Rotring Brillant Ultramarine Samples And Review

[BCL-2]

Hi fellow pen appreciators,

 

I met the Rotring Brillant Unltramarine not long ago in a friendly shop and since the price was good I decided to try it. I wasn't disappointed. Surpised for sure, but not unpleasantly.

 

I couldn't find any other review or even samples so I decided I should make one myself Enjoy

 

The colour was not what it showed on the box, that is the reason for the surprise, it is not really ultramarine in real life. Instead it is a beautiful, dark elegant violet. The colour is not loud, it's reserved. Subtle unobtrusive but proudly violet.

I would compare it to the darker colours of the amethyst.

 

If you shine very bright white light on it it shows it's bluer side (as in the scan, where it's considerably bluer than IRL), but under pleasant daylight in a room it is definitely on the violet-lilac side.

For the double colour-play I found it hard to really categorise the ink, but I definitely like it. I like it very much indeed.

 

It writes without any issues, I found the ink to be pleasant to use. Dries quickly has no smear. Showthrough and bleed-through is present but not a problem even on the cheap copy paper I use. (I know there are better papers, but this is the kind of paper I use most of the times, so it only made sense to test on this paper).

A pleasant feature is that it's waterproof even for longer periods.

Saturation, Flow and Shading are all very subjective for the inexperienced like myself, I tried my best to convey my feeling but be warned, individual experiences may slightly vary.

Lubrication and spread are left open, because those are definitions I don't really understand with inks so I didn't want to confuse anyone due to a misunderstood notion.

This is probably not an ink you could use in any official letters, but for other than that it is a very nice ink indeed.

 

I have bought other Rotring inks as well, I will upload the tests soon This is my first ever review so any advice, complaint and suggestion would be most welcome

 

But let the ink speak for itself:

 

Thanks to SProctor for the nice ink review form!

Edited October 20, 2013 by BCL-2

[doggonecarl]

Thanks for the review? Did you use bottled ink or cartridges?

 

I have a box of cartridges I got when I first got interested in fountain pens. I think I used one cartridge. Your review makes me want to revisit this ink, especially if water resistant.

[congo]

Szervusz BCL-2! (Hello BCL-2!)

 

It seems there is a wave of NOS Rotring and Parker Penman inks circling around the country. (I have a strong suspicion about the origin.)

I have also bought some Rotring Ultramarine and Royal Blue a few months ago, and found your topic while checking out if there was anyone who wrote about them. Thanks for the detailed review, it was a great read! I most certainly will put the Ultramarine to good use, when my current cartridge will become empty as I find the color pleasant to look at.

 

As a newbie in ink reviews, I also find the "lubrication" and "spread" somewhat difficult to grasp. However after reading a few sites with definitions, I think lubrication refers to the dryness or wetness of writing with the ink, and I consider spread to mean problems with ink laying down on slightly greased paper (think hand grease).

 

If I have misunderstood these, I am sure that another friendly FPNer will help to clarify things!

 

Minden jót! (Best wishes!)

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a bottle of that.

By me violet heads towards red...purple not.

Of course I looked it up, and some folks just don't see things the way I do.

 

I only dipped it, to see what it was....just did it again, to me it's a purple.

[whych]

The Rotring ink cartridges are blue and are not the same colour as the bottled Ultramarine blue.

The ultramarine is a purple/blue.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Hi fellow pen appreciators,

 

I met the Rotring Brillant Unltramarine not long ago in a friendly shop and since the price was good I decided to try it. I wasn't disappointed. Surpised for sure, but not unpleasantly.

 

I couldn't find any other review or even samples so I decided I should make one myself Enjoy

 

The colour was not what it showed on the box, that is the reason for the surprise, it is not really ultramarine in real life. Instead it is a beautiful, dark elegant violet. The colour is not loud, it's reserved. Subtle unobtrusive but proudly violet.

I would compare it to the darker colours of the amethyst.

 

If you shine very bright white light on it it shows it's bluer side (as in the scan, where it's considerably bluer than IRL), but under pleasant daylight in a room it is definitely on the violet-lilac side.

For the double colour-play I found it hard to really categorise the ink, but I definitely like it. I like it very much indeed.

 

It writes without any issues, I found the ink to be pleasant to use. Dries quickly has no smear. Showthrough and bleed-through is present but not a problem even on the cheap copy paper I use. (I know there are better papers, but this is the kind of paper I use most of the times, so it only made sense to test on this paper).

A pleasant feature is that it's waterproof even for longer periods.

Saturation, Flow and Shading are all very subjective for the inexperienced like myself, I tried my best to convey my feeling but be warned, individual experiences may slightly vary.

Lubrication and spread are left open, because those are definitions I don't really understand with inks so I didn't want to confuse anyone due to a misunderstood notion.

This is probably not an ink you could use in any official letters, but for other than that it is a very nice ink indeed.

 

I have bought other Rotring inks as well, I will upload the tests soon This is my first ever review so any advice, complaint and suggestion would be most welcome

 

But let the ink speak for itself:

 

rotring ultramarine.JPG

 

Thanks to SProctor for the nice ink review form!

Great and timely review!

 

This was one of my first inks, back around 2000 or earlier. As I was reading through an old journal to determine the date of certain events, I came upon pages written with this ink, and those were the days before I slavishly noted every single ink in every single entry.

 

I liked the look so much I found some new bottles.

 

How's that for coincidence?

[BCL-2]

doggonecarl:

Thanks, I'm happy you liked it!

I used bottled ink.

 

Congo:

Nice to meet a fellow Hungarian here
Thanks for the explanation. As for the colour, it is definitely nice, at least I like it, but keep in mind that it's much purpler (lilább) than the picture shows
As for the NOS inks circulating,See the PM I've sent you.

 

Bo Bo Olson:

So are you saing that violet is reddish (Andpurple not) or that the ink is reddish?

I'm not sure, I'm not too expereicne and color perception is subjective. It's a foreign language for me and it's very hard to have firm understanding of hese very fine and nuanced differences.

 

I would be very happy and grateful if someone could explain to me the difference between violet, purple and lilac. I'm a bit confused to be honest and the internet confuses me in this question even more.

 

Sailor Kenshin: I'm glad you liked the review, I found it a pity that it hasn't really got any attention before and that is what I tried to remedy with my post
In my opinion it's definitely a worthy ink, I am yet to meet another ink which has such play with the colour.

Edited October 26, 2013 by BCL-2

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'm not sure if the English believe violet and purple are one thing, and the American's believe other wise.

I just know from when I was a little kid, my Crayons violet was reddish or reddish purple, and purple wasn't. Purple was more blue.

To me the ink is a tinge purple....not a tinge violet.

 

There is lots of confusion...really confused me on Wiki....who once was 100% sure he knew the difference between purple and violet...to find out other's don't.

Violet is reddish, purple is blueish....by me...my Crayons didn't lie.

That was US crayons...English crayons could well be marked different.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Bo Bo Olson