My Red Ink Is Now Green! What Happened?

[eharriett]

Yesterday, I went to the northeast Ohio Pen Club meetup (first meeting, yay!!!) and I brought along a bunch of inks to lend in case anyone was interested in trying. One of the ones I brought was my bottle of Private Reserve Vampire Red.

 

Someone wanted to try it and I warned him when he opened it that it would be brown -- a gothic interpretation of "vampire." He opened it and showed me the bottle. It was GREEN!! What the heck?

 

I just filled a pen from this bottle less than 45 days ago! It was the color it was supposed to be, no SITB or anything. I've had several other fills from it in the past. Whenever I fill, I make sure the pens are clean. I made no mistake on that part. And today it is GREEN! This afternoon, then I went to take the attached picture, I heard a hiss as I opened the cap, as if pressure was escaping.

 

I assume this is a goner? Anyone have any idea what happened or why? This has never happened before and all my other private reserves are completely fine.

 

 

[Joane]

I used to use Waterman Havane. Brown is a blend of red and green and what would happen sometimes is I'd be writing and the red and green would separate into two colours. Is the ink green all the way down or is there red at the bottom? If the latter, stirring it might restore the brown. Otherwise, no clue. Maybe the green ate the red!

[eharriett]

Shook it vigorously as soon as I saw the message. Nope. Still sea green. It's a rather pleasant green, actually, but I'm afraid of it.

[Joane]

Somehow the red faded out of the brown and left just the green. I'd be afraid of it too. It might feel safe using it with a dip pen but my usual reaction when an ink acts weird is to dump it down the drain and be rid of it. Others may feel more comfortable using mysterious-acting ink.

[PS104]

Aside from the cautionary advice of not using it for technical reasons I rather like it. I'm partial to murky greens and this looks like it fits that qualification. One of those situations when a glass pen would be a nice-to-have. Besides St Patrick's Day is only 8+ months away

[eharriett]

Want it? I'm afraid of it now. Not gonna put it in any pen I care about anytime soon. It's next stop was going to be in the trash. I'll PIF it to you. Or if you don't want, to another brave soul who knows what they're getting.

[aardvarkbark]

Classic case of Irish vampire starting the celebration 8 months early.

[KellyMcJ]

The fact that it hissed when you opened it is more concerning than the color. Red dye is notoriously unstable, traditionally. I don't know if inks have these issues in modern times but in paint, other types of ink etc...the red is always first to fade.

 

But if it hissed when opened, some chemical change is happening other than dye instability. Reaction or growth of some sort I don't know.

[KaB]

Thanks for sharing this weird story!

You fully know what to do...

[Chrissy]

The fact that it hissed when you opened it is more concerning than the color. Red dye is notoriously unstable, traditionally. I don't know if inks have these issues in modern times but in paint, other types of ink etc...the red is always first to fade.

 

But if it hissed when opened, some chemical change is happening other than dye instability. Reaction or growth of some sort I don't know.

 

+1 for this. If it was mine I would trash it.

[fabri00]

Finish it with an ash-tree pole ...

[Algester]

Chemical reaction that would gas out if mixed with water interesting

[eharriett]

Was going to give it one more chance. Opened up the bottle. Heard another hissing sound. Smelled it this time. Moldy cheese.

 

Tossed. End of story. Absolutely no idea what that was, but now out of the house. Sorry scientists!

[Algester]

All you have to know dye degredation would be the culprit but without knowing the chemical components to result in the final reaction we cant help either

[amberleadavis]

Sure looked pretty.

[eharriett]

I agree!

[C-town]

This is one of the strangest ink stories I have ever heard. I have to admit it makes me hesitate to buy inks from small manufacturers...

[amberleadavis]

I love my PR inks.

[eharriett]

This is one of the strangest ink stories I have ever heard. I have to admit it makes me hesitate to buy inks from small manufacturers...

Meh. I wouldn't hesitate. So I got a bottle of bad stuff. I've got 4 or 5 other bottles from them including a bottle of Tanzanite that is in a fairly expensive Visconti.

 

Inks make the hobby worthwhile for me. Leaving out all small manufacturers because of a bad story deprives you of some of the uniqueness of our hobby.

[C-town]

Meh. I wouldn't hesitate. So I got a bottle of bad stuff. I've got 4 or 5 other bottles from them including a bottle of Tanzanite that is in a fairly expensive Visconti.

 

Inks make the hobby worthwhile for me. Leaving out all small manufacturers because of a bad story deprives you of some of the uniqueness of our hobby.

I don't disagree that there are some stunning small maker inks out there (I own a few of them) but I've come to appreciate lower risk inks for writing. If you are ok with risking a few bad bottles there certainly is nothing wrong with PR or Noodlers for example. I also understand that "problem" bottles are a vast minority but even so I personally just feel better about large maker inks.