Monteverde - Ruby

Monteverde - Ruby - Ink drop

Monteverde Ruby is part of the gemstone series. The series includes quite a few solid choices in a wide range of colors. They’re typically fairly simple, and quite nice as writing inks. This is a great series to really fill out your options.

Monteverde - Ruby - Ink swatch card

The red of some of the gem world’s most precious red rubies is called “pigeon’s blood” red. While Monteverde Ruby isn’t really the deep, dark red that characterizes pigeon’s blood rubies, I would definitely call it a blood red. I see hints of color that match the influences of blood’s iron content that helps create its rich red.

Monteverde - Ruby - Ink bottle

This is a very well-behaved ink, very easy to clean out of converters and piston chambers. Unlike Pelikan’s Star Ruby, I haven’t noticed any tendency to stain plastics. (I have a convertor that will be probably have traces of Star Ruby in it forever!) Monteverde Ruby dries reasonably quickly, and there’s a good amount of shading variation, as well. As you can see in the splatter, in areas of wet application, it’s a strong sheening ink. The green-gold sheen is often visible on the edges of strokes when writing with a wet nib, too. All of this helps to produce clear, crisp, highly readable written strokes.

If you are looking for a reasonably true red, Monteverde Ruby is something you should consider.