Aurora - 100th Anniversary Red
Aurora 100th Anniversary Red - Ink Drop
This is Aurora’s 100th Anniversary Red. Long known for only offering blue, black, and later blue black, at the end of 2019, Aurora released ten inks in a variety of new colors. The release was part of their 100th anniversary celebration, and it included a new bottle design to honor the achievement.
Another nice sheen edge!
Visually, this is a vibrant, expressive red, with a purity and brightness that’s energetic, confident, and upbeat. It isn’t a strong shader, but there is some variation, and light areas bring out a hint of pink. The shading is mild, but it adds life and a bit of movement. On uncoated papers, this is a classic, cardinal red that leans slightly to crimson in dark areas. On some coated papers, however, it takes on a different appearance. It’s more of a candy red in these cases, but there’s more. Coated papers show a slight edge halo, which adds definition to stoke profile. The splatter also shows a brilliant green-gold sheen surrounding pooling. The sheen develops quickly while the ink is wet, but it fades completely on uncoated papers. On some coated papers, it remains after drying in the form of a yellowish coating that gives the ink a greenish-yellow influence. I prefer the classic red on the uncoated papers, but the brighter, coated red is interesting.
Aurora 100th Anniversary Red - swatch card!
As a writing ink, it has gorgeous flow and feel. Auroras are known to be safe, stable, consistent inks, and I get that feeling here. Strokes were clean and sharp on all papers tested, while shading and halo were stronger on coated papers. Drying was 10-15 seconds on premiums (slightly longer on Rhodia), and office copy, as well. I really enjoy this ink—the writing experience is very comfortable.
Aurora 100th Anniversary Red surpassed my expectations. I haven’t tried the non-anniversary red, so I can’t report whether there are any differences. I suspect that they are identical, but please let me know if you’ve tried both. I’m new to Aurora, but now count myself as a fan! I’m very happy that they’ve branched into a wider assortment of colors, and I’m looking forward to trying all of them!