From their website:

“Manufacturers since 1864,
Diamine Inks relocated to this
state of the art factory in Liverpool in 1925, where they successfully carried on using the traditional methods
and formulas for ink production.
Over the years the company
has changed hands and are
now located close to the world
famous Aintree Race Course.”

Liverpool, home to the
Beatles and Diamine!

Diamine Ancient Copper was the ink that pulled me out of thinking inks
were to be waterproof and for sketching under watercolor.

I bought the Lamy Al-Star and looked for an ink to set it off and found this
lovely sketching ink!  It has been paired with this pen forever!

Properties of Diamine Ancient Copper ink:

Diamine Ancient Copper ink writes
crisp on all my papers, even Post-its,
no feathering.  I consider it on the wetter side, but still well-behaved; I have it
in a wet stub nibbed pen, and it dries quickly unless puddled, like my swab, above. Completely water-soluble ink,
no water resistant.  The brush moves
the color, easily, and when scrubbed/rewet it shows all the lovely colors — it is in fact
a good shader when painting.  The shading properties make it lovely with which to paint! I don’t think of it as a sheening ink,
but it does produce a dark brown
sheen when laid in thick, above. when doused with water on a towel, the only color that slightly pulls is yellow.

*Above, watercolors from Daniel Smith and QoR.*

The color  matches several watercolor pigments, listed with their Munsell ranges after: Transparent Iron Oxide (Pr101), Pompeii Red (PBr7), and Van Dyke Brown (Pr101).
*For more info on the munsell system, go to this page.  Knowing the pigments can help you not to duplicate watercolors made of the same pigments.*

I was unable to find out if the inks are lightfast, and have not performed my own tests.
Most artists who use ink are making prints of their work —
But ink-painting is becoming more popular so maybe it is time!

This heart on Strathmore paper shows off the ranges… The piece was drawn, the water used to push the inks, and finally the squiggles and lines were reasserted after.
NO ghosting of the lines made to draw the heart — completely water-soluble!

Lovely Buddha with Moon gives an idea of this ink on watercolor paper,
and the shading that can happen with the touch of a waterbrush.

The ink was one of my favorites to have in my purse in case I had time to sketch in the city.  This sketch of the Native American Student Center in Portland was created in ink. Later a wash of Daniel Smith Lapis and Hematite was used when moving the ink.

Seriously, I went from an all waterproof sketch gurl to a water-soluble sketch gurl.
Diamine Ancient Copper is to blame for the many inks I own!

I bought this ink from Goulet.

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