Rohrer & KlingnerBottled Writing Ink - 50ml (Cassia)

The purchase of a different Rohrer & Klingner 'red' ink ended with a minor disappointment with its colour - it was not performance which is otherwise to expectations. Published swatches suggested that it to be quite light in tone, sometimes almost transparent and which an initial test appeared to confirm. However, once used for real with a second pen it proved to be much darker and not unlike other 'wine' inks owned which are considered to have few applications that they suit well. The tonal differences previously obtained are not easily explained unless possibly from dilution by retained moisture within a recently flushed pen. "Rohrer & Klingner Fountain Pen Ink - Morinda - 50ml" is a true red but not unduly bright and its intended replacement.Red is often used in moderation to underline or highlight something as is current intention, when marking student papers, if editing a manuscript and similar situations where it cannot overwhelm; used extensively, it can lose purpose. As with italic letterforms and texts in elaborate typefaces, large amounts of red text can be stressful for the reader and read more slowly. Darker reds, primarily those tending towards brown or purple but also Morinda, may be kinder to the reader although still with limited practical applications. For the greater part, red inks are least well-suited to business needs unless to highlight overdraft or debt situations.As with others of the brand's inks, Morinda is well-behaved, not likely to feather or suffer from extensive bleed-through when used with quality papers although lesser quality papers may behave less well with this and most other inks. R&K inks tend to be moderately wet and a good match especially for 'dry' nibs. Lighter colours tend to be more amenable and usable with a wider range of nibs, fine or not and wet or dry; darker colours appear to work best with fine or medium nibs - Morinda is of a depth of tone that could be used across the common nib grades.Compared with other brands, R&K is less familiar as a name but its history was within the old Iron Curtain DDR and their products only more recently exported worldwide. Quality is comparable with market leaders and the inks have several on-line sellers, Amazon included, and several more specialist high street dealers. Their pricing is also comparable to typical brands. It should be noted that the range is ultimately supplied directly from Germany and can require an additional 2-5 days shipment time.

You will see from my other reviews that I am an avid user of fountain pens and gorgeous inks, and this ink is no exception to that rule.Firstly, to clear something up (seller pse note) it's R&K Verdigris (not grease), and as such it is a very subtle blue black, (through a fine nib) and a gorgeous greeny blue black with shading that makes you smile through a medium or broad nib. I love this ink and can sit all evening using it for note taking or general correspondence. Classy enough to use for business writing, R&K inks are famous for their ease of flushing out of pens once they need a refill.I have a Platinum clear demonstrator pen that was stained awfully by a well known English ink that took ages to clean out with water and ammonia - whereas a change after a month with an R&K ink needed only two flushes with warm water to clean it perfectly.If you are looking for an uberclassy blue black that errs on the side of green, please consider this ink, and if you love pens and ink and paper and you are looking for a lovely BB ink that will flow with ease, and look lovely on the page, this is one ink that you need on your ink shelf.I currently use this ink in a TWSBI 580 clear demonstrator (buy one!!) and it is never out of my pen rotation. As with other R&K inks, it is freeflowing, has minimum feathering and hardly any bleedthrough except on the cheapest of papers.It has performed flawlessly on any paper above 80gsm.It's a gorgeous ink, buy it with confidence.Edit 17/6/15.I have to come back to tidy this review up a bit, as I've found that the more pens I put this ink through, the more it is, in fact, a lovely deep green with blue undertones - the extra fine nib I was using when I originally put up this review showed it to be extremely dark, nearly blue black. I've since used this ink in a Platinum 3776 medium nib, an Aurora Archiviste, and three Delta pens, (all fine nibs) and the ink through these pens is an intense green blue that looks stunning on the page. So nice to look at it now is one of my four favourite inks. Buy it with confidence, it really is a classy, graceful ink on the page, and although I don't sketch, I have a friend that does, and she raves about it's shading and vibrancy.The ink arrived from Germany within three days of ordering and the seller is willing to combine shipping if you order other colours in the same order.Hope this helps.