De Atramentis Document Red

[lgsoltek]

There's a kind of ink colour that I hate as passionately as Visvamitra hates cyano-turquoise: those pale, chalky, undersaturated "red" that looks like bandaid, flesh, meat, diluted blood... Here is one of them: De Atramentis Document Red, a pigment-based "red" as ugly as it can get. It should not be called red. It should just be called "ugly".

 

I remember reading somewhere that red pigments used in fountain pen inks have to be in small size and in low saturation so that they will not clog, and the consequence is that these pigmented "red" inks are all pale and bland. See Sailor STORiA Fire Red (the Sailor ink I hate the most) for example. Perhaps that's why this Document Red is so undersaturated and pale. In terms of performance it writes very wet and smooth, and has significantly less feathering and bleedthrough than Document Fog Grey. It's waterproof, as expected. Well all this won't change the ugliness of the colour.

 

Splash

Sample

(Rhodia)

(Tomoe River)

Comparison

(Maruman looseleaf. Maybe not noticeable in the photo, but Rouille d'Ancre is pinker than Document Red. One as ugly as the other.)

 

[KaB]

loved your review. Couldn't help laughing out loud.

On the colour, well, the splash made me frown. This absolutely looked attractive to me. But from that point onwards, the pics only pulled me to your side of the love-hate towards this ink.

[lgsoltek]

loved your review. Couldn't help laughing out loud.

On the colour, well, the splash made me frown. This absolutely looked attractive to me. But from that point onwards, the pics only pulled me to your side of the love-hate towards this ink.

 

Rediscovering Visvamitra's review of it, I've realised that I've hated this colour for 3 years before actually using it, and that my taste still hasn't changed!

[lapis]

We could call it "Rusty Blood".

[Mr. Pink]

Yes, hard to get a good red. The best I ever used was the old Sheaffer Red.

[lapis]

My faves are the two -- yes very similar -- Diamines Poppy and Wild Strawberry.

[lgsoltek]

Yes, hard to get a good red. The best I ever used was the old Sheaffer Red.

 

Well there's quite a lot of nice dye-based reds out there (Sailor Irori, Sailor Yodaki, Diamine Wild Strawberry, KWZI Cherry, KWZI Thief's Red, Montblanc Shakespeare, Pilot Mixable Red, etc.). But pigmented ones, none really...

[Sakura FP Gallery]

Platinum has a pigmented red.

It looks more like coral red though.

[Sakura FP Gallery]

On

 

My faves are the two -- yes very similar -- Diamines Poppy and Wild Strawberry.

Another nice red is Robert Oster Rubine.

[ca49reber]

You showed my favorite-MB Shakespeare. I have enough backups to last at least 2 lifetimes.

[Honeybadgers]

I don't hate it but I wouldn't use it.

[WolvertonMountain]

I thank you greatly for this review, not because I was interested in this red, but because I have been attempting to decide if I like the Blackstone Barrister Purple (BBP).

In my opinion, BBP is NOT purple but I found it difficult to determine what color it is meant to be.

Now, having read your above review of DeA Doc Red, it seems to me BBP is also pale and bland but I would not have realized that without reading your above review.

I sure am happy I only ordered a sample of BBP rather than an entire bottle.

I also wonder why there are, as yet, no reviews of BBP nor BBRed.

 

Clifton

[inkstainedruth]

This ink has the same problem I had with Noodler's Empire Red... in that it *isn't* red. More like a salmon pink....

Salmon pink is a color I want to eat -- not write with.

Thanks for the review, though.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TSherbs]

Yes, hard to get a good red. The best I ever used was the old Sheaffer Red.

agree with both these points

[Patrick L]

agree with both these points

 

agree with both these points

 

agree with both these points

I don't understand, are there two versions of Sheaffer Red ? For my part I purchased a bottle of Sheaffer red and was disappointed. It looked a little bit maroon, not the true red described by many on the internet.

[TSherbs]

Maroon? That's weird. I don't know what that is.

[lapis]

Maroon? That's easy! It's the color of my 51:

 

[lapis]

 

 

I don't understand, are there two versions of Sheaffer Red ? For my part I purchased a bottle of Sheaffer red and was disappointed. It looked a little bit maroon, not the true red described by many on the internet.

 

Sheaffer/Skrip was originally an old company established and run in the States. But they folded in 1990 and then moved their production to Slovenia in 2002 (I think). If you ever buy a "new" Sheaffer/Skrip ink today, it's definitely from Slovenia. Among the original inks (Made in U.S.A.) there were also colors with names no longer offered by them today.

[TSherbs]

Maroon? That's easy! It's the color of my 51:

 

 

no, I meant that I did not know anything about a maroon version of Skrip Red. Even sounds like a bottle gone bad, but who knows.

 

but nice looking pen!

[inkstainedruth]

I tried a sample of Skrip Red (modern, so presumably the Slovenian stuff). It was a little too "blood red" for me.

I'm funny about red inks (way worse than I am for greens). I don't like blood reds, or maroons, or burgundy-red, and definitely not orangey-reds (except J Herbin Rouge Hematite, which is brick red for the underlying color -- I have the old version with the big gold flakes), or even (for the most part) slightly pink reds (but not "salmon pink" masquerading as "red"). If I'm going to be using red I want it to be RED. Smack in the middle of the spectrum, fire-engine, color of my first car (9184 Dodge Omni in "Graphic Red" red). For me, "true" reds are Diamine Classic Red, Noodler's Red (a recent discovery), and Akkerman Rood Haags Pluche. I'll tolerate Noodler's Park Red (slightly pink leaning) because of its permanence, and De Atramentis Dante Alighieri/Ruby Red because it's a pretty color. And that's about it....

YMMV....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth