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Red ink?

Fred D

Member of The Illiterati
I've never actually owned a pen with red ink before recently. I did have one of those multi pens that had red ink ballpoint as one of its colors when I was a child, but never used it. I always connected red ink to teachers that used it to correct papers and such, so I never thought of red as a color for anything else.

So recently I received a Uni-Ball RT ballpoint with red ink as part of a package of ballpoint pens, and decided to use it for notes because I'm cheap and didn't want to toss it. After writing some pages with the red pen I was intrigued, because I liked it and it's much different than my usual blues or black inks.

So I'm thinking of adding some red fountain pen ink for my journaling, as I like to use different colors to keep things interesting, and would like to learn about what some other people like and use for a red fountain pen ink. I also prefer something water resistant or archival.

Thanks for any input.
Have a great day!

Fred
 
I am working my way through a bottle of Robert Oster Fire Engine Red. I use it at work to mark up notes, and to write significant dates into my work diary.

If I had thought about it more, I would have bought a permanent red, probably De Atramentis.

Bear in mind, red inks are notorious for ink creep...
 
Herbin-Rouge-Caroubier_2022-06-14.jpg


^ That's about four times bigger than my actual scrawl, but the color's reasonably accurate (on my monitor). ^
 
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In an effort to simplify, I am buying buying Lamy Inks going forward as my go to brand. Lamy Inks:
1. Work in a wide variety of pens over a wide variety of papers
2. Their colors are pleasing to my eye
3. The are well priced and widely available
4. The bottle design is superlative i.e. ability to get every last drop of ink and the integrated roll of blotter paper.
B4520111-737B-4774-95E5-3F7BB8E18C63.jpeg
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
When I was working, I had to edit scads of documents and used red Waterman ink in a Waterman pen to do that. Now, sadly, the pen, ink, and I are retired. At my last gig I ran an agency that posted a board book, often 1000 pp. +/-. I had a meeting to scrub the draft. All of my execs attended. I called the meeting Colored Pens and required each person to use a different color. That way we could readily tell who offered each edit and query them as needed.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
When I was working, I had to edit scads of documents and used red Waterman ink in a Waterman pen to do that.
Yes Waterman red is a great ink, I used to use it and Parker (I liked even more) but I don't think there is a red Parker Quink made any longer. Good plain bright reds! Today I only break out the red or green for holiday cards.

I have some of that J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite around here somewhere, its gold shimmer fun.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I have a limited selection of reds. Apologies for slightly bleached pic.

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The Oxblood, Burgundy Royale, and Writer's Blood, are all dark enough for general scribbles for me. The Red Dragon and Passion Red were gotten specifically for contrast. That might be making specific items stand out in a list, annotations, or just contrast between different blocks of writing.

The Passion Red is a little washed out for my tastes, although my Kensington Red Parker Jotter, which will be dedicated to red bottled ink, is a particularly wet writer. I'll be interested how that handles it, when the current fill of Red Dragon is finished.

The Red Dragon is my current favourite, but I also use Antique Copper, Blood Orange, and Burnt Sienna for contrast notes too. Water resistance is of little importance to me.
 
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