Diamine Inkvent Calendar: A Seasonal Treat for Fountain Pen Fans

Introduction

The Diamine Inkvent Calendar is back, and for fountain pen enthusiasts that is genuinely good news. Diamine’s take on the traditional holiday advent calendar packs 25 small bottles of special, seasonal ink behind numbered doors, counting down from December 1st to Christmas Day. The calendar was skipped for one year, but it has returned for this season with a few welcome improvements, including larger bottles than previous editions.

Calendars retail for $110, and they tend to sell out very quickly. They are produced in limited quantities, and once a retailer’s supply is gone, it is gone. If this is on your wishlist, buying sooner rather than later is the sensible move.

What You Get

The calendar follows the classic advent format: 25 perforated doors numbered 1 to 25, one for each day leading up to Christmas. Behind 24 of the doors you will find 12 ml bottles of special holiday bespoke inks that, as far as we can tell, cannot be found anywhere else. Behind the final door on December 25th sits a larger 30 ml bottle.

This year’s bottles are a real upgrade. Previous editions included 7 ml bottles, so the jump to 12 ml gives you noticeably more ink to enjoy from each door.

The inks fall into four categories: standard inks, inks with shimmer, inks with sheen, and inks with both shimmer and sheen. One small gripe: on a couple of doors, the number is only partially printed on the door itself. It is a minor cosmetic quibble rather than a dealbreaker. The box graphics are the same as the edition from two years ago, only in red this time instead of blue.

A Taste of the Inks

Without spoiling the surprise, here is one ink from each category to show what to expect. First, a lovely teal standard ink that produces generous shading when applied heavily, almost looking like it has sheen at saturation. It is a strong entry for anyone already drawn to teal inks.

Next, a reddish copper with a gold shimmer. Even if heavy shimmer inks are not your thing, this one keeps the gold glisten subtle in normal writing, becoming more prominent only with very wet application or in droplets.

The third sample is a sheening blue with a handsome red sheen that becomes clearly visible in heavy swatches and droplets, with decent shading on top. Finally, a red that does both at once: a greenish-gold sheen paired with blue shimmer. In the right light you get blue, green, and red all in one ink, which is rather fitting for the season.

Writing Performance

On Tomoe River paper, these inks behave beautifully. The teal shows shading even with a Q-tip smear, and the copper’s shimmer stays restrained until you deliberately flood the page. The blue’s red sheen is best appreciated in droplets and broad nibs, and the red delivers its full shimmer-and-sheen personality most vividly in wet writing.

Tested with a range of nibs, from a broad that writes like a double broad to a 1.1 stub and a music nib, the inks reward wider line widths with more color variation, sheening, and shading. Flex nibs bring out the most dramatic effects.

Who This Is For

This calendar suits anyone who enjoys the surprise element of advent calendars and wants exclusive inks they cannot buy separately. If you are newer to fountain pens, the variety of standard, shimmer, sheen, and hybrid inks is a fun way to explore what different ink types can do. If you already own previous editions, note that the larger 12 ml bottles and the exclusive formulas still make this a worthwhile pickup.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Chromatography reveals some nice depth in these formulas: the teal separates into greens, blues, and gray, the copper hides more pink than expected with its gold shimmer settling at the base, the blue is almost pure blue, and the red splits into yellows, reds, and purples with a green sheen at the top and blue shimmer at the bottom.

The main considerations are practical. At $110, this is a premium impulse buy, and the limited production means no restocking once retailers run dry. The partially printed door numbers are a small flaw, and if you dislike shimmer inks, be aware that only some of the 25 inks include them, so there is still plenty of variety.

Buying Advice

Buy early. The combination of limited quantities, fast sellouts, and no restocking makes hesitation risky. Purchasing from a specialty retailer is a safe bet, and acting in the autumn season gives you the best chance of securing one before December 1st arrives.

Conclusion

The return of the Diamine Inkvent Calendar is worth celebrating. Exclusive inks you cannot find anywhere else, larger bottles than before, and a fun daily surprise through the holiday season make this an easy recommendation for fountain pen lovers. For many, it is the kind of purchase that quietly becomes an annual tradition.