle and the second two were Cold Blooded and Warm Heart. Given that Tom just released a new set of inks, I knew I had to swatch and review the first four before I could even think about getting the new ones!

The first four bottles of Diamine x Sugar Turtle Studio inks - Turtle Belly, Wet Turtle, Cold Blooded and Warm Heart. They are currently only available in 30 ml bottles.

As in the past, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib, while writing samples were done with a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib and a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib. The TWSBI Go is a wetter writer and the Lamy is a drier writer, so these two give me a good idea of how an ink will look from different pens. The notebook used for writing samples is from Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista is shown with “(V)” and the Go will be below that and might also be shown with “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on paper like Cosmo Air Light, Rhodia, copy paper, or with drier or finer nibs, etc.

Tom’s Etsy page for Turtle Belly describes it as a deep orange with a hint of red, and depending the on the wetness of your pen/nib, it might appear more orange or darker red. It is a fairly quick drying ink, especially in the Vista.

Writing sample of Turtle Belly on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. You get more shading from the Vista compared to the Go, which leaves a more saturated line.

Chromatography of Turtle Belly shows the dominantly reddish orange tones separating at the end to yellow and brown at the edges.

Inks similar to Diamine Turtle Belly: Not really a surprise that Diamine 150th Blood Orange and Cult Pens Deep Dark Orange (also made by Diamine) would be similar. Monteverde’s Jungle Giraffe is a touch darker, KWZ Flame Red is a touch lighter and Diamine Ancient Copper has a bit more brown.

Swatches of Diamine Wet Turtle.

Diamine Wet Turtle is a green-leaning darker teal and is the only one of the four that is sold out.

Writing sample of Wet Turtle on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. As expected with the drier Vista, the ink is almost a medium-light mint green, while the Go’s wet nib and feed makes it a nice green teal.

Chromatography of Wet Turtle shows some yellow followed by a turquoise blue. It’s always fascinating to see the different colors which are often not obvious in the final product.

Inks similar to Diamine Wet Turtle: Hard to tell from the photo, but Montegrappa Green is pretty close in color. Diamine Holly from the 2019 Inkvent is just a touch darker, while Pelikan 4001 Dunkelgrun (or Dark Green) is a bit lighter in swatches and despite the name, a touch bluer. Robert Oster Peppermint was a bit darker and greener too.

Swatches of Diamine Cold Blooded.

Diamine Cold Blooded is a bright blue with a hint of purple and some red sheen on wetter swatches/writing samples. This ink is almost an ultramarine or blurple in color.

Writing sample of Wet Turtle on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. The ink is almost “school blue” with moderate shading in the Vista but a much darker, more saturated line from the Go.

Zooming in on the writing sample, you can see the light red, almost copper sheen on the edges of the letters.

Chromatography of Cold Blooded is predominantly blue but you can see hints of purple in the mix.

Inks similar to Diamine Cold Blooded: Not a big surprise that two of the similar inks are also made by Diamine - Thunderbolt from Inkvent 2021 and Festive Cheer from Inkvent 2019. Taccia Ao Blue is also very similar. These inks all have a hint of red sheen, but it’s the bit of purple to them that distinguishes them from many of the other blue-with-red-sheen inks.

Diamine Warm Heart is a light, slightly dusty pink in drier pens and a darker vibrant pink that’s almost fuchsia, but not quite.

Writing sample of Wet Turtle on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook. It is surprising how different the ink is in a dry vs wet writer! Bright cotton candy pink in a dry pen and darker hot pink in a wetter one.

Zooming in on the writing sample, you can see the pretty dramatic difference between the two writers. I didn’t see any sheen despite the description on the Etsy page.

Chromatography of Warm Heart starts out with bright pink and faint yellow before separating into purple/magenta.

Inks similar to Diamine Warm Heart: Pelikan Edelstein 2019 Ink of the Year, Star Ruby aws the closest match. It is not quite as electric as GvFC’s Electric Pink or Kyo-no-oto’s Imayou-iro. Iroshizuku’s Tsutsuji is also similar and has more sheen. Akkerman’s #20 Pulchri Pink is a touch too red.

Diamine x Sugar Turtle Studio inks can be found on Tom’s Etsy shop for $8 for a 30 ml bottle and Wet Turtle the only one that isn’t available any longer. The upcoming Slowpoke series will be making their way to his Etsy shop as well.

(Disclaimer: All 4 bottles of ink were purchased at last year’s DC and this year’s Baltimore pen shows.)

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