Private Reserve Vampire Red

[yazeh]

Private Reserve Vampire Red

 

According to the Private Reserve website it’s a “deep, intense brown with red tone”. To me it’s the gorgeous colour of a 50 year old rusted water-pipe, with high shading and a hint of gold sheen on Iroful paper. The sheen disappears with time. It is not a colour I would associate with vampires, unless they’re into ultra-processed oxidized blood.  🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️

This ink is a snob and thoroughly dislikes cheap paper and loves water to excess. (It disintegrates with a drop of water).

 

If you have Diamine’s Ancient Copper or J Herbin Café des Îles, you probably won’t need this one. 

I was afraid that the ink covered the Lamy convertor with a fine film of stain, but a few flushes, and the convertor was clean. However, the ink turned out a pain to clean. 

 

I have to admit, I so much enjoyed using this ink that I did not want it to leave my pens. It’s a complex ink both for writing and drawing. 

 

Chroma:

 

 

 

Writing Samples:

 

Photo:

 

Comparison:

Water test:

Left side 10 seconds under running water. Sample was written with glass nib. So amount of nib is more than a normal nib. 

 

Art Work:

I really had fun playing with this ink. 

First peace is part of the yearlong Inktober challenge 2024, prompt was Fang

Is it the vampire costume or the mouse that frightened the elephant?

 

Fountain pen inks used:

Noodler's Lexington Gray (diluted) /Polar Brown/Baltimore Blue 

Paper is Canson Mixed Media

 

Bal des Vampires (Vampire Ball) 

Here I was a bit more adventurous, mixing a lot of inks on Fabriano sketchbook paper (very absorbent)

Private Reserve Vampire Red was brushed directly from the convertor. 

Sailor Kiwa-guro, Lexington Gray and Monteverde Malibu Blue were used together. Wherever the "black is grey" is the diluted Lex Gray. 

Noodler's Lexington Gray 

Monteverde Malibu Blue

The Les-Kats  , fangs and collar is a mixture of J Herbin Rouge Opera and Sailor Storia mix red, however Mouie (i.e. Mousie) back collar is Sailor Storia Red. 

The V on the pocket is Vampire Red. 

 

 

·      Pens used: Lamy (Reverse Ef/ EF/F/M/B, BB), Noodler’s Nib creaper.

·      What I liked: Colour, shading, doing artwork. 

·      What I did not like: It’s not waterproof

·       What some might not like: It hates copy paper; the name is misleading. 

·      Shading: High

·      Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper. 

·      Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.

·      Flow Rate: Wet

·      Lubrication: Very nice. 

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Ok

·      Saturation:  Dark

·      Shading Potential: Massive

·      Sheen: Yes, on Iroful but disappers. 

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Faint on copy paper.  

·      Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: I would say, a pain. It's medium difficult to clean

·      Water resistance: The lines get obliterated with a water brush. 

·      Availability: 60 ml bottles. 

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

 

 

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

To me it’s the gorgeous colour of a 50 year old rusted water-pipe

It looks red enough in the chroma, but that appears to be where it ends and goes brown...  Burnt blood?

 

Nice shading.  Not sure I like the color, though.  Love your sketches though - those swatch kitties.   Dracukitty (Count Catula?) in the water test is clearly upset that it was water and not blood...

 

Still love your elephant and vampire mouse! And your vampire ball is absolutely fabulous!  Count Catula, with his adorable mousey sidekick, is ready to charm every warm-blooded creature in attendance...

 

Thanks for another fun review, @yazeh!

[yazeh]

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

When they changed the pipes in our street, they were like that, with a a heavy residue. Quite gorgeous in an industrial way. I knew an artist who used rusted metal, which was quite effective. Though very heavy  

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

It looks red enough in the chroma, but that appears to be where it ends and goes brown...  Burnt blood?

Oxidized or expired  

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Nice shading.  Not sure I like the color, though.

If you liked Ancient Copper you would like this, if not, woe is kitty

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

  Love your sketches though - those swatch kitties.   Dracukitty (Count Catula?) in the water test is clearly upset that it was water and not blood...

 

Well, the Mousy has opened the curtains, so it's the end, somehow  

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Still love your elephant and vampire mouse! And your vampire ball is absolutely fabulous!  Count Catula, with his adorable mousey sidekick, is ready to charm every warm-blooded creature in attendance...

🙏 

58 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks for another fun review, @yazeh!

A pleasure ! 🙏

[LizEF]

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

expired  

 

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

If you liked Ancient Copper you would like this, if not, woe is kitty

  I think I liked Ancient Copper.  It's been so long...

[Sailor Kenshin]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

It looks red enough in the chroma, but that appears to be where it ends and goes brown...  Burnt blood?

 

Nice shading.  Not sure I like the color, though.  Love your sketches though - those swatch kitties.   Dracukitty (Count Catula?) in the water test is clearly upset that it was water and not blood...

 

Still love your elephant and vampire mouse! And your vampire ball is absolutely fabulous!  Count Catula, with his adorable mousey sidekick, is ready to charm every warm-blooded creature in attendance...

 

Thanks for another fun review, @yazeh!

 

What she said and then some!  While I don't have this ink I do have JH Feu, Cafe, and had a sample of Oscar.  

 

I like the chroma but how does Vampire Red turn from that into the ichor of minor-league demons?

 

 It's been a while since I read Dracula but the quote makes me sad.

 

Another one out of the park, @yazeh.  Please keep them coming!  💝

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

What she said and then some!

🙏

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 While I don't have this ink I do have JH Feu, Cafe, and had a sample of Oscar.  

You're well covered then

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I like the chroma but how does Vampire Red turn from that into the ichor of minor-league demons?

Ink making mystery  

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 It's been a while since I read Dracula but the quote makes me sad.

It's quite a bid sad, isn't it? 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Another one out of the park, @yazeh.  Please keep them coming!  💝

I'll do my best 🙏

[InesF]

10 hours ago, yazeh said:

It is not a colour I would associate with vampires, unless they’re into ultra-processed oxidized blood.  🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️

Aaah!, how does an all-inclusive blood meal from the Vampire convenience store look like? 🤫 I mean, those things you rip off a cardboard sleeve, put it into the oven and pull out a dinner some minutes later.   It must be delicious for Vampires, we (normalos) do not need to like it.  

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for reviewing this ink. Often told already, I do not like brown and black (and some blue and some other) inks. But this ink seems to be in the middle between red and brown and looks amazing from the images on Rhodia, TR and Hammermill. It's so important to have tests on different papers. I would not had been exited if what I can see on Midori paper would had been the only writing test. To be precise: not only important, it's also quite interesting!

 

But then it even gets better with your artwork! I love the Inktober image and the Vampire Ball is stunningly amazing!  So well done!

 

Thank you for making me put Vampire Convenience Blood Red on my shopping list! Looking forward to your next review.  

[PithyProlix]

I happened to be in the US after a long absence and, with some time off for hunting fountain pens at antique stores in and around Greensboro, NC, I ended up at a really cool store in Chapel Hill - sort of a stationery store - that has a lot of fountain pens and accessories (shout out to Crazy Alan's Emporium!). I needed some international cartridges to refill with bottled ink and the cheapest they had were Private Reserve in various colors. I had never really 'connected' with Private Reserve's ink colors and I didn't much care what color I got since I was planning to toss the ink and keep the cartridges ... but I didn't have much red ink and the "Vampire Red" name was intriguing. Crazy Alan gave them to me for free. It has become one of my favorite reds, a color that I am very particular about. (I harvested the ink from the cartridges and bottled it.)

 

Vampire Red looks more red than brown to me, at least on the papers I have used it on. (Seeing your review makes me curious to try it on Midori, though.) I just started to play with Herbin Café des Îles today, and IMHO it looks significantly different enough that I'm glad to have both.

 

Thanks for the great review! Nice to see that you seem to like this ink as much as I do.

[yazeh]

13 hours ago, InesF said:

Aaah!, how does an all-inclusive blood meal from the Vampire convenience store look like? 🤫 I mean, those things you rip off a cardboard sleeve, put it into the oven and pull out a dinner some minutes later.   It must be delicious for Vampires, we (normalos) do not need to like it.  

13 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for reviewing this ink. Often told already, I do not like brown and black (and some blue and some other) inks. But this ink seems to be in the middle between red and brown and looks amazing from the images on Rhodia, TR and Hammermill. It's so important to have tests on different papers. I would not had been exited if what I can see on Midori paper would had been the only writing test. To be precise: not only important, it's also quite interesting!

Thanks. Yes, inks can be so different on different papers. It's even more apparent if I use watercolour vs sketchbook paper

13 hours ago, InesF said:

 

But then it even gets better with your artwork! I love the Inktober image and the Vampire Ball is stunningly amazing!  So well done!

Thank you! I'm becoming more adventurous trying different colour combinations, where I can. It's so much fun. But you know that already

 

13 hours ago, InesF said:

 

Thank you for making me put Vampire Convenience Blood Red on my shopping list! Looking forward to your next review.  

A pleasure and thank you

[yazeh]

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

I happened to be in the US after a long absence and, with some time off for hunting fountain pens at antique stores in and around Greensboro, NC, I ended up at a really cool store in Chapel Hill - sort of a stationery store - that has a lot of fountain pens and accessories (shout out to Crazy Alan's Emporium!).

That seems like a dangerous place to roam  

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

I needed some international cartridges to refill with bottled ink and the cheapest they had were Private Reserve in various colors. I had never really 'connected' with Private Reserve's ink colors and I didn't much care what color I got since I was planning to toss the ink and keep the cartridges ... but I didn't have much red ink and the "Vampire Red" name was intriguing. Crazy Alan gave them to me for free. It has become one of my favorite reds, a color that I am very particular about. (I harvested the ink from the cartridges and bottled it.)

Neat

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Vampire Red looks more red than brown to me, at least on the papers I have used it on. (Seeing your review makes me curious to try it on Midori, though.)

Funny, on none of the papers it look really red but somewhere between Café des Iles and Ancient Copper as I mentioned before

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

I just started to play with Herbin Café des Îles today, and IMHO it looks significantly different enough that I'm glad to have both.

It's funny. I had filled a pen with Café des Illes and for a second I thought I was writing with Vampire Red. Admiringly it was in low light conditions  

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Thanks for the great review! Nice to see that you seem to like this ink as much as I do.

A pleasure! I would add the only thing, I didn't like much was the cleaning part

 

[knarflj]

Such an interesting colour.  I'm glad it doesn't play well with cheap paper, because I have to write a fair bit on cheap stuff, and I would otherwise be tempted by this one.

 

Thank you for the usual excellent review and delightful artwork!

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, knarflj said:

Such an interesting colour.  I'm glad it doesn't play well with cheap paper, because I have to write a fair bit on cheap stuff, and I would otherwise be tempted by this one.

Good one  

3 hours ago, knarflj said:

Thank you for the usual excellent review and delightful artwork!

A pleasure 🙏