Alright, since a well-behaved RED & permanent appears hard to come by, I'm broadening the search for ANY BRIGHT / CONTRASTING PERMANENT color against black or blue that is still quite readable.

I have already tried Legal Lapis, Violet Vote and not enough contrast. I've tried Majestic Orange but its too pale and hard to read. Samsui Red clogs up my pen if I don't use it everyday and there is no guarantee I will use this color everyday.

Maybe Socrates, assuming its well-behaved? Looking for recommendations.

THANK YOU!

My favorite Noodler's red is Kuprin, though it's a very pinky red. In my experience, it's quite well-behaved.

Oh, and for contrast: Rachmaninov, but only if you like "OMG it burns my eyes" pink.

Eternal Hunter Green

Just got Galileo in the mail. Still experimenting with it, but I can see it on my mark-ups much better then Noodler's Blue-Black.
Beware, with mine, I'm getting a lot of nib-creep... but I don't mind that kind of thing.

Maybe Noodler's Dostoevsky? It's a green-turquoise that would contrast well with the black or blue, either written or printed out. It's like a lighter version of Legal Lapis, which I realize you said wasn't contrast-y enough, though.

How 'bout the mix of Legal Lapis and Violet Vote?

If you didn't need a permanent ink, I would offer Noodlers Napalm.

Let us know what you pick.

That's an apt description! I LOVE this ink, and always have at least one pen inked with it, but I must admit that in some pens, it may be a little dry, especially if you want to be able to leave it for a week without using it. In my experience, it's not as free-flowing as The Violet Vote or Polar Blue. It works very well for me diluted a bit (and it's still searingly bright)--I can leave it without using it for a week or more.

Hmmm...I'm not sure if it's bright enough for you, but Green Marine is a very well-behaved ink, and it's a nice green. I've left it for over a week in a pen and it started up wonderfully. It's not bulletproof, but it's near-bulletproof. Or I second the Eternal Hunter Green recommendation--it starts right up after not using it for at least a few days, as well (I never tried leaving it longer than that).

I second this suggestion, it most certainly is a contrast, and it is absolutely bright. It is also, as far as I have seen so far in 3 different pens, very well behaved. And yes, it is that PINK!

This is why, in practice, I use Kuprin. Starts right up after a week or two.

Noodler's Hellbender Red (Swisher Pens exclusive) is a nice magenta that is easy to read and should provide great contrast. It's labeled as an "eternal" and behaves as well as most of Noodler's cellulose-reactive inks (a bit better than some others I have).

Can you tell me if the Hellbender Red is well-behaved? Meaning, if I put the pen down for a week will it be dry when I try and write with it again?

Thanks everyone for your input - it seems KUPRIN is the current fore-runner!
Has anyone used the Swisher-exclusive Noodlers inks? Like Burgundy? Are they well-behaved? I can't do high-maintenance inks. There isn't enough time in a day for that!

Well, the latter depends mostly on your pen, especially how well its cap seals the nib against evaporation, and its feed design may also play a role. I have not used Hellbender Red extensively on its own, but rather in mixes. However, from what I've seen, while it does dry quite quickly, it's not as quick as Noodler's Aquamarine, for example, and feathers less as well. I'd say that at least the bottle I have is better behaved than most of Noodler's bulletproof/eternal inks. If you don't have any problems with Legal Lapis, then I don't expect that you would have any problems with Hellbender Red.

I'm sorry that I can't be more specific. I can say with confidence that none of the pens that I use on a regular basis would be hard to start after a week of disuse when loaded with a mix of Hellbender Red and a faster-drying ink. In fact, I did this recently with one of my Sheaffer cartridge pens, and it started up with no hesitation; on the other hand, this pen's cap is rather well sealed compared to that of many other pens.



Kuprin appears to be a very similar color to Hellbender Red. Although I don't have a bottle of Kuprin, I suppose that it will be brighter (the Russian inks seem to have fluorescent properties), which may or may not make it harder to read. I can tell you that Hellbender Red is pretty easy on the eyes while providing plenty of contrast against black and blue. Either would be a good choice with regard to hue, in my opinion.



Yes, Hellbender Red is one of them, under the "waterproof" category. The inks under this category behave, on the whole, pretty much like Noodler's other bulletproof inks (except for Black and a few others).



The SwishMix inks, such as Burgundy, are designed specifically to dry very quickly, and therefore will not be the best-behaved inks. They may also dry out more quickly in your pen when left unused, so in your case, it's probably best to avoid them.

Fox Red

I really like bulletproof Verdun Green, available from SwisherPens. I like it so much that I have two bottles, which is very unusual for me. It goes on intensely green, but dulls a bit when dry, but to a nice light forest green.

Skip

I don't know any permanent inks that you can leave for a week and be sure they will write well from the first touch of the nib on the paper. (Maybe Bulletproof Black, but I can't think of others. Also, i haven't found many non-permament inks that will do this in every pen.

The solution is easy: just dip the nib in water, wipe it off, and write away! (Maybe a few words or scibbles on a scratch pad because at first the water will dilute the color a bit.)

Oh, and if you want a red, have you tried Swisher/Noodler True Rouge? I like this very much. If you want it brighter, mix it with Levenger Cardinal Red. If soaked, the Cardinal Red will disappear, but the True Rouge stays. If you want it brighter and a little darker, add a touch of bulletproof black.

If you leave any of these in most pens for a week without use, they will require a dunking to get started. Since I rotate so many pens, and change colors depending on mood, subject, or day of week I have made comments, I keep a jar of water on my desk. Works just fine.

I have done this with Kuprin more than once. The one time I left it for a month, though, that was bad, but the ultrasonic fixed it right up.

Does anyone have Kuprin that they would be willing to sell me a sample (I actually don't have any empty vials and plus all the inks I own are some of the most common Noodler ones)
I've looked on the Ink Trade thread and its almost too difficult to find a match.
I wish people charged for their ink samples... I did it with Kookychick and her Singaporean Noodlers and really enjoyed it.

I currently have the following inks to trade - all Noodlers:
Kiowa Pecan
Legal Lapis
Violet Vote
Black

If anyone really prefer trading over selling for a sample of Kuprin then I'll contact Dillo asap.

I use and like Noodlers / Swisher Devil Red. I find it quite well behaved, as is Aquamarine. DR is a true red and Aquamarine is turquoise.

I've gotten the impression that Swisher Pens' (no affiliation) exclusive, fully bulletproof Noodler's inks are somewhat overlooked on this forum as a whole. I think that they're great. Aquamarine is more bluish than a typical turquoise--more like Noodler's Navajo Turquoise, and close to a subtractive primary cyan. It's fairly bright for a bulletproof ink, but still easy to read. Hellbender Red has similar properties with a magenta hue. With these two inks plus Bulletproof Black, I've been able to replicate (or come very close to) other bulletproof inks like Legal Lapis, Violet Vote, and Luxury Blue--lots of versatility here. And yes, I can make Lapindigo too, of course.

Post recipes, please! (Either here or in the ink recipes thread.) I'd be really interested to see what proportions of each you used (scans would be really nice, too).

I'm actually REEAAALLY interested in the Swisher exclusives Noodler inks - a lot of the colors really appeal to me, especially Turquoise, Burgundy to name a few... BUT since most of them are geared to be quick-drying (for left-writers) they will probably exacerbate the problem of drying out in my pen if not used everyday. I only have Lamy Safaris fountain pens and just had a terrible experience with Noodlers Samsui Red. Even running water on the nib did not get the pen working again... I had to take it all apart, soak the top part and even then I am not sure it got out all the red ink as I could still see red ink around the feeder (sorry, I am not up to my FP terminology.)

I think you may be confusing the swishmix inks with the noodlers swisher exclusives. It's easy to get all the ink terminology mixed up.

The swishmix inks are the fast drying inks which are 75% water proof, tahitian pearl, nile ebony, glacier blue are some of the colors in this line of inks

The noodler swisher exclusives (the ones I think you are talking about) are just regular water proof noodler inks that are also available just from swisher. These colors include Aquamarine, devil red, hellbender red.

I have left tahitian pearl and glacier blue in pens for weeks at a time, and have had no issues with them drying out while sitting.

For soaking the nib you can try soaking the nib in a mix of 10% non sudsy household ammonia and 90% water to soak your nib, that should help speed the clean up, just rinse thoroughly afterwards


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I'm actually REEAAALLY interested in the Swisher exclusives Noodler inks - a lot of the colors really appeal to me, especially Turquoise, Burgundy to name a few... BUT since most of them are geared to be quick-drying (for left-writers) they will probably exacerbate the problem of drying out in my pen if not used everyday. I only have Lamy Safaris fountain pens and just had a terrible experience with Noodlers Samsui Red. Even running water on the nib did not get the pen working again... I had to take it all apart, soak the top part and even then I am not sure it got out all the red ink as I could still see red ink around the feeder (sorry, I am not up to my FP terminology.)
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I'm currently working on it. I've finally assembled a mixing kit that will help make precise recipes more practical (needed to find the right vials and graduated pipettes, for example). Between work, looking for vintage pens to expand my collection, my other hobbies in which I am an also an online participant, as well as trying to leave the house once in a while , I won't have the official recipes finalized immediately (and I spend a lot of time verifying things like accuracy), but several informal direct-in-the-cartridge mixes have turned out quite well. I have an old scanner I need to dig up and get operational, too, so I should be able to provide scans. I will also tweak the scans to accurately reflect color under a specific lighting standard, which I think will be daylight.



I think this is the main reason that the fully-bulletproof inks (described as "waterproof") are often overlooked. It doesn't help that Swisher Pens now also describes the SwishMix inks as "waterproof."



Yep, and there's also Verdun Green, Gulfstream Blue, Naval Orange, and Grizzly. There used to be a bulletproof yellow called Goldfinch, but it has been discontinued. That's too bad because it would open up a wide range of green, red, and orange mixes. I own what is probably the last or second-to-last bottle of it. I hope that I didn't use any of it in my experimental imitation Legal Lapis, but we'll see when I work on the recipes in earnest.

Edit: By the way, this is not an attempt to take business away from any retailer and give it to another. For anyone who likes Legal Lapis and Violet Vote, for example, it would make more sense to simply buy bottles of those inks--why mix if you don't have to? On the other hand, for those who like to experiment with mixes, the bulletproof colors Aquamarine and Hellbender Red are the closest to the primary colors cyan and magenta currently available, and are therefore more versatile in mixes.