Rohrer & Klingner Blue And White Porcelain Ink For Fwi

[mchenart]

This is my first mini ink review, and a short introduction to this new ink- the Rohrer & Klingner Blue and White Porcelain Ink, a limited edition specially made for Fine Writing International to celebrate their third year in business. A total of 1000 bottles have been made, and each bottle has its own edition number. To those of you who know, Fine Writing International ( FWI for short) is a Taiwanese company that make bespoke pens in ebonite and exotic woods, plus import fine writing paper (G. Lalo, Fabriano, Amalfi) and ink (Rohrer & Klingner, J. Herbin) to Taiwan. So it is only natural that they would turn to R&K for the design of their anniversary ink.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae33/mchenart/DSCF3271_zpsef55941c.jpg

 

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae33/mchenart/DSCF3270_zpsab07a195.jpg

 

The inspiration for this ink comes from the blue and white wares of China that reached its pinnacle during the Ming Dynasty and have remained very desirable up to this day. The blue decoration on the white porcelain body is achieved through the cobalt glaze imported from Persia. It is a smart idea to create an ink that would approximate the cobalt blue on the blue and white porcelain, because when writing with this ink on white paper, one would conjure up visions of this brilliant achievement in ceramic technology and art. Rudy Lee of FWI has obviously spent a great deal of time trying to get the hue just right, while preserving other properties that constitute a good writing ink: flow, drying time and seepage. There are so many inks in the blue black category all trying to outdo the others, but I believe R&K and FWI have done a fine job with this ink.

 

I tried the ink on Japanese writing paper with ‘snow fibres’, using a FWI pen fitted with a juicy B nib. Drying time is consistent with other high quality inks, and there is no bleed through whatsoever. You will notice that with a B nib, some shading can be seen in the writing, echoing the cobalt blue lines on the blue and white wares. Wonderful.

 

After trying this ink, I decided to compare it with two other inks with similar hue and colour. In the following scans, you will see how the Diamine Registrar’s ink and Monblanc Blue Black (old bottle) look in short paragraphs. The Diamine is closer in colour to the R&K ink, but it is of a lighter hue, whereas the MB is the darkest amongst the three and shows a true blue black mix. While both Diamine and MB inks are sort of permanent, the R&K ink is not. So this ink is not for signing the wedding certificate or other legal documents.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae33/mchenart/638363CF0015_zps13237a73.jpg

 

This Blue and White Porcelain ink is packaged in a special white box that usually comes with other R&K limited edition inks, but it is printed with a photograph of a Ming blue and white vase and a glossy transparent arabesque pattern. The price is 960 NT per bottle, which is equivalent to US$32. I believe it is only available in Taiwan.

 

I am not related to FWI in any way, just a happy customer.

http://www.finewriting.com.tw/shop/

 

 

[lapis]

Thanks very much! Will order immediately.

 

Mike

[The Good Captain]

It reminds me of the Lamy Blue-Black that I've still got - the iron-gall one, that is. Nice looking ink though but I think I'll stick to the 4001.

[Chrissy]

I don't like it at all. It almost looks a bit watered down to me. In fact it reminds me of the cheap stuff we had to use at school

Edited June 8, 2014 by Chrissy

[wastelanded]

Not worth that amount of money, to me anyway. But thank you for showing us!

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the review.

[Keyless Works]

Interesting ink. Thanks for the review.

[Tonerrainbow]

I don't do full ink reviews, I leave those others who are more capable. These are posts where I discuss my own thoughts on the ink. I also provide links to full.

 

 

http://www.tonerselection.com

[measond]

I like it, in fact I keep coming back for another look. Your Mont Blanc sample looks a lot lighter than what I get with mine and lacks the shading of the Porcelain. It is a tad pricy though.

[mchenart]

Thank you all for your comments.

 

Some of you have commented on the colour of Blue & White Porcelain ink as being light and watered down. Well, my scanner has the tendency to make all scanned documents lighter than they really are, but the comparison scan between that ink and the MB would give you an idea of its true intensity, since the two samples were scanned by the same scanner at the same time. However, I must say that, by looking at the original writing samples, the MB blue black is a bit darker than the Porcelain ink and, as indicated by Measond, does not show much shading.

[lapis]

Thank you all for your comments.

 

Some of you have commented on the colour of Blue & White Porcelain ink as being light and watered down. Well, my scanner has the tendency to make all scanned documents lighter than they really are, but the comparison scan between that ink and the MB would give you an idea of its true intensity, since the two samples were scanned by the same scanner at the same time. However, I must say that, by looking at the original writing samples, the MB blue black is a bit darker than the Porcelain ink and, as indicated by Measond, does not show much shading.

 

Thanks for those details. I'll drop a note "the way I see it" when it arrives next week.

 

Mike