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Private Reserve

Ride the Lightning

Purples#55328D

Highly saturated American inks in dozens of vivid colors, headlined by the pen-show classic DC Supershow Blue.

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Specs

Color familyPurples
Approx. hex#55328D
SheenNot typically noted

Paper & pairing

Purples sit at the boundary of professional and playful, one of the more personality-forward choices that still reads clearly on the page. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.

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About Private Reserve

Private Reserve Ink was founded in 1994 in Indiana and became known for intensely saturated fountain pen colors at a time when most inks were conservative. The brand was acquired by Yafa Brands in the late 2010s and relaunched with reformulated Premium, Fast Dry, Invincible, and Infinity lines. Its bottled inks remain a staple of American pen shows, most famously the annual DC Supershow blues.

USA Founded 1994
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Storing and using the bottle

Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.

Frequently asked questions

What color family is Ride the Lightning?
Ride the Lightning falls into Inktend's purples family based on its typical swatch color.
Does Ride the Lightning have sheen?
Ride the Lightning is not typically noted for sheen. If you want that effect, browse similarly colored inks tagged with sheen in the ink library.
How should I store a bottle of Ride the Lightning?
Years, easily, as long as it stays capped and out of direct sunlight. The thing that actually shortens an ink's usable life is sitting unused inside a pen, not sitting on a shelf.
What paper works best with Ride the Lightning?
It behaves predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Stick to something reasonably absorbent-resistant, since cheap copier paper dulls saturation and can feather.

Similar shades By colour distance

Purple Mojo
Private Reserve
Violet
Karkos
Imperial Purple
Diamine
Purple
You Ping
Purple Gallinule Purple
Anderillium
Violet Malicieux
Louis Vuitton

Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.