My first ink review: Diamine Passion Red.


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I bought this ink primarily for marking my students' assignments. The employee at my favorite pen shop told me this is as red as it gets, and she wasn't joking. It looks like grenadine in the bottle and I had a hard time believing that it would look saturated enough on paper, but it does.

If you're looking for a no-nonsense red ink, this is it. I love it for its consistent colour and good behavior on all sorts of paper. It doesn't give much shading variation with F to M nibs, which is good for what I use it for in the office, but it's not a very artistic ink.

Paper is HP Premium Laserjet 32 lb.

Neill

P.S. After looking at others' ink reviews all day I was almost embarrassed to post my boring handwriting.

Wouldn't worry Neill

Your handwriting's a darn sight better than mine, and the ink shows up very well on my screen.

Thanks for posting it

Nic

Oh hell.

Another ink that I have to buy...

That's a good review with legible handwriting. When the text is what matters, legibility matters more to me than beauty.

Thanks for telling us about another fountain pen ink that behaves well on bad paper!

I was trying to get a red to match my Delta Alfa Romeo pens.....Phil suggested Passion Red, which does look close, but I didn't have any, so I tried adding a few ml (about 2 cartridges) of Monaco Red, to a 30 ml bottle of Brilliant Red which I wouldn't have used anyway.
The result? see below...looks quite close to Passion, but could probably do with just a touch more Monaco to match the red Delta resin :


Sorry about the unsteady writing...I have been pruning in the garden and hands are tired!

Here is one of the pens, which looks just a bit lighter in real-life :

It's appropriately bloody - I like it!

Actually, it has a very slight blue tinge. The reddest, baddest, student-ego-crushingest red I know is Slovenian Skrip Red. Pure red, no blue and no orange, and man is that stuff BRIGHT! I did a side-by-side comparison between Skrip Red, Quink Red, Waterman Red, Passion Red, and Caran d'Ache Sunset Red. All are very nice, in different ways, but the Skrip really does outshine the others. I haven't even seen a Noodler's color that's as blindingly red as Skrip.

Mr. Binder is just right as usual. Skript Red is the red.No other compares. But closely followed by the beautiful Waterman's Red.

Hmmm... this is the second thread today in which Sheaffer Red has gotten rave reviews. It's nice to see an ink that was previously ignored suddenly get the recognition it deserves.

Just to add my ha'pworth, I use Diamine Passion Red as an everyday ink for marking up typing.

In reality any ink would do, but I wanted to use red, as its easily seen, but also fancied something a little more subtle and sober than a brilliant red. Passion Red is just such a red. I wouldn't agree it to be the reddest of all reds, its' certainly red(!) but a little richer than the scans (at least on my screen) and deeper. Its stands out, is very smooth in use and flows perfectly in my Skyliner with XF nib.

Recommended as a usable and pleasant colour and ink and with a satisfying saturation.


Greg

Very nice color, Neill! Maybe my monitor's a bit off, but on my screen it looks like Shu...the traditional color a sensei would correct student's paper

Haha, is that so? I don't know anything about traditional marking pen colours, but my sensei's red pen ran out of ink one day and she literally went into a panic. She ran out of the room, rushed across campus to Seikyou and bought a handful of refills, then came back and said with a sigh, "NOW we can have class."

I hated her class with a passion.

Neill

Perhaps this inspired the ink's name.


Greg

The Passion Red is a nice looking ink, but it doesn't beat Skrip red. That's the stuff. Deep and bright fire engine red. Just finished grading a stack of papers with it.

I bought all the colours of Skrip sold at my university bookstore, but red isn't one of them. I'd like to get my hands on some. I think Passion Red is the same colour as my favorite gel pens (hmm.. from Japan...), and that's probably why I like it.

Neill

Really? Skrip red is the colour of telephone boxes, London buses and Postman Pat's van?

Must get some (I swapped my Pelikan red for some brown so right now I'm out of red ink except for a Passion Red cart in one of my pens at the mo).