12 Days of Inkmas: “Mystery” Cheery Red (Day 6)

For the sixth day of Inkmas, I thought it would be fun to do one of my favorite inky activities- matching ink to a specific pen. To begin the pairing, the pen choice was pretty simple. Inkmas demands one of my merriest pens- the Platinum 3776 Carnelian.

For the ink, I did a quick sweep of reds in my inventory. Sailor Jentle Irori is the obvious first choice of “red reds,” but I wanted some comparison options. The Carnelian has some orange undertones, so I wanted to make sure to get some orange/red options in the mix. Along with Irori, I ended up with Kobe #55 , Kyo-iro 03 Fushimi’s Flaming Red , Franklin Christoph’s 2019 Show Ink, Pennonia Róka Koma (Fox Friend), and Bungubox Tokyo Metro M.

The next step to selecting the perfect match always involves lining up the options and dunking the Col-o-ring Dipper in each contender down the line.

If it’s a particularly difficult choice, or some of the colors seem very close in color- I usually pull out my Col-o-ring “Oversize” and swab all of the contenders on a single page.

These reds are hard to capture on camera. The first photo is more accurate to the actual color of the ink but completely misses all this sheen!

Once my Dippers have dried, it’s time to make a decision. And this one was difficult. In fact, I literally inked this pen three times. The first time, I went immediately for the Pennonia Roka Koma. It’s difficult to see in these photos, but it has more orange undertones than any other ink in the group. But once it was in the Music nib of my Carnelian, it was a bit too orange for my liking (although, I’m going to have to revisit this color in a different pen because overall I really like it!). So next I swung to the opposite end of the group to the Kyo-iro 03 Fushimi’s Flaming Red– which has the strongest pinkest undertones of the group. Even in the music nib, it was just a little too light in actual writing to be a “perfect match” for this specific pen.

So what did I do? A slightly unadvisable choice that seems obvious only to ink addicts. I tried a mixture. Not all ink brands necessarily play nice together, but it’s Inkmas. This is the time to go wild. So I put 1mL of the darkest ink in the group (Franklin Christoph Ink ’19) and 4mL of the Pennonia Roka Koma in a sample vial and let it sit for 24 hours.

Nothing exploded or grew eyeballs- so off I went swatching my new Mystery “Cheery Red.” It’s not really a mystery since I literally just told you how I made the ink, but now maybe I will remember it’s not an actual ink I can search for in my collection.

In the end, I ended up with a red that has just enough orange but maintains its red “punch” through and through. A Very, Merry, Cheery Red. Happy Inkmas!