Red ink: When do you use it?

[AimlessWanderer]

Red ink is something I have always felt... unsettled with in my fountain pens.

I don't do marking/grading/editing, but sometimes it's still nice to have a good contrast ink. I tend to have three pens loaded at a time, with one of those three being specifically for that role. However, I still don't need that third colour very often, so will occasionally use it as a general pen just to keep the ink flowing through it, and stop the feed drying or clogging.

Here's where I am torn:

A dark red (Diamine Oxblood or Crimson) is fine for general use, but not great as contrast inks. Matador and Red Dragon are much better as contrast inks, but a page, or even a paragraph, written in that ink, can get a bit garish. Majestic Purple, Burnt Sienna, or Ochre, all seem to do both. They stand out well, but don't strain the eyes if used as a regular pen. So logic says use those, and ditch the reds... but I still kind of feel (irrationally perhaps) that I still ought to have a red or two in the line up. Even though I can't quote put my finger on why (and therefore choose which would serve me best).

Do you guys use your red inks often, and what for? Or do they sit unused, while you constantly reach for other colours instead?

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have three fountain pens, inked with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, Cross Blue Black, and Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red. I use all three every work day to make notes in a notebook as I am working, using a new page each day. I use the blue and blue black interchangeably but I reserve the red for important notes or priority tasks. Once red tasks are completed, I strike through them with blue or blue black ink. I do not write pages of text but if I did then I doubt I would use red.

 

[blethenstrom]

I don't use red ink very often. I do like diamine oxblood for general writing but if u need any correcting ink I use diamine poppy red. Plain old red. Although as had been mentioned I don't use it very often so I don't keep one inked. Therefore most of the time I keep a red gel pen for that purpose. The horror geek pen.

 

[KW Driver]

I’ve got a bottle of bright red somewhere that I used to use at work. These days, I’m not keeping a red loaded in a pen. I’ve got some Pigma Micron pens to highlight my calendar/journal as needed

 

[nemo]

Do you guys use your red inks often, and what for?

Used on Christmas cards, that's when.

 

[silverlifter]

I have a dedicated pen (a Wing Sung 3008) in my desk at work that is permanently filled with red ink: Robert Oster Fire Engine Red.

I use it for two things:

• marking up printed out documents
• red letter days in my diary

I couldn't use it to write more than a couple of lines, as I would find it very difficult--if not actually unpleasant--to read, That is what blue and blue-black inks are for!

 

[Legion]

My go to ink for everything except documents is Black Swan in Australian Roses, which is sort of reddish.

 

[airmech]

I use reds for mostly work currently Noodler’s Dragon Napalm. I write out my manning in blue and use the red to strike-out those that are not there and the reason, I also put the Inspectors who are working OT. That way I can at a glance explain any issues. I also use it on Christmas cards!

Tom

 

[rodrigaj]

I am relearning spanish.

Sentences are written in black or blue, red is used for the grammatical structure / explanation.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks for the feedback and insights, folks. I'm going to hang onto my red inks for a while, as I think my ink drawer will feel incomplete without one.

 

[musicman1951]

I use

a lot (Pilot iroshizuku), but garish doesn't scare me.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Kaweco Ruby Red is a nice one for general writing. I use it in fall and winter in a corresponding Bordeaux Kaweco Sport and Jinhao X159.

 

[Tirvine]

I used it for editing documents. Now I am retired and so is the red ink. We had a monthly meeting to review an agency's board materials were published. There were about half a dozen of us, passng the documents around a conference table. Each person had their own color of ink so we could tell who had made a given edit if anyone had questions for them. The meeting was on our Google calendar as "Colored Pens."

 

[Rhody]

I loaded one pen with twsbi red and have seemingly not looked back. I intended to use it for editing but now use it almost all the time for edits, note taking etc.

 

[dojpros]

Xmas Cards and editing docs.

Lamy Red thru a Lamy Vista Medium Point.

 

[The Blackadder]

I use Oxblood and Red Dragon to grade my students’ tests

 

[blethenstrom]

I use Oxblood and Red Dragon to grade my students’ tests

I wish I would have had my teacher use Oxblood for correcting my papers when I was in school. It is such a lovely color.

 

[DrStrange]

According to what I recall from an episode of Antiques Road Show,
if you're forging Marilyn Monroe's autograph,
you should use red ink.



But their appraiser has been called out on that.

Marilyn Monroe on Antiques Roadshow: Three Strikes and You're Out - The Marilyn Monroe Collection

Antiques Roadshow is one of those shows I really love to watch. Nothing greater than seeing an item that was picked up at a garage sale for a buck or two be valued a several thousand dollars for insurance purposes! Unfortunately, appraisers aren’t always right. Below are a few strikes related...

themarilynmonroecollection.com

 

[Old Hippie]

When I run out of purple.

As a retired professor I don't use much red ink any more. I went through a few gallons of it over the years marking student work -- I used to use the traditional blue editing pencil (because in journalism there's still a lot of tradition) but I found the students didn't really notice. Again, journalists .

I switched to red ink and it's amazing how fast a manuscript that goes back looking like a chain-reaction crash on the highway turns into more acceptable work.

O.H.

 

[Rhody]

When I run out of purple.

As a retired professor I don't use much red ink any more. I went through a few gallons of it over the years marking student work -- I used to use the traditional blue editing pencil (because in journalism there's still a lot of tradition) but I found the students didn't really notice. Again, journalists .

I switched to red ink and it's amazing how fast a manuscript that goes back looking like a chain-reaction crash on the highway turns into more acceptable work.

O.H.

I’ve been feeling like the red ink focuses my attention to my own notes.
Pretty sad but any port in a storm. Ha ha