Rohrer & Klingner - 18 Inks

[ENewton]

I probably have a smaller collection of inks than anyone on this board--only 12 bottles, and three of them are Rohrer and Klingner inks.

 

Sepia is the only ink I have that isn't in the purple range. I like to use it with my dip pens, for an elegant, vintage look.

 

Scabiosa is one of my favorite inks, because it shades beautifully, changes color (making it especially suitable for autumn), and looks so different on different papers, but if you want a consistently dark line as opposed to one that shades from dark to light, you will need a relatively wet pen.

 

Solferino is a very bright ink and hence a favorite of people who consider other Rohrer and Klingner inks too subtle.

 

In addition, Rohrer and Klingner indicates that one can mix any of their inks, except Sepia. Right now I am using a mix of Solferino and Scabiosa.

 

Verdigris is a gorgeous, very dark green that I often give as a gift to people whose favorite color is green.

[carola]

I have got two pens I usually ink up with Rohrer & Klingners Alt-Goldgrün. One of those has a B-nib and the result on the paper is rather spectacular. The more ink, the better the colour.

 

1a review!

[Drawing61]

I have several R&K inks and would like to own them all but alas, though letters and drawings may be long time is short. Thanks for this overview.

[Ezekiel]

...

 

Scabiosa is one of my favorite inks, because it shades beautifully, changes color (making it especially suitable for autumn), and looks so different on different papers, but if you want a consistently dark line as opposed to one that shades from dark to light, you will need a relatively wet pen.

 

...

 

What pen and nib do you find make the best of Scabiosa? I haven't found a way to make it pop like the reviews I see. Seems pretty uninteresting when I write with it.

[ENewton]

 

What pen and nib do you find make the best of Scabiosa? I haven't found a way to make it pop like the reviews I see. Seems pretty uninteresting when I write with it.

 

I have used it mostly in a Platinum Balance Medium, which has a rather soft but not especially wet nib and accentuates the shading. However, in light of your question, I just inked a wetter pen, a Jinhao that I received for free with an ink purchase; the Jinhao produces an effect more like what you see in most reviews.

 

Note that if you prefer bright or deeply saturated colors, Scabiosa will not be to your taste.

[FPRebel]

WOW! WOW! WOW! Stunning work, Vis!!!
You did this work a few years ago, but it's timeless, and I've just come across it. THANK YOU!

[minddance]

This a great review, thank you! I am wondering why the dry times for 13 inks and not all 18.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Seitz-kreuznach.de sells the bottles for €4,19, half the price of Amazon.it sellers, and orders above €15 are shipped for free (so it says at the time of writing).

 

...Guys, guess which ink manufacturer I'm trying, after Pelikan and Diamine?

[lgsoltek]

I come back to this comparison from time to time and every time I'm still amazed 1) what a brilliant comparison Vis does here, 2) what a lovely range of colours R&K has.

[Tas]

I come back to this comparison from time to time and every time I'm still amazed 1) what a brilliant comparison Vis does here, 2) what a lovely range of colours R&K has.

 

+1

 

. . . and what incredible value they are too.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

I come back to this comparison from time to time and every time I'm still amazed 1) what a brilliant comparison Vis does here, 2) what a lovely range of colours R&K has.

+1 One of the best comparison tables out there. I relied on Vis' comparison for both of the times I bought R&K inks. I'm very grateful. OTL

[minddance]

sepia and blu mare are my fav.

 

aubergine should be made a regular production. it is brilliant! great flow and saturation, and well behaved.

Edited November 21, 2018 by minddance

[Mercian]

This (along with the following two posts) is just my attempt to restore @visvamitra's pictures to this comparison thread.

 

N.b. The pictures were taken & uploaded in 2014. I advise anyone who likes the look of any of the inks shown in these pictures to seek out some full reviews of that ink, preferably ones that have been created more-recently than 2014! Not just because scanning technology has moved-on since then, but also because it is possible that some of these inks may have been reformulated in that time.
In any case, you will want to read full reviews in order to find out if any ink that piques your interest has any physical properties that you regard as 'deal-breakers'.

 

Now that I have my caveats out of the way, I do think that it is nice to have a thread that compares all of the 'standard' Rohrer & Klingner inks, so here goes:

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Rohrer & Klingner operates since 1892. At the moment it's the fifth generation of the family that manages the company. I guess that after 122 years they know what they are doing.

 

R&K inks offer amazing quality for amazing price. In my country a bottle of R&K ink costs 5-6 $. I know it's a bit more expensive in America, yet I believe the price is still reasonable.

 

I find it interesting that Rohrer & Klingner seems to focus mainly on the content and not on the bottles. Inks come in industrial looking bottle that is quite handy but there's just nothing fancy about it. It's surprising.

 

Anyway they offer eighteen colors, some stunning, some boring but all have good qualities and are easy to clean.

 

 

Let's check them.

 

Alt-Bordeaux: pale and boring in dry nibs, really nice in wet nibs.

 

 

 

 

Alt-Goldgrun: great, unique ink. A winner.

 

 

 

 

 

Blau Permanent: not really permanent but it shows some waterproofness. Good ink, good saturation, nice color.

 

 

 

 

Blu Mare: lively, saturated blue. Not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

Cassia: decent violet.

 

 

 

 

 

Fernambuk: red with some pink accents. Nice, decent, smooth and consistent flow.

 

 

 

 

 

Helianthus: intense, dark yellow. In broad nib I can see it as a daily writer.

 

 

 

 

Konigsblau nice, decent ink. The thing is there's so many blue inks on the market and there's just nothing special about this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Leipziger-Schwarz: blueish black but still black. I dislike blacks and this one won't change my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

Magenta: magenta. Intense, eye-catching, but too bright to my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morinda: one of my favourite red inks. I like the hue and great lubrication it provides to my dry writing Pilot 78G with broad nib.

 

 

 

 

Salix: waterproof, famous R&K ink. I don't like the color.

 

 

 

 

 

Scabiosa: waterproof, nice, dusty color. Good choice.

 

 

 

 

 

Sepia: greyish brown. Calm. I do like it.

 

 

 

 

 

Smaragdgrun: meh. I dislike this kind of greens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solferino: screaming, popping purplish magenta. I like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verdigris: greenish blue/black. Nice one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verdura: decent green. But there are better ones on the market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The review was made with dry writing tool: Pilot 78G with broad nib. You may think that the color are more intense in your notebook. But that's how these pens write.

 

 

 

SWABS (Mondi 90g)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gems (cut in PS from the photo made in intense sunlight)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DROPS OF INK ON KITCHEN TOWEL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2014 by visvamitr

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Keen-eyed readers will have spotted that I have slightly re-organised the OP - I have put the initial photos of the ink-splashes into alphabetical order, and have put the pictures of the inks underneath their names. But all credit for the effort to create this comparison, and all of the pictures in it, is owed - solely - to @visvamitra

 

Anyway, I hope that this post is useful to people. Two more still to do....

 

Slàinte,
M.

[Mercian]

And now, here is my attempt to restore @visvamitra's second post in this thread to its full glory.

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CHROMATOGRAPHY

 

 

 

 

CALENDAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OXFORD PAPER

 

 

 

 

 

 

RHODIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIP PEN

 

 

 

 

 

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I hope that the restoration of this post is useful to people.
Credit for creating the post, and the pictures that are in it, is owed solely to @visvamitra.

Now on to the third one....

Slàinte,
M.

[Mercian]

And now, here is my attempt to restore the pictures to @visvamitra's third post in this thread, so that everyone can once again benefit from his creativity, and from all of his hard work.

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DRY TIME

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLISH PANGRAM ON LYRECO PAPER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WATER RESISTANCE

 

 

https://imageshack.com/a/img661/2537/q7BpQ8.jpg

That ↑ link dead, as of 2025-10-17. M.

 

 

 

 

Before immersion

 

 

 

 

After immersion

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY

 

I highly recommend R&K inks. They offer good quality for a) fantastic price in Europe reasonable price in Americas.

 

My favourites are: Alt-Goldgrun, Helianthus, Morinda, Sepia, Verdigris and Solferino (in small doses).

 

I dislike Salix, Smaragdgrun and Leipziger – Schwarz.

 

The rest is more or less fine.

 

Let me know what you think.

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I do hope that these restored pictures are useful to people, and I thank @visvamitra for creating these comparison posts and all of these pictures.

Finally, I repeat my advice that, if you like the look of any of the inks shown in these three posts, you should look for several reviews of it/them.
Preferably reviews that have been created more-recently than 2014.
This is to enable you to check their appearance when scanned/photographed with improved technology, and to see whether any reviewer mentions that any of these inks has any property that you regard as a 'deal-breaker'.

 

Slàinte,
M.

[lgsoltek]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this hard work of reviving these images! Visvamitra is one of the best ink reviewers and I miss reading his detailed reviews.