Monteverde Ruby Ink Review

This is my first review, yay! Today, I tested Monteverde Ruby. It was $8 for 30ml. I don’t mind the smaller size because I never finish bottles anyway. I bought it at the Baltimore Pen Show, among other goodies. 🙂 Red is one of my favorite colors (besides teal) so I’m always on the lookout for new red inks to try.

This ink leans more towards orange-red, rather than being a true red. I expected more of a dark ruby color. But I was pleasantly surprised! Ruby reminds me of a flickering flame with its beautiful orange shading. Either that or tomato soup! There is no sheen, but this ink doesn’t need any to stand out. It has a lot of character and isn’t as flat as another favorite, Diamine Red Dragon. (Review forthcoming!) It’s a perfect shade to use in fall because it looks like autumn leaves.

Monteverde claims that its line of ink is lubricated, to stop the nib from drying out. As a result, I found Ruby very wet and certainly lubricated. On Rhodia dot grid paper, the ink dried completely after 15 seconds. I don’t have a photo of it, but on Tomoe River paper it took forever to dry. I accidentally smeared it after 30 seconds. So be careful if you use it on TR. I tend to use more absorbent, fast-drying paper so it doesn’t bother me.

If you’re looking for a beautiful, autumnal red ink, then Monteverde Ruby is a great choice! However, it doesn’t top Diamine Red Dragon as my favorite red ink.