Sheaffer Skrip Red

[bphollin]

Sheaffer Skrip Red Bottled ink review

Lamy Safari F nib // Rhodia No. 16 pad

 

Here's a scan of a favorite red ink. I've tried to maintain the color fidelity while not having huge JPGs for our friends with dial-up and slow DSL. I haven't done any color correction. What I'm looking at in Safari on a PowerBook G4 looks accurate to the sample in front of me. Your mileage may vary if you aren't on the same machine . Transcription below if you can't make out my chicken scratch.

 

Scanned at 300dpi, resized to 600 pixels wide:

 

Scanned at 300dpi, full size, cropped header (click for high-rez):

 

I thought I'd post a review of the wonderful Skrip Red after seeing Ozzy's review of the underwhelming Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red (link). This is "new" Skrip, made in Slovenia. As you can see, it is a true red--none of this cayenne-, brick-, flame-red mumbo-jumbo. This is grading red, Christmas card red, Valentine's Day red. It's the best red going, IMHO...

 

Flow is average; feathering only on the worst of papers. I use Skrip Red for grading and it doesn't bat an eye on the papers students turn in. Bleed and show-thru is only a problem on thin papers, as is to be expected.

 

Skrip Red is fairly saturated. It doesn't offer much in the way of shading. It isn't waterproof, so keep your documents out of the bathtub. I could swear it dries fast, but my smear test (and the obvious smudges on the scan) suggests otherwise. Skrip Red goes on the paper bright and darkens when dry. It looks a bit like blood and gives one pause when loading with a syringe. And, at $7.40 from my uni book store, it is nearly a steal in the ink world.

 

If you need a red's red, go for Skrip!

 

Enjoy!

 

Punch's review of the cartridge variety (link)

Armchop's review (link)

 

_{Edited to add links for past reviews}

Edited February 13, 2009 by bphollin

[ralphawilson]

Great review, I'd give it an A+.

 

I like this ink a lot, but I do mess with it, throwing in some Parker black to make a more everyday correspondence color that works surprisingly well.

 

But watch out: this stuff might be in short supply soon given the economy

[Orval]

I can agree with all of your statements about this ink. The scan is similar to real life on my display. I didn't need the transcription. So, this means that your scratch isn't chicken and that your review gives a true idea of what everybody can expect from this ink.

 

Orval

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

Thank you for this review -- I guess we shouldn't overlook the old standards.

[Breck]

Great review. I've noticed that casually noticed that dry times often seem shorter than those measured with an actual watch. I think maybe it's not the actual drying time that differs, but the deliberate attempt to smear that makes the perceived performance suffer.

 

I have a big bottle of Nikita that I use daily to mark up lecture handouts, and it's great for that. This looks close in color, and will definitely be my next red.

[bphollin]

Addendum for our less than...erm... mindful... members: Skrip Red washes nicely out of, say, pockets, when your caps go walkabout. Not that I would know...from personal experience... this afternoon...*

 

Murderface: Interesting thoughts re: dry time. The beginning of a line is usually dry by the time I start a new line. That's as good a benchmark as any, and good enough for me. BTW, this is a great ink for marginalia with an EF nib. I wish I'd found it years ago.

 

Peter: I was surprised there was only one review of this board favorite and, frankly, a benchmark red ink.

 

Orval: You're too kind. Thanks!

 

Ralph: Zing!

 

 

 

 

_{*At least I was wearing a red hoodie (how often do your inkstans coordinate with your daily inked pens, hmmmm?). Go Utes!}

[RayMan]

Thanks for the review. Very thorough. I really must try this ink.

[Chris H]

Skrip Red is truly a fantastic red ink. I love it. However, I think Camel Scarlet Red is brighter yet and comes across red to my eye. It also seems to be quite like Skrip in its behavior.

 

I do wish Sheaffer would offer larger bottles. The ink isn't expensive, but could be even more reasonably priced in a larger bottle.

 

I used Skrip red years ago in my Sheaffer cartridge pen writing papers in high school. And I'm back to using it again. A great red.

 

Chris

[Gran]

I enjoy this red. I wrote my Valentine's letters with this ink.

[MDI]

Nice! Skrip Red is absolutely my favourite red ink at the moment.

[CharlieB]

I use Skrip Red and Waterman Red. I think the Waterman is just a tad more toward orange than is the Skrip. Both inks behave well.

[Hugh200au]

Great review. When it says "red" on the bottle it means it !!

Thanks, Hugh

[palhudo]

Great review of my favourite red. I'm using it at this very moment for grading. I only wish it to be more water resistant.

[cenktarhan]

also my favorite red to make corrections in presentations etc.

[th3]

Thats the red I have been trying to find for Christmas.

[saketb]

Great review for a great red ink. Its on top of my ink shopping list...

[lapis]

Richard Binder once said (I think) that this red is the red, so IMO you can rely on it as a great ink. I then bought it immediately and still use it more than any other red ink (well, except maybe for Poppy Red).

 

Fred

[bbs]

It is a great ink, but in the two pens I've used it in, in one it writes quite light and with a distinct orange tinge (only ink this pen has had in it, so no chance of contamination) and in the other it is also lighter than the scan here. My favourite red red, though.

[tawanda]

This is my absolute favourite red, in fact the only one I always keep in. It is a real true red; very bright and vivid.

 

I use it for all annotating and notetaking. If you are the type of person who only needs/wants one red, this is the one to get. And it is much more economical than many of the other brands.

[swanjun]

I was just writing with this yesterday, thinking, "You know, I really need a bottle of this."