On Review: 12 Red Inks

Can you guess how many red inks are here?

I know I did not reveal the answer as soon as I have promised, but did you make a guess? Did you get it right? If your guess is 12, then you got it! There is a dozen red inks in this doodle and in this huge red ink review. Twelve! Some of them are inks I have reviewed here before, but most are new.

I remember that the first time I did a combined ink review was for my first set of J. Herbin inks – Bleu Pervenche and Rouge Opera. That was ages ago, and recently, I felt like doing one again. This time though, I got more than two, as my ink stash have grown quite a bit. And I love red inks, as much as I love brown and dark blue inks. So here are the 12 red inks in my current collection.

The 12 inks here are J. Herbin Rouge Opera; Diamine Poppy Red, Red Dragon, Syrah, and Oxblood; Parker Quink Red; De Atramentis Fuschia; Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink; Camel Scarlet Red; Styl' Honoré Cocktail ink Rouge Amaryllis; and Mont Blanc Bordeaux.

A group pic of all 12 inks.

 And all of them again in swatches on Clairefontaine's Graf It Sketch 90g white paper.  

PARKER QUINK PERMANENT RED

Parker Quink Permanent Red has a pale red hue that appears more like pink when used with fine nibbed pens. This ink looks better on pens with wider nibs such as the stub on the Parker Jotter I used here. It has very minimal shading, not saturated, and flows well. However, it is not colorfast, and fades after some time.

CAMEL SCARLET RED

Camel Scarlet Red is brighter and redder than Quink Red, but still leans on the pinkish side. On fine nibs, it appears more as bright pink than red, as it is on the writing sample above, written using a Pelikano Junior with a fine nib. On wider nibs, however, it looks better, brighter, and redder. Camel Scarlet Red is a saturated ink, but shows very minimal shading. It dries fast, though. 

DIAMINE POPPY RED

Diamine Poppy Red is a bright, vibrant, 'orangey' red. Like most Diamine inks I’ve used and reviewed, this red ink is highly saturated, but has surprisingly excellent flow and is quick drying. I have tried it on several pens with different nibs - including a Waterman Phileas with a wet medium nib - and the results are the same – it has no shading at all. It is very flat, like Diamine Orange, but that's just fine. If I ever need a red ink for editing and correcting, I’ll choose Diamine Poppy Red anytime.

ROUGE HEMATITE/J. HERBIN 1670 INK

I’ve read almost everything that has been said and written about this ink, and it’s still one of my favorites. Never mind that J. Herbin’s 1670 Anniversary ink is way, way too saturated and slow drying. Never mind that it stained the converter of my Waterman Hemisphere. Never mind that it gives any pen filled with it with an ugly and horrible nib creep and dried yucky caked ink on the nib and feed. Never mind. Rouge Hematite, the correct name of this J. Herbin ink, is, and will always be a favorite. Its unique color of bright orange and earthy blood red with tiny gold specks is just wonderful. The gold specks give it the most amazing, and most unique shading.

STYL' HONORÉ COCKTAIL INK ROUGE AMARYLLIS

Rouge Amaryllis is among the very limited, highly coveted Styl’ Honoré Encre Cocktail Ink series. This ink has a lovely dark red color with strong hints of purple that makes it look almost like burgundy. It has excellent shading, especially in wide-nibbed pens such as the wet medium Parker 45 I used in this review. Rouge Amaryllis has medium saturation which ensured excellent flow and good drying time. The cocktail ink series were sold in a fountain pen boutique named Styl’ Honoré in Paris, made by the store owner Patrick Arabian. The cocktail inks have been described as the ‘best ink’ ever, but Patrick Arabian has stopped making them.

MONT BLANC BORDEAUX

Mont Blanc’s Bordeaux ink has the typical red wine color, but it’s not as dark as I want it to be. Still, it’s a unique red color with hints of purple, though not enough purple is present to darken it a bit more. Most inks are not colorfast, and Mont Blanc Bordeaux is sadly one of them. It easily fades after drying and fades even more after some time. It is not as saturated as my bottle of Mont Blanc Black, but it has excellent flow and dries fast even when used on a wet medium Parker Rialto.

DE ATRAMENTIS FUCHSIA

Fuchsia is a coveted color for me. It reminds me of little girls’ dresses and the long silk ribbons in their hair. De Atramentis Fuchsia has a vivid, strong, and deep reddish-purple color that looks lush and rich at the same time. It’s the perfect companion to my first run limited edition pink Lamy Safari with a smooth medium nib. This ink is very saturated and thus, takes a lot of time to dry, but it has excellent shading and a consistent flow.

J. HERBIN ROUGE OPÉRA

Herbin’s Rouge Opéra is among my first two inks from Exaclair. It was magical to finally get a taste of a non-Parker, non-blue, non-black ink for the first time. I was instantly drawn to Rouge Opéra’s dusky rose color, and the shy hints of purple is just perfect to give it a unique and balanced red-purple hue. Like most of J. Herbin inks, Rouge Opéra has excellent flow because of its medium saturation. On the Pelikan M205’s super wet medium nib, it’s like turning on a tap as soon as the nib touches paper, but it dries fast on most paper types. The most unique thing about this ink? It smells nice.

PARKER PENMAN RUBY

Parker’s Penman ink series has long been discontinued due to complaints that it tends to clog and eventually destroy pens. What a shame. Penman Ruby is one of the few unique red ink colors I’ve seen, and for that, I’ll try to forget its flaws. At times, it looks like reddish brown, but sometimes, it appears like burgundy. Both unique beautiful colors, and the shading is just excellent. But it is a very saturated ink and writes dry on a medium Parker 25. I have not experienced any issues regarding its flow, but the dryness makes writing uncomfortable for me. Then again, at times when I'm in the mood for a different red, I’ll pop a cart of Penman Ruby onto one of my Parker pens. Pronto.

DIAMINE SYRAH

Diamine launched Syrah, together with Red Dragon, Oxblood and seven other colors in 2010. Syrah's color was derived from Binder Burgundy, the famous ink color that Richard Binder developed on his own by mixing specific parts of Sheaffer Red and Waterman Violet. News said that Binder worked with Diamine to make a color that will exactly match his mixture, and that became Syrah. 

Syrah and the two other reds are absolute favorites in my ink stash. Who wouldn't be attracted to Syrah -- to its wonderful deep red/burgundy ink color? The blue, purple, and red combination is perfectly attained in this mixture to produce an excellent burgundy that does not come strong as red or purple. (Yes, somewhere there's blue in this ink.) It dries a beautiful burgundy, (which is how I hoped Mont Blanc's Bordeaux would turn out to be when it dries) and shows beautiful shading, especially in wide nibs such as the medium nib on my TWSBI 530. It’s a very saturated ink too, and not fast drying (but it dries). For more details about this beautiful ink, watch out for the full review which I am soon to finish. 

DIAMINE RED DRAGON

Diamine Red Dragon is a deep, dark red ink color that has similar qualities as Herbin's Rouge Hematite. The 'orangey' red and earthy tones make a red-blood color. Like Syrah, Red Dragon is a highly saturated ink, which is perhaps the reason why it has minimal shading only. It has excellent flow, and thankfully writes wet and  smooth on the fine nib of my Pilot Non-Self Filling pen. Yet again, like Syrah, Red Dragon takes longer time to dry, especially on high quality papers such as Clairefontaine and Daycraft.

DIAMINE OXBLOOD

Diamine Oxblood is one of the few available inks in the market today to resemble the true color of fresh blood. It is a lovely deep dark red - darker than Red Dragon - with more brown in it. Oxblood is another highly saturated ink from Diamine with minimal but beautiful shading. On my Pelikan M205's medium nib, it does not show a lot, but on the 1.1 Lamy Joy nib, the shading is simply awesome! Oxblood, despite its high level of saturation has excellent flow. It just takes a while to dry, though.


I've been lucky enough to have all these 12 red beautiful inks. I'm drawn to the darker ones and my obvious absolute favorites are Herbin's Rouge Opéra and Rouge Hematite; and Diamine's wonderful triumvirate of Syrah, Red Dragon and Oxblood. I always have these beautiful inks in my rotation.

I love group shots! Here are the 12 pens I used for the review. Most of them are regulars, I just added the rest. For a glimpse of how the inks behaved in different pens, here they are:

• Parker Jotter (stub, courtesy of Pentageli) with Parker Super Quink Permanent Red;
• Pelikan Pelikano Junior (fine) with Camel Scarlet Red;
• Waterman Phileas (medium) with Diamine Poppy Red;
• Waterman Hemisphere (medium) with J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink;
• Parker 45 (medium) with Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis;
• Parker Rialto (medium) with Mont Blanc Bordeaux;
• Lamy Safari (medium) with De Atramentis Fuchsia;
• Pelikan M205 (medium) with J. Herbin Rouge Opéra;
• Parker 25 (medium) with Parker Penman Ruby;
• TWSBI 530 (medium) with Diamine Syrah;
• Pilot NSF FP (medium) with Diamine Red Dragon; and
• Pelikan M205 (medium) with Diamine Oxblood

Lastly, I just want to acknowledge the kind friends who gave me the inks in this huge review. Diamine Poppy Red, Syrah, Red Dragon, and Oxblood are all from Diamine of UK, sent by Phil Davies; J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink and Rouge Opéra are from Exaclair's VP for Marketing Karen Doherty; Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis is from fellow FPN-P member Carl S. Cunanan, and De Atramentis Fuchsia is from my best buddy in the western hemisphere, Tom Overfield. The rest of the 12 are mine.

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Reds! Lots of Red Inks!

Can you guess how many red inks are here?

The answer will be revealed very, very soon. :)

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Go Online to Buy All Your Office Stationery!

If you’re running a business and own an office space, then you will definitely need a wide range of office stationery items to ensure an organized operation. Such office supplies include desktop stationery, desk accessories, bags and envelopes, pens and pencils, diaries, calendars, labels, notebooks and notepads, packaging items, files and folders, etc.

With the advent of the internet, the best way to buy all these items without any hassle is to go online, where you will discover a number of trusted stationery stores such as Euroffice, an online store that offer all the office supplies you need at the most reasonable prices. Some of them provide low-cost delivery alternatives, while others give freebies such as free deliveries when you purchase products over a certain price limit.

Online shopping provides you with greater alternatives for your office supplies and lets you get them in amounts that not only match your requirements but meet your budget as well. Beloware some guidelines to make the most of your office supplies on the internet.

• Make sure that the company you select is trusted and reputable in its field and has been in the business for a long period of time. In this manner, you are assured that in case you have any difficulty, or seek any recommendation, they have the knowledge and experience to assist you.


• In the event that you need stationery items fast, you can always choose a company that facilitates quick delivery within 1-2 business days. Some may ask for an additional fee for this option, but you must be aware of it before your order is processed and even delivered. However, Euroffice always ensures next day delivery free of cost.


• In addition, make certain that the online store you choose offers the products of the brand names you desire. If you have been using a particular brand for your copier paper and pens, then just persist with that brand name without being enticed with a low-priced product. If they don’t provide the brands you need, it is advisable to get in touch with them and ask first if these products can be delivered. Always keep in mind that other retail stores may accept your request.


• Thousands of products from brands like Avery, 5 Star, Emgee, Leitz and Concord are on sale at Euroffice. So, make your selection for office stationery now!


• This may seem like an obvious one, but check that you’re buying products at the best prices available in the cyberspace. Furthermore, ensure that the company you choose is offering excellent customer service. There are many web-based stores for stationery supplies and even if some may charge a bit higher than others, you may notice that the product delivery is without charge, making the ultimate difference in the product price.


• If you own a big office and need huge amounts of office stationery, make certain that the online store is able to fulfill that need. A lot of stores do not maintain a large inventory, thereby resulting in non-fulfilkment of your order, particularly if you have to place one more order after a week or month.

When purchasing over the internet, you should know that if you need any suggestion or have a trouble with any item, there is competent customer support in place. An online contact form or an email address is not going to be sufficient; there must be a telephone number that you can call in case of urgency.

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Ink Review: Diamine Orange

When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out ~ because that's what's inside.

-  Dr. Wayne D. Dyer

(Internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development.)

The past several weeks have been gloomy and dreary from where I am. A number of typhoons and tropical depressions have continuously dumped enormous amounts of water on most parts of the country; for days, dark rain clouds shadowed us in. But as I stayed indoors, I took out my box of inks and found Diamine Orange -- I got a bright, happy ink color for company!

I received Diamine Orange from the first batch of ink samples that Phil Davies sent to me. I didn't like it at first because it's too bright. Then again I realized, what orange ink won't be bright? Point taken, I found a use for it: underscoring my notes and lesson modules. I began filling my wide-nibbed pens with it and Diamine Orange became one of my two favorite ink colors for underscoring.

Diamine Orange is a bright, brilliant, vibrant ink. It is very saturated, like all Diamine inks, but has excellent, smooth flow. Despite its high level of saturation, feathering and bleeding occurs only on a few types of paper (but note that feathering and bleeding are affected by a number of factors). This Diamine ink is very bright orange while wet, but becomes just as bright when it dries.

Named after the ripe orange fruit, orange is a color between yellow and red in the visible spectrum. After several comparisons, Diamine Orange looked to be having just the right amounts of yellow and red, making it an almost-perfect orange color.

True enough, this ink reminds me of ripe oranges, tiny juicy clementines, fragrant satsumas, freshly squeezed OJ, and cold orange marmalade on top of hot, buttered buns.

I tried very hard to capture this ink inside the plastic 30ml bottle. These tall, rectagular plastic bottles are spill-proof because of a simple mechanism inside the cap. I carried Diamine Syrah in a similar bottle in my bag for a day and though it got jostled and tumbled, the ink did not spill at all.

I also noticed that this ink clings to the inside of the plastic bottle, unlike Woodland Green and Majestic Blue that just runs off. The lovely amber-like, orange liquid is just lovely.

In the photo below, the ink looks almost like a fragrant, sweet syrup waiting to be tasted.

Below is Diamine Orange on Kokuyo graph paper. I love Kokuyo paper and use it specifically for my Diamine ink reviews (here and here) because it is resistant to feathering and bleed. For this review, I used a Manuscript 1.5 crisp italic pen for calligraphy and my cadmium yellow Sheaffer No Nonsense with medium nib for regular writing.

When I did the shoot for this review, I needed to pull down the shades in the room to underexpose the following photos. I had to do that to capture the ink color properly. When shot under normal or bright light, this orange ink glows!

I wrote the quote using a 1.5 crisp italic nib, and though I noticed some very faint shading in the end strokes, I cannot say that Diamine Orange has shading.

And it is just the same in my alphabet set. There is very faint shading in the beginning and end strokes of the letters.

But with or without shading, isn't this the most vibrant, happy orange ink in the world? Here is Diamine Orange from my cadmium yellow Sheaffer No Nonsense with a regular round medium nib. This is a very saturated ink, but flows surprisingly smooth on the pens I used for this review. It also dries fast on Kokuyo paper.

Aside from Herbin's Diabolo Menthe, Diamine Orange is only the other ink I use for underscoring. It's such a joy to see my notes and module pages come alive with the different ink colors I use for underscoring and highlighting, though I mostly use my Pelikan M205 ink for highlighting.

I only have two orange fountain pen inks aside from Diamine Orange, and they are J. Herbin Orange Indien and Caran d'Ache Saffron, all happy colors! Orange Indien has more yellow and I use it to color some of my drawings. Caran d'Ache, on the other hand, has more red, and sometimes I use it to write entries on my diary.

Diamine Orange has just the right combination of yellow and red that makes it a bright, happy orange. On a page of white paper, the color just pops out! Aside from underscoring, I also use Diamine Orange to write headings on my notes and comments on my modules. If I need to write something for emphasis, I'll grab a pen with Diamine Orange!

And just because I got a Zebra Sarasa and Pilot Frixion gel pens with orange ink, I included them here too.

Among the Diamine inks I have reviewed, this is the fastest to dry. Both Woodland Green and Majestic Blue took around 26-28 seconds to dry on Kokuyo paper. Diamine Orange took only 13 minutes to dry, which is just half the time it took for either of the two inks to dry.

I like write-testing an ink on different papers. Doing so makes me see how the ink behaves on different masses of pulp.

Up close, here is Diamine Orange on Kokuyo paper.

There is slight feathering here but the ink did not bleed at all.

On Venzi paper. I'm happy to see how beautiful and neat the letters are. There is no feathering, and definitely no bleed! (Must get more of this notebooks.)

Lastly, here it is on Whitelines paper. It's my first time to use Whitelines paper and though there wasn't any feathering, I noticed that the ink bled.

I don't have favorite ink colors, and as I am drawn to brown, and dark shades of blue and red, I also gravitate towards bright, vibrant colors because they brighten my notebook pages. Diamine Orange is a bright, happy ink that I enjoy a lot and brings a smile to my face every time I use it. It makes reviewing fun for me! And though its brightness prevents me from using it for regular writing, I will always find ways to use it.

Founded in London, Diamine has been manufacturing inks since 1864. Diamine is one of the largest producers of a large range of fountain pen inks as well as the famous Registrar's Ink for permanent records. Diamine fountain pen inks are available from the Diamine site or from the Writing Desk in the UK. In the US, they are available from the Goulet Pen Company or the Pear Tree Pen Company. (I have no affiliation with any of these companies.)

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Fountain Pen Review: Lamy Safari Aquamarine

The 2011 limited edition Lamy Safari Aquamarine  is now in Manila! The wait is finally over.

I read about the new 2011 Lamy Safari color from Goldspot Pens' announcement in early February. Like many avid collectors of this line of fountain pen, I was more than happy to know that another pen will join my collection. Fortunately, Charlene Ngo of Times Trading has kindly sent me one to review here on the blog.

The 2011 limited edition Lamy Safari Aqumarine comes in a neat and well-designed packaging. The pen is inside two boxes: an outer box and an inner box. The outer box, shown below, is made of silver-gray board paper without any fancy design. All it has is the Lamy logo printed on the lower right corner of the box. It is so simple and minimalist, yet very stylish.

The inner box, below, is made of gray plastic that splits open from the middle when the two sides are pulled apart, as indicated by the arrows.

The top sides are pushed under the bottom part of the box, and a hard plastic pen clamp holds the Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen in place. This packaging is a lot better than those slim gray paper boxes that my earlier Lamy pens came with, as it offers more protection for the pen.

The Aquamarine Safari is the newest and youngest member of Lamy's Safari line of fountain pens. Designed by Wolfgang Fabian, the first Safari was introduced in 1980 and has stayed in Lamy's regular production since then.

The Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen measures 5.5 inches while capped, 5 inches uncapped, and 6.5 inches when posted. It feels very light on my hand when I write with it, but then I don't post my pens.

Lamy Safari pens are made from sturdy ABS plastic, more technically known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a common thermoplastic that is widely used in a variety of products. You wouldn't believe it, but the Lego blocks you played with as a kid has the same material as the Lamy Safari you may be holding now. And did you know that the inner walls of your refrigerator has the same plastic as that of the Safari?

Below is the Aquamarine Lamy Safari's parts: cap, section with converter, barrel. 

The cap of the Aquamarine Lamy Safari like other Safari fountain pens has the iconic flexible chrome-coated oversized paperclip-style clip.

The cap's top has a button cross, another unique identifying feature of Lamy Safari fountain pens. I noticed though, that this pen's cap top button is different from those of the previous limited edition Safari pens.

Below is the Aquamarine Lamy Safari together with my other limited edition Lamy Safari fountain pens. The earliest version is the lime green pen (2008) with the black cross cap top that is seen in almost all regular Safari fountain pens. The creme orange (2009) and pink (2010) Safari pens have simple dots as cap tops in the same barrel and cap colors, instead of the usual black cross. Note that the Aquamarine Safari (2011) has a cross cap top, but in the same color as the pen's cap and barrel – aquamarine. Interesting details.

The Lamy Safari's section has unique features to make writing easier. The triangular section has two recessed grips and the finger anti-slipping brake to prevent a user's fingers to slip into the nib part while writing. Some fountain pen users find the triangular grip annoying and uncomfortable. I find it helpful so I get a firm grip on my pen.

The pen's barrel measures around three inches, and the flat areas on both sides prevent the pen from rolling especially when it is uncapped. 

Lamy's logo is boldly etched on the top/end of the pen's barrel.

An ink window near the barrel's threads allows me to check on my pen's ink. This is an excellent feature, not to mention a cool design, as I don't need to unscrew the barrel of my pen every time I need to check on its ink. 

Like the rest of my Safari and other Lamy fountain pens, I can ink my pen in two ways: with Lamy's proprietary T10 ink cartridges, or from an ink bottle using the Z24 converter. The Z24 converter can also be used in other Lamy fountain pens including the Vista, Al-Star, Joy, and even the Nexx.

Towards the middle of the Z24 converter are two tiny nipples (can be seen in the photo above too) that fit snugly into the small grooves in the upper part of the section.

This is how the tiny nipples on the converter fit into the specific grooves in the section. They fit perfectly so that the converter, while filled with ink and inserted, will not easily turn or be accidentally pulled out.

Because my Aquamarine Lamy Safari is new, I could not pull out the feed from the section to show here, but it has the same feed as those on other Lamy pens (Safari, Vista, Al-Star, Joy, Nexx, and Studio).

Lamy Safari fountain pens have polished steel nibs available in a number of widths: extra fine, fine, medium, broad, and left-handed. It can also be fitted with an italic nib ranging from 1.1mm to 1.9mm since the Safari shares the same section, feed, nib and cap design with that of the Joy, Lamy's set of calligraphy pens. Lamy nibs have the tendency to run wide, but they all write wet and smoothly.

I usually use medium Lamy nibs on my Safari and Studio fountain pens, but I am very fortunate that Charlene sent me the Aquamarine pen with a broad nib.

Lamy's modern minimalist design extends even to their nibs. These polished steel nibs do not have the usual fancy engravings -- just plain, simple, shiny metal pieces with 'LAMY' and a letter for the nib's width to mark them. My pen's broad nib is marked 'B'.

I flushed this pen before I filled it to ensure that there is no factory residue or ink on it. When I used it, the pen wrote instantly, and did not need any strong pressure to start writing. It kept writing very smoothly and did not skip as I filled an entire page of my A5 Daycraft Signature notebook journal.

Below is a writing sample of this cool Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen.

The Aquamarine Lamy Safari next to a Venzi cahier in A6 size. The ink used in this writing sample is Lamy Turquoise. Ink review to follow.

Here is the pen again with my limited edition Lamy Safari fountain pens.

This Aquamarine Lamy Safari is a cool new addition to Lamy's growing line of fountain pens. Touted as a beginner's fountain pen and a student pen, this plastic pen actually feels very good in my hand because it is light, but strong and firm at the same time. And it's available in many colors! So it's not only a reliable, sturdy, user-friendly fountain pen, it's fun to collect too! I just got my Aquamarine pen but I'm already thinking of the 2012 Safari color. Purple? Not bad.

My pen with a bottle of Lamy turquoise ink and a large Venzi notebook.

Lamy Safari pens are widely available in reputable pen sellers worldwide. For a global search of Lamy sellers worldwide, follow this link.

In the Philippines, the Aquamarine Lamy Safari (and other Lamy pens) is available from Times Trading Company, through their increasing number of kiosks at National Bookstore outlets around Metro Manila. A Lamy Safari (including the Aquamarine pen) sells for PhP1,499.75 (USD35), and a 50ml bottle of ink costs around PhP375 (USD9).

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