Red Blooded was an open-edition that was released in early 2012 as part of Field Notes Brand’s standard offerings. Conveniently, It came out before Valentine’s Day, along with a really cute, sweet film featuring a love letter Bryan Bedell (of Field Notes) wrote for his wife using a Red Blooded. Field Notes also had a promotion where every pack of Red Blooded came with a free red “Field Notes loves you” pencil. Darn, I missed it.
I think when Red Blooded first came out, it confused a lot of people because it looks just like Fire Spotter, which was released as the fall edition of the COLORS series the previous year in 2011. Apparently, Red Blooded was created because Fire Spotter did so well. No complaints from me!
They may look the same but note these key differences!
- The belly band on Fire Spotter is kraft brown; it's white on Red Blooded.
- Red Blooded is graph grid, while Fire Spotter is dot grid.
- The Fire Spotter design on the back cover is missing in Red Blooded, for obvious reasons.
- And the text on the inside back cover, like the Practical Applications, are different.
So if you look at both editions facing front, without their belly bands, you wouldn't be able to tell which is which, until you peek inside or flip them over.
Red Blooded (front) and Fire Spotter (back)
Firsts
Nothing is too unique about Red Blooded, if you compare it to the previous releases. It’s a cousin to Fire Spotter, after all. But it doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. I personally love this particular red, the grey grid and the debossing. And I appreciate that Field Notes wrote a whole new set of “Practical Applications” for it that are different from Fire Spotter AND the original kraft brown ones.
I guess Red Blooded is the second after County Fair to join the standard line of products as a variation of the original 3-packs. Sadly, it has been “retired” after three printings. It sold out online at Field Notes website in November 2013.
Some fun (for me) details:
- Red Blooded was released in February 2012 and is NOT part of the COLORS series.
- Item number: FN-01b (County Fair is FN-01a)
- Edition size: ??? There were 3 printings before it retired.
- 1st printing: October 2011 (Huh! Same as Fire Spotter.)
- 2nd printing: March 2012
- 3rd printing: January 2013
- Outside cover: French Construction 100#C “Electric Red” with text spot-varnished debossed by Flywheel Letterpress, same folks who did Raven’s Wing, Grass Stain Green, and Fire Spotter.
- 1st and 2nd printing: Miehle V50 14" x 20" vertical cylinder press
- 3rd printing: Original Heidelberg 10" x 15” Model T Platen press
- Inside cover: Red with black soy-based Toyo ink
- 1st and 2nd printing: 1965 Heidelberg KORD 18" x 25.25" offset press
- 3rd printing: Ryobi 3302M 13.375" x 17.75" Two-Color Offset press
- Wow. I have no life.
- Graph grid inside: light gray soy-based Toyo ink
- Paper inside: Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 50#T “Bright White”
- Belly band: white with black text
- Staples color: silver
- Film #1: We Made a Red One (it says it’d be available forever! Lies! :D)
- Film #2: Aaron’s Red-Blooded Video, if you prefer less cuteness.
My Favorite Practical Applications:
- #09. Red Herring Ideas
- #11. Salsa Rankings
- #15. Debts to Society
- #20. Fire Ant Attack Formations
- #29. Anger Management Reminders
Did you get those red pencils? Did you stock up on Red Blooded? You think Field Notes will ever bring it back?