Diamine x Cult Pens Maple Leaf — 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: A deep burgundy that leans distinctly plum-purple in washes and pooling, drying to a warmer maroon-brown in ordinary writing. Worth knowing before you buy: the standard online description is "purple-leaning red brown", and the bottle label shows a bright red maple leaf — my swatches read cooler and more purple than that label suggests. The written line is the browner, redder side of the ink; the swabs and drops are where the plum comes out.

Shading: Strong. The swab moves from a light mauve-pink at the thin end through mid-burgundy to near-black at the heavily loaded edges. Broader and wetter nibs will show this off best.

Sheen: None.

Shimmer: Yes — gold, and generous with it. It collects heavily in pooled areas and around drop edges, as you can see in the photos. Give the vial a gentle roll before filling, and expect it to perform best in a medium or broader nib.

Flow: Medium.

The interesting bit: Maple Leaf is one of three inks in the Autumn Tones Shimmer set that Diamine made exclusively for Cult Pens. Diamine have been making ink in Liverpool since 1864 and produce a fair few one-off batches for retailers, but this trio is worth a mention for the naming alone: Cult Pens went with "some of the more pleasant things you find during Autumn.. like a muddy puddle!" — and duly named the other two Muddy Puddle and Murky Bucket. Maple Leaf got the dignified name and the prettiest label of the three. 

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.
Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.
I'm a collector and I'm always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.