Good Red Inks For Teachers Grading On Awful Paper?

[AAN]

I was a teacher for many years and in the back of old storage cupboards I often found old, sometimes earthenware, bottles of red ink, but always labelled "Scarlet Writing Fluid". That's what we should be looking for! Bet it was cheap and nasty and full of sediment - just right for those old steel nibbed dip pens.

[amberleadavis]

Did you end up trying various samples?

[AAN]

Of course! I didn't ever risk one in a fountain pen though. My chief memory is of bitty precipitate and fingers stained red for a long time.

[Teacher Man]

I'm a teacher, and I don't care if the students can change the score written on their work. It's already recorded before I hand it back, and they do not have access to the electronic gradebook. The scores and marks on their work is for their benefit, not mine or the school's.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I kind of try for the best of both worlds on the red/green debate and use two colours, red for the mistakes and green for my comments on contents, which usually focus on the things that worked rather than those that didn't. In both cases, I have gotten solid results with Quink in a Parker IM, but maybe I am spoiled with good paper. I have ordered a few other greens and reds to experiment with, so I may actually at some point post about that.

[foiled_again]

This is something I've thought a lot about--I am regularly attempting to write long comments in the margins of bad paper torn out of random spiral notebooks, and having an ink+pen combination that lets me fit a lot legible into the margins without making the backs of the pages unreadable is somewhat necessary. I've actually gone through a *lot* of samples and bought a pen just for grading in an effort to help solve bleeding issues.

 

The biggest help for me which switching to an incredibly fine nib: an extra fine pilot penmanship (I don't own any other Japanese extra fines so it's possible that any Japanese extra fine would work well--I just got the penmanship as a cheap method of checking the pilot xf). For inks I have a few favorites depending on my mood/the assignment I'm grading:

 

Reds

• Stipula "Dark Red" --not quite as dark as one might think giving it's name, but is a lovely and very well behaved regular grading ink
  
• Scribal Workshop "Zhoulong" -- I just tried this recently from an inkdrop, but liked it enough as a bright grading red that it's going on my list. This is a great *emphatic* grading red
  
• Diamond Oxblood/Noodler's Tiananmen--I think these two are actually my favorite grading inks. Distinct and bright enough to draw attention, but dark enough that it's easily legible and I like that it isn't quite the usual grading red. I put the two inks together here because I honestly like the same things about them and have yet to decide on a favorite.
  

 

Other Colors

• Noodler's "Black Swan in Arabian Roses"--This is a bit too subdued for most uses but actually behaves itself quite well in grading and has definitely made several students smile. I like to use it for marking math history essays that students can do for extra credit.
  
• Rohrer & Klinger "Verdura"--This has been my favorite green that I've experimented with for grading. Flows well from the penmanship without much spreading and is a nice arresting bright green. It's a bit too bright for optimal readability, but I haven't found a *slightly* darker green that works as well.
  
• Pilot Iro-Shizuku "Syo-Ro"--I use this in a similar way to my use for BSiAR, and sometimes paired with a more vibrant red as Teacher-Man mentioned doing above. I'll use the red to mark bigger problems and the Syo-Ro to make longer comments
  

 

Just thought I'd add my two cents for posterity...

[Salerno_AFG]

Being in the Army our paper comes from the lowest bidder and typically translates into the lowest quality yet still meeting the basic requirements which I am convinced is a flat substance no thicker than .001" capable of recieveing pigments. I execute a lot of markups in daily work and have found that Waterman Audacious Red works very well. I use a medium (Knox) nib for circling, underlining and arrows and a fine nib for the notes.

[pen_addict]

I've had good luck with Noodler's Fox Red... Worked great in a fine nibbed dry writing pen... I've also tried diluting 3:1 and that works well too! Non permanent ink - waterman red works well for me too.

Otherwise, my preference runs to green: hunter green for permanence; or MB irish green

[Faulkner]

As some have pointed out I prefer orange or purple inks for corrections: they stand out but do not look aggressive.

[SeeksAdvice]

Where did all of this concern about the color of markings on a paper come from? As far back as I can remember through HS, undergrad, grad school, and law school, almost always had stuff graded in red. Heck, even while I was a TA, always graded stuff in red. Do recall one instructor who used green for the same purpose as red, and one who used black (shudder) which did not stand out. Still think that it is good for kids to learn a bit of humility, and that they do not walk on water.

 

My thought is use something that you can read, and that stands out from whatever else is on the page. Too bad Noodler's doesn't make an anti-feather red.

[sassinak]

I agree with frenchieinpa, as a teacher myself I use colour to motivate myself to mark so finding a pen-ink combo that doesn't bleed/feather is vital. These are the ones I find work quite well so far;

 

• 
   
  
• Red - Lamy red ink in Lamy Safari M nib (VERY bright, light red, almost orange but does not feather at all)
  
• Green - Montblanc Green in Cross Solo M nib (no feathering)
  
• Turquoise - Waterman South Sea Blue in Cross Solo F nib (no feathering now its coming out of a fine nib)
  
• Purple - Waterman purple in Cross Sentiment with M? nib (can use this in exercise books without feathering, but not on truly bad paper)
  
• Brown - Waterman Havana in Parker Frontier M nib
  
• Orange(ish) - Caran d'Ache Saffron in Lamy Safari M nib
  

 

Hope this helps!

[bassopotamus]

I prefer to grade in green. I use Noodler's Hunter Green Eternal in fine nibs, and it doesn't feather too badly on even the cheapest of the cheap paper. Unless there is some school policy, you just need something that is different from what the students are using. I actually prefer green to red as it stands out but is less confrontational.

[bassopotamus]

Where did all of this concern about the color of markings on a paper come from? As far back as I can remember through HS, undergrad, grad school, and law school, almost always had stuff graded in red. Heck, even while I was a TA, always graded stuff in red.

I don't have a serious concern. I do write quite a bit on the papers I grade though, and I noticed one day that I had just graded something that was very good, and, at least from a distance, it just looked like a bloodbath in red. I don't know if any student really notices, but I just find the green a little less jarring, while doing the same thing. Plus, the one I use is an eternal, so their tears don't wash it away.

[orfew]

I will echo a few others on this thread and say that Montblanc Irish Green seems to work very well for my grading purposes.

[pienaar]

A few I think that would look really cool would be Noodlers Apache Sunset, Antietam, and Dragons Napalm.

[truthpil]

It seems like most solutions are to use a fine nib, but what if you want to grade with a 1.1 stub so your writing really stands out? Are there any inks anywhere in the ballpark of red that won't bleed through paper as awful as newsprint? I teach in China and much of the paper students turn assignments in on is literally gray newsprint quality. I've been using Diamine Poppy Red because of its vibrancy, but it can easily bleed through two pages of this this paper and disappears at even the hint of water in the vicinity.

 

For grading papers in my situation, my preferences would be ink that is:

 

1) red or close to red

2) wet enough that it won't skip in a 1.1 stub when writing quickly

3) dry enough not to bleed through newsprint

4) waterproof so the notes don't get destroyed by drinks or bad weather (it rains and snows a lot here)

 

Any ideas??

[HalloweenHJB]

Where did all of this concern about the color of markings on a paper come from? As far back as I can remember through HS, undergrad, grad school, and law school, almost always had stuff graded in red. Heck, even while I was a TA, always graded stuff in red. Do recall one instructor who used green for the same purpose as red, and one who used black (shudder) which did not stand out. Still think that it is good for kids to learn a bit of humility, and that they do not walk on water.

 

My thought is use something that you can read, and that stands out from whatever else is on the page. Too bad Noodler's doesn't make an anti-feather red.

 

I have been using the superbly glorious J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite for my grading. I'm not sure where the entire concept that red is somehow "aggressive" or "confrontational." Red is my favorite color, and I use it the same way other people use blue, black, or the monstrous blue-black.

 

With Rouge Hematite, the ink is so interesting in terms of color, shading, and sheen, that students don't feel wounded by my corrections and comments, they seem to feel privileged that I would use such an amazing ink on their papers...

 

All a matter of perspective, I guess.

[VladislavS]

Platinum Pigment Rose Red very well behaved on newsprint.

[haruka337]

Diamine Poppy Red.

[truthpil]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

I've been using Poppy Red for a while but I've found that it can bleed through cheap paper quite badly unless I'm using the finest nib...at which point you can't see the color well and might as well use a Uni-ball gel pen. =P

 

The Platinum Pigment Rose definitely fits the bill for waterproofness and no bleed-through, but it's more pink and not vibrant enough to say, "Look at this awesome fountain pen ink I am using to grade with!"

 

Even though not waterproof, I'm definitely going to order a bottle of the 1670 Rouge Hematite just because it looks so gorgeous...we'll see how it performs on the various papers I have to deal with.

 

For waterproof and minimal bleed-through I had some success using Daler-Rowney's Calli Scarlet calligraphy ink, which I first heard about here. It's very vibrant and saturated, but the dry time is a little long for flying quickly through assignments. Since it's originally for dip pens it also requires the utmost pen hygiene. I put just enough in the converter to grade all the assignments and then washed it out to be safe.

[mirosc]

I've made good experiences with Parker Quink Red and Akkerman Chinatown Red