Rohrer & Klingner Magenta

[Goodwhiskers]

Flow: This ink's flow is excellent in every pen I've put it in: Genius brand school pen (medium flow), Lamy Safari medium (medium flow), Sheaffer Viewpoint Calligraphy "medium (sic)," (medium-wet flow) and A. T. Cross ATX medium (wet flow; I haven't had its flow modified yet).

 

Writing on bad paper: R&K Magenta is for one-sided writing on bad paper, from a dry or medium-flow pen; it's definitely for not two-sided writing along exactly opposite lines, from any pen.

Strokes of this ink come out wider than the point of the pen (in proportion to the pen's wetness of flow) and do not have sharp edges. From dry and medium-flow pens, strokes do not feather noticeably, while they do feather a bit from the wet ATX.

While Sheaffer Skrip Turquoise from Slovenia spreads less and has sharper edges, R&K Magenta shadows into bad paper to the same degree as Skrip Turquoise. (I've now tried Sheaffer Skrip Black, Blue, Purple, Red and Turquoise, all from Slovenia; on bad paper, Turquoise is the "less-good sibling," Blue is the "excellent sibling," and the others are "good.").

R&K Magenta does not bleed through at all, except from the ATX, from which bleeds through a tiny bit at wetter spots.

This ink shadows and bleeds much less than Waterman Violette/Purple, but a bit more than the "good" Skrips, Noodler's "standard" Red, Green and Brown, and Noodler's Gruene Cactus, (Eternal) Luxury Blue and Legal Lapis.

 

Writing on good paper (FPN notepad): This ink is delightful on good paper, as one would expect, with sharp edges and no feathering (one exception). It gives a subtle, pleasant shading/variation effect, especially from the Sheaffer Viewpoint Calligraphy. The only disappointment was the dull edges with slight feathering from the ATX.

 

Drying time: This ink dries impressively quickly, even on good, dense paper, no matter how wetly the pen writes! It's as quick as all of my Skrips, and equal to or a little bit quicker than the Noodler's colors just mentioned.

 

Lubrication during writing: This ink lubricates a lot more than Lamy Blue or Violet, a little bit more than my Skrips, about the same as Noodler's Luxury Blue and Swishmix Glacier Blue and Namiki/Pilot inks, and less than Waterman Purple/Violette and my other Noodler's.

 

Color: This ink is definitely a dark magenta color. It's not pink, not red, not maroon, not the color of grape juice or any wine made from grape juice, not crimson, not purple, not lavender, and not violet.

Marking this ink onto a moistened paper towel reveals exactly one dye.

This ink, compared to swabbed samples of similar colors on paper in Clark's 2006 Sampler, is darker and more subdued than Noodler's Saguaro Wine, Noodler's (Swisher Waterproof) Hellbender Red and the "Cyclamens" by Campo Marzio, J. Herbin and Rubinato. Therefore, reading several lines of text in this ink is pleasant, just as reading Skrip Purple and Noodler's Red is more pleasant than reading Waterman Violette/Purple and Skrip Red.

This ink is lighter and less blue (or perhaps it is lighter and redder) than the [/i]Sampler[/i]'s sample of Private Reserve Arabian Rose.

Compared to the digital color samples on http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ as I see them on my monitor screen, this ink is a tiny bit redder than Diamine Deep Magenta, much darker than Diamine Claret, lighter and less purple/violet than Diamine Crimson, and lighter, brighter and redder than Noodler's Socrates.

 

Can anyone report on this ink's pH level?

 

Color change in non-airtight pens: After a couple of days in the Genius and several days in the Sheaffer Viewpoint Calligraphy, this ink turns darker.

 

Uses: I like this ink for writing. I also like it for marking students' papers (shadowing isn't issue for me there ).