Private Reserve Vampire Red

[jandrese]

I can't believe nobody has reviewed this ink yet. It's new and it has a very cool name. Vampire Red. That is a name that brings up a lot of mental images from movies you have seen. Everything from Dracula with Bela Lugosi to Interview with a Vampire with Tom Cruise not to mention Let the Right One In with that Swedish girl (not the inferior remake). Anyway, blood is what we are after here. Do I want to drink this ink? Let's see.

 

 

 

 

As you can see a quick rinse make this red bleed. In comparison it held on pretty good though. The rinse really brought out the pink tone in Montblanc's Alfred Hitchcock ink. That stuff is like blood mixed with lipstick, which is appropriate.

 

Just dipping the nib into all these red inks was interesting. Upon removing the nib from the fluid most of these inks left a clean nib. The remaining ink just balled up and dropped off. In contrast, the Vampire Red ink coated the nib like many black inks do. Must the relative lack of lubrication.

 

I started out disappointed with this ink. After I wrote all the comparison inks I was happier with it. Now I am unsure again. Time will tell. The writing experience reminds me of Montblanc's Jonathan Swift ink, dry, but in a good way. This is not your typical super saturated Private Reserve ink that is no good for us lefties. It is not expensive so it is worth a shot. Never know, you might get bitten by this vampire.

[Uncle Red]

I found this to be pretty dry also and there are flow issues but it's a great color and works well with a flex nib if it's wet enough. I'd have put up a review but my scanner's on the fritz and cell phone pictures don't do it justice.

[Jagdeep]

It's in-line with the name. It bleeds.

[FooWriter]

Thanks for the nice review.

 

I'm not usually too interested in reds, but I love this color and had to have a bottle. Unfortunately, I've had problems getting it to flow in either of the pens I've loaded with Vampire Red. In the Noodler's Ahab, it did okay for a few minutes, then seemed to... well, clot. The Varsity Pressmatic stub never completely stopped, but instead of the rich shading I'd expected, all I got was a dry pink.

 

Somewhere, I have a Parker that's always been far too wet for my liking. When I get a chance to dig it up, I'll load it with Vampire Red and see if it does any better. It's a beautiful color; it'd be a shame not to be able to use it!

[Ghost Plane]

Sounds like I need to load it in my O3B Pel :hmm1:

[freddy77]

I am so disappointed in this ink. I purchased two bottles from the Goulet Pen Co., one as a birthday gift for a friend and one for myself. We both came to the very same conclusions:

 

1) We love the color.

 

2) The ink is too dry. It skips and stops flowing in both my Pilot Metropolitan and Reform 1745 but works better in my Bortoletti dip pen. My friend found the same characteristics in her Metropolitan and Bortoletti.

 

3) The ink has serious nib creep issues, more so than with most other inks I own.

 

I was one who reviewed the ink on the Goulets' site and, unfortunately, could only give it one out of five stars and that was only because I really like the color. I have other Private Reserve inks that I like (Avacado being a particular favorite) which made the disappointment in the Vampire Red that much worse.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Nice review. Thank you for doing it.

 

I'll say this about the name, seeing just it drew me in to read this review.

 

I like Parker Red Quink for bright blood red. It even dries to kinda a little browner bloody look.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Dioxazine]

I thought this was interesting to see when I got it in a little personal note from HisNibs.

 

I'm really curious as to why such a strongly shading ink would be so dry, but I guess Apache Sunset's the same way.

[jandrese]

I hear everybody who is disappointed with this ink. Me too. Nib creep is bad. Flow is so dry it is practically useless. It also formed precipitates in my Sailor 1911 that clogged the flow. Dang, only some of the odder Noodler's inks had some similar issues, just not all at the same time. Coupled with a less than killer color this ink is destined for the drain.

[freddy77]

I hear everybody who is disappointed with this ink. Me too. Nib creep is bad. Flow is so dry it is practically useless. It also formed precipitates in my Sailor 1911 that clogged the flow. Dang, only some of the odder Noodler's inks had some similar issues, just not all at the same time. Coupled with a less than killer color this ink is destined for the drain.

 

 

I agree with you about everything except the color; it was the color that first attracted me and I still really like it. Of course, liking or disliking a color is completely subjective. Everything else you say, though, is right on the mark and those are the points that should be important to all.

[The Scribbler]

I was expecting a darker color (perhaps a more vibrant, richer Noodler's Red-Black?) so I was initially disappointed by the color itself. As I came to accept it for what it is, I started liking the color.

 

It is the dryness/flow issues of this ink that ultimately disappoint me. I usually like dry inks, but this one may be the driest ink I've ever used. I'm a bit surprised by this since Private Reserve Inks tend to be on the wet & free-flowing side in my experience (American Blue has yet to be tamed by any nib I own).

 

I'm hoping they can reformulate it to address the dryness/flow issues because the color really is growing on me.

[Frank C]

Thanks for the review. While I like the blood red inks, I am not a big fan of the super-saturated inks. It sounds like the color can't overcome the inherent problems with saturated inks.

[jandrese]

Thanks for the review. While I like the blood red inks, I am not a big fan of the super-saturated inks. It sounds like the color can't overcome the inherent problems with saturated inks.

 

 

Actually, this ink is not super-saturated, or even saturated. My writing sample, at least the Qtip part is really wet so saturation is exagerated. From a any nib other than a gusher the color is sort of washed out. Really dry writing. This ink has problems alright, but not from saturation.

[Frank C]

Thanks for the review. While I like the blood red inks, I am not a big fan of the super-saturated inks. It sounds like the color can't overcome the inherent problems with saturated inks.

 

 

Actually, this ink is not super-saturated, or even saturated. My writing sample, at least the Qtip part is really wet so saturation is exagerated. From a any nib other than a gusher the color is sort of washed out. Really dry writing. This ink has problems alright, but not from saturation.

 

I was trying to find a term to encompass Noodler's and Private Reserve Inks, without "ink-bashing". I have many bottles of each, but I usually find that they emphasize one characteristic of ink to the exclusion of others. I apologize for my imprecision.

[raging.dragon]

Thanks for the review. While I like the blood red inks, I am not a big fan of the super-saturated inks. It sounds like the color can't overcome the inherent problems with saturated inks.

 

Highly saturated inks can be wet and free flowing, many other Private Reserve inks are examples of this (including, from my collection: DC Super Violet, Sherwood Green, and Spearmint).

[queenofpens]

Does anybody know if this is the ink that comes with the Acme Dracula pen?

 

I've been wondering about that because Acme does not make inks, so they must have contracted with someone for the ink that comes with the Dracula pen. And when I saw the name and the picture of the PR ink - the color looked so similar to the pictures I had seen of the ink in the Dracula set.

[amberleadavis]

Well, I'm glad I didn't purchase the ink, but very glad to have seen the review. Thank you.

[queenofpens]

I may still purchase it - for some types of art, I finger-paint with my inks which would resolve the too-dry problem :roflmho: even though I know fountain pen inks do not meet the standard of permanence for art supplies.

[georges zaslavsky]

great color and great review thanks for sharing