Rohrer & Klingner Solferino and Magenta

Now that it’s March and spring flowers are soon to bloom, it’s time to add a little color to my rotation. Ryan at Pear Tree Pens made it easy by sending some Rohrer & Klingner samples that offered just the sort of color jolt to push somber winter shades aside.

Not familiar with Rohrer & Klingner? It is a Germany company that has been making ink for over 100 years so I reckon they’ve got the kinks worked out. R&K doesn’t offer the widest variety of colors but it does hit all the important ones.

Verdigris and Alt-Bordeaux have been in my collection for several years. Both are good colors but I have been inconsistent about their use. Reliable performance and reasonable cost made them ideal for my early days of collecting ink. In fact Verdigris was the only ink I had ever used in my Navy Gray Parker “51” Aero until very recently. So I knew Rohrer & Klingner made a quality product but would the colors be exciting enough to earn a place amongst my regular inks? Hmmm…

Rohrer & Klingner Inks

After days of marveling at the pretty little bottles of color, Solferino earned first call. This gorgeous pinkly, purplish ink became an instant favorite. It didn’t take long to fill pages in my journal as well as send off a couple of letters. Easily this color was unique enough to be a keeper.

Rohrer & Klingner Solferino

The written sample above is pretty accurate but the swash of color is a bit too pale. It’s a lovely color regardless.

Next I opted for Magenta. This one is a little more subtle. Think of it as a muted version of Iroshizuku yama-budo. Magenta isn’t as lubricating but it does dry a little faster than yama-budo. In addition it shades beautifully and more extensively for those of you who enjoy that characteristic. Magenta could be just the ink to tame an excessively free-flowing nib or to make a wide nib more manageable. A stingy extra-fine nib might not be a good match though that sort of nib could be perfect with yama-budo.

Rohrer & Klingner Magenta

While other ink characteristics add to the fun of using a fountain pen, color is still number one for me. Both R&K Solferino and Magenta deliver in that regard. In other respects these two inks are different enough to offer good variety so I will purchase both when Pear Tree Pens receives its shipment later this month. How can a true inkophile do otherwise?

More at La Plume Etoile and Okami-Whatever.