As is my tradition these days, when Pantone announces the color of the year, I start looking for ink options to match. This year I have to say I have mixed feelings. Pantone chose Peach Fuzz. The photos are really ethereal and warm looking and just create so much feeling. And then there’s the Pantone chip itself which sort of looks like a bandaid.
But still, traditions are traditions, and I was curious to see what the “peach” world had to offer. So I ordered a bottle of Diamine’s Peach Haze (30ml for $8.00 at Jetpens) to see what was what.
Um y’all? This ain’t no dreamy peach haze. This is straight up neon orange melon. I suppose it might be a little peach-like, but it’s pretty darn bright.
Diamine calls it a bright orangey coral (wait I thought we did coral already?) with low shading. And that’s pretty much what I got. In writing it appears basically one tone. In heavy applications, like in ink drops, you get much darker sections, but in most uses I think you’re getting a vibrant orange.
(Also amusing… when I googled Peach Haze I also found out it’s a varietal of cannabis… now you know too!)
So I looked at a lot, and I mean A LOT, of inks to find comparisons.
First I went to the peachy-pinky, coral end of the realm. As you can see, the corals here are too pink. Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu Gaki is Winter Persimmon, so it’s a slightly different color. And the one I thought would be the best peach representative with it’s reddish and lavender undertones, Sailor Jentle Sakura Mori, isn’t right at all.
Then I went and looked at my oranges and wow, that’s not it either! Sailor Jentle Apricot and Mont Blanc Lucky Orange are closer, but not at all what I think of as peach. And Lamy Bronze maybe works a little in the lighter tones, but not the darker.
I guess part of what I’m trying to reconcile is 1. What color is this ink? Orange? Melon? Neon? and 2. What color(s) do I think a peach ink should be? This one is a new shade for me, but I’m still not sure it screams peach. Guess I’ll keep trying!
- Papers: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50), Crossfield Journal ($24.00),
- Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80)
- Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
- Ink: Diamine Peach Haze (30ml for $8.00 at Jetpens)
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https://www.pantone.com/articles/color-of-the-year/what-is-peach-fuzz
none of the ink samples you depict here come anywhere close to peach fuzz… think pale orange cream sherbert
This is an elusive colour (the Pantone Peach Fuzz, that is) and this Diamine ink is nowhere near it. In past years I happened to be searching for an ink in this shade and I think the closest I got was Van Diemen’s Tassie Salmon. In a more saturated ink I found De Atramentis Jasmine — but it was only a sample and then I searched and searched for a non scented equivalent, unsuccessfully.
I, too, started looking through my inks to see what might come close to peach fuzz. I came up with Robert Oster Tangerine. It is a soft color and I think it is a pretty good match. Then I turned my attention to a matching pen. Here, I came up with the Kaweco Sport in Mango.
Wrong fruit, but Schneider Apricot might come close. J. Herbin Rouille d’ Ancre might also work in the right pen.
What I see in the Peach Haze is it’s sort of like Noodler’s Southwest Sunset, but not. The Peach Haze is redder. But then, I would think of Southwest Sunset because I was using it today.
I’ve been using Diamine Peach Haze a lot recently and I agree it’s definitely bright orange, and not peach! I always think of peach as more of a pastel colour, so I think the ink would have to be less saturated for it to be called peach. It’s still a lovely colour of ink though!
I think Robert Oster has a peach ink – don’t remember if peach is the actual name, but I think it’s at least included in the name, that does a better job of capturing what we think of as a peach color. Diamine’s Peach Haze is nearly psychedelic and the Haze part of the name now makes me think of cannabis, so, thanks for that.
I think of Sailor’s Manyo Sakura because it’s like a peach/orange color, but also Diamine has Peach Punch from the Red edition of the Inkvent, which I found to be more orange than the swatch on Vanness. But I really agree that Diamine’s Peach Haze is just… way to vibrant of a color.