Standardgraph Poppy Red

[Cubane]

I bought this ink for a grading session that had to be done in red, so I had to concentrate it a bit.

This assessment is based on the result after two days. The original was a dusky coral pink with great shading but not much saturation.

 

Paper: Oxford spiral pad

Pen: Online Tango (M nib)

 

http://i.imgur.com/615Q7h8.jpg?3

 

 

Colour: 4/5

 

Shading: 4/5

 

Flow: 5/5

 

Feathering/Bleeding: 5/5 - the bleeding I mentioned was on really, REALLY bad paper. On anything remotely FP-friendly, this ink works fine.

 

Dry time: 5/5

 

Water test: 2/5 - no water-resistance whatsoever, making it somewhat impractical on the go.

 

Price/Availability: 3/5 - not very expensive (ca 4€ for 30 ml), but can be hard to find online and potentially expensive if shipping is included.

 

 

Overall impression: 3/5.

This ink took a little effort to make it work for me, but once it did, it's quite lovely and I'm satisfied with it. The overall score should really be a 4/5, but I have to deduct a point for having to fiddle with it first.

I like that it's not a typical "teacher red". It has a soft, mellow quality to it and doesn't look aggressive as some brighter reds can.

It is a well-behaved, unproblematic ink that I mainly use for personal and study notes. If it wasn't for the bad connotations lots of red writing still has for some people, this would make a good ink for correspondence as well.

 

PS: Because it's washable and therefore easy to tamper with, I do not recommend this as a grading ink for school teachers. For college and other higher education, it should be okay.

 

 

Hope this was helpful to some

Edited February 18, 2013 by Cubane

[moylek]

Interesting about the evaporation improving the colour so much - I would not have thought that would be the case.

 

I'm still helping my wife - a high-school teacher - zero in on her "grading" ink. She's going to try a purple or two first, to see if it's less traumatizing for her little chickens.

[RobertS]

I also found your evaporation technique very interesting. You mentioned leaving the cap off of the bottle for two days - - do you have any idea (approximately) what percentage of the original volume was lost to evaporation? Also, have you tried this technique with other inks?

[Cubane]

Thanks for replies!

I was surprised by the success of the evaporating as well, and I'm actually using it on some other inks right now! I'll post comparison shots when they're done.

The volume loss was not very drastic but noticeable, I'd say maybe 15-20%. As you can see, the ink is still quite pink and not crazy saturated, just enough to make it legible and pleasant to look at. If I wanted a true red, I'd probably let it sit open for another one or two days.

Also, I noticed that the flow of the ink became drier - before condensing, it was very wet and slow-drying, almost a bit too much, and now it's more of a solid middle ground that dries quickly and works equally well in all pens I've tried.

 

 

 

I'm still helping my wife - a high-school teacher - zero in on her "grading" ink. She's going to try a purple or two first, to see if it's less traumatizing for her little chickens.

 

The maths department at my university recommends light green. I've seen some of the stuff they make people do in there and judging from the fact that most of them are still reasonably sane, that ink must work wonders for avoiding trauma!

[jmccarty3]

Where can one obtain Standardgraph inks?

[visvamitra]

Quite nice. I like Standardgraph inks.

[lapis]

Where can one obtain Standardgraph inks?

You should be able to order it anywhere (on or offline), at least here next door. Check out their site here and/or mail them at info@standardgraph.de or phone them (click "Impressum") and ask them where you can find a distributor.

For a whole catalog, open that site and on the homepage, up top, click the 4th box to the right ("Standardgraph Schreibgeräte") and then "Infokatalog als PDF".

 

Best wishes

Mike