Diamine Red Dragon Substitute

[tisquinn]

Hi all,

 

I have been having some issues with Red Dragon smearing many hours after writing on papers like Rhodia and Tomoe River. (This is out of a Pilot Fine nib, so it's not like its a lot of ink.)

 

Any leads on other inks that are similarly dark, highly saturated reds but a little easier to work with?

 

Thanks!

[amberleadavis]

Try adding a tiny bit of water to your ink fill and see if the drying time improves. The more saturated the ink and the less absorbent the paper (TR or Rhodia), the more likely the ink is to smear. If you get a fast dry ink, it is more likely to feather.

 

Also, try samples. One ink may just work better for you than another ink.

[tisquinn]

Yes, I definitely have other deep red samples on the way soon. But what I'm looking for won't be solved by diluting, as what I love about the ink is exactly how saturated it looks. (And I don't need fast drying; just drying fully within like 2 minutes. I actually find that it gets pretty dry in a normal time, but just continuous to have a little smearable ink sitting on top of the page.)

[Carrau]

You might want to look at Noodler’s Tiananmen.

[minddance]

For excellent properties, I use Herbin Rouge Grenat. I also have Red Dragon but have been using it less often than I ought to.

 

Diamine Oxblood is another enjoyable ink with excellent properties.

 

These two reds behave very well and have been trouble-free for me. They work in dry and fine nibs too.

[dan in montreal]

For excellent properties, I use Herbin Rouge Grenat. I also have Red Dragon but have been using it less often than I ought to.

 

Diamine Oxblood is another enjoyable ink with excellent properties.

 

These two reds behave very well and have been trouble-free for me. They work in dry and fine nibs too.

I have used all of these. I enjoy Diamine Oxblood, but it's much darker - it really looks like dried blood.

Herbin Grenat is closer to Red Dragon but I find it has just a tad more pink / violet in it.

 

May I suggest Monteverde Ruby? I have four of their inks (the 30 ml bottles in the new packaging) and they all perform very, very well. Surprinsingly so, Ruby is saturated enough, its cheap, it flows well and it dries quickly.

[goodpens]

Diamine Monaco Red is a very similar, but probably more subdued, red. Not sure if the problem you describe might be the same for all Diamine inks, though I generally find them all easy to work with and foydd that to be the case with Monaco Red.

[tisquinn]

Fantastic leads, everyone. Thank you!!!

[CatHerder]

Another nice red is Franklin Christoph Urushi Red

[Timotheus]

Another vote for J. Herbin Rouge Grenat: behaves well, very pleasant to use, The colour is very similar to that of Diamine Red Dragon, perhaps a tiny bit lighter; https://www.gouletpens.com/pages/swab-shop gives a rather distorted idea of the relationship between the two colours.

[HalloweenHJB]

If you have problems with smearing, I would not try another Noodler's ink. It is one of the most unfortunate aspects of their inks, in spite of the gorgeous colors.

 

A close match for color is Akkerman Scharlaken van Jan Steen. But if you want a wonderfully smooth, velvety darker red (in my experience), Timotheus is exactly right: J. Herbin's Grenat is delightful.

Edited December 19, 2018 by HalloweenHJB