It’s been a while since I updated everyone on my never-ending quest for the “perfect” red ink. (Yes, even though I’ve swabbed and sampled literally dozens of red inks over the years, and have probably 12 or so “keeper” bottles in my collection, I’m still looking.) Given that most of my recent attention has been devoted to pen show travel and building out the shop, I’ve acquired less for personal use, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still exploring. Today I’m going to look at two inks that I picked up in recent months: Laban “Ares Red” from their Greek Mythology series, and Dominant Industry “Romania Red.” Both are excellent, but the latter might be my favorite since it seems like a very close match to my now-rapidly-dwindling supply of Montblanc Alfred Hitchcock.
Laban Ares Red
Though I’ve not gotten around to reviewing the inks until now, at the Baltimore Pen Show I picked up nearly all of the Laban “Greek Mythology” Inks from various retailers. These inks were released in two series, and since I’m a longstanding mythology enthusiast there was simply no way I would pass up having all of these inks in my collection. To my knowledge, Laban hasn’t released a line of inks prior to this one, and they are surprisingly good.
Ares Red (named after the Greek god of war) is a bright red similar to classic Sheaffer Skrip, though perhaps slightly richer in tone. I had tempered my expectations somewhat, given that many people claim to have experienced slow dry times with this particular ink. That was not the case at all for me, as I’ve found Ares Red to be extremely well behaved. It dries relatively quickly, and I’ve had no feathering or bleeding in a few different pens and nib sizes. To pair with this particular ink for this review, I chose the new TWSBI ECO in Transparent Yellow, in an extra-fine nib. I have no qualms about using red inks at work, since I annotate a lot of documents, and this shade of red is perfect for markups. (I also have a thing about putting red inks in demonstrators - I especially love it when the demonstrator is orange or yellow.)
Dominant Industry probably wins the “cool bottle design” contest, though the narrow base requires you to pay attention or else you might tip it over.
Dominant Industry Romania Red
If you’re looking for a deeper red that could be a good everyday writer, you should definitely try out Dominant Industry’s Romania Red, apparently an attempt to clone Montblanc Alfred Hitchcock. “Romania Red” even has a touch of the greenish-gold sheen that Hitchcock can develop around the edges on certain papers. Like the Ares Red, this ink did not give me any trouble in terms of dry time, bleedthrough, or feathering. Either would make a good workhorse ink, and I had this one inked up for review in a TWSBI Smoke and Rose Gold RGII Diamond 580 with a medium nib. Like Laban, Korean inkmaker Dominant Industry has impressed with their overall lineup, and I have several bottles currently in rotation.
Note that the Hitchcock has just a bit more sheen to it than the Dominant Industry version. It’s not an exact match, but perhaps the closest I’ve seen, especially in everyday writing. The paper used for the writing samples is Midori MD Cotton paper.
Where to Buy and Further Reading
We stock the Laban Greek Mythology Series, including Ares Red, in our own Shop, and our friends at Vanness Pens currently carry the Dominant Industry Romania Red. Laban Inks are priced at $25 for 50ml, and Dominant Industry inks $17 for a 25ml bottle. This pricing is fairly standard, though I’d say Laban falls on the inexpensive side on a per-ml basis, while Dominant is in line with the pricing for other imported inks.
A side-by-side comparison so that you can see how these will look in everyday writing.
Do you have a special ink color that you’re constantly exploring? If so, you may want to check out this series that I put together last year, in which I swabbed all of the various inks in my collection and laminated the sample sheets. If you visited me at the D.C. Pen Show, these are the sheets I had at the table!
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