Rohrer & Klingner Inks, Part 6

The days pass quickly and soon enough, the end of the giveaway series has come! Here is Part 6 of the ink series. It covers 3 inks – Solferino, Verdigris, Verdura, which also are the last 3 inks in the R&K series (and alphabetically too). When going through a series of colours like that, it is common to ask about favourites. I would say that I love all the inks, but maybe that sounds diplomatic. My colour preferences usually falls among magenta-pink-purple, and orange. I am disappointed that the R&K series doesn’t have a wonderful orange such as the Sailor Jentle Apricot, or J. Herbin Orange Indien, two orange inks that I like very much. Helianthus is the closest of the lot, but not a very practical ink for heavy use.

R&K does present a series of very attractive ink colours, so to force me to choose my top 3 favourites, I’ll go with (in no particular order): Alt-Goldgrün, for being so unique and special enough to make me like a green ink); Salix, for having that wonderful shade of dark blue and having other properties such as being semi-permanent; and Morinda, for being such a unique, earthy red colour which certainly interested me. I do surprise myself this time that I chose 3 colours not within my usual preferred colour ranges to be my favourites of the R&K series.

Now let’s cut back on the talk and dive right into the 3 remaining inks of the R&K series:

Solferino • Solferino • Solferino • Solferino

I don’t know why, but the word “Solferino” makes me think of operas. Solferino is a village in northern Italy where a famous battle was fought, the Battle of Solferino. This was held in 1859 when French and Italian troops fought together against Austrian power, and won. In this same year, a dye was discovered and named after the place where it was found. This is how Solferino got its name.

Solferino is described by the Free Dictionary as “a moderate purplish-red colour”, which is pretty much the ink that we see in the swab. The ink colour actually looks like it has a lot more purple, some pink, and not so much red. It’s a striking and attention-grabbing colour, being very solid and bright. At the same time, the ink is wet and flows generously, even causing a little bit of feathering on this card where other inks usually don’t feather so much. Water resistance of Solferino is not great, as you can see the ink spot transformed into a cloud instead of being retained in the same place.

Verdigris • Verdigris • Vert-de-gris • Verdigris

If you observe copper, brass or bronze materials exposed to air for a long time, a green layer of “rust” forms over the surface. This colouration is referred to as “Verdigris”, which also means “green-grey” in Italian. I’ve never seen the original Verdigris colours, but I have seen full doors of brass, copper, or bronze turn into green after years of weathering. Those doors definitely have a lot of green in it, but Verdigris according to R&K has more of a dark blue-grey tone.

This makes for a very suitable ink for formal writing as the colour is dark and serious. It does not appeal to me that much personally, but maybe some of you out there might like it. Water resistance is pretty poor for this one, as there is hardly anything left on the paper after contact with water.

Verdura • Verdure • Verdure • Verdura

Finally, we are at the last ink of the series, Verdura. Verdura is a river in Southern Sicily. It seems that many of the R&K inks have Italian references as well. Verdura is a bright green colour, and quite a “middle” green I would call it. I say “middle” green in the sense that it is neither very earthy nor very artificial, neither too dull not too neon-bright, neither too dark nor too light. It’s not a green that has too much or too little blue in it. It’s really quite a green that is in the middle of everything a green could be. Green is not my favourite colour, and Verdura is a little too green for my liking.

This ink is not water resistant at all and the flow can be a little intermittent on a dip pen nib without a reservoir.

My gratitude goes to Fook Hing Trading Co. for sponsoring these inks (all of the 18 colours), and also to you, my readers, for checking back each day to participate in the giveaway. If you’ve won something, congratulations! If you haven’t, I hope you’ll have better luck next time (hoping to organize more giveaways here, so do check back once in a while) and I hope you enjoyed my ink series as much as I enjoyed them! Below is the Rafflecopter widget for the final giveaway of the year.

Stay tuned for my 12 days of Christmas guest post series that start tomorrow! I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2016 bring more fountain pens, inks, and good paper to all of you!

Maybelline

I am the founder of this website.
Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time.
I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty.

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