on saleRohrer & Klingner Scabiosa (iron gall) - Ink Sample

Scabiosa is a great ink. The color shades nicely, while still being saturated enough. The flow is really nice. I'm left-handed so I really appreciate the quick drying and water-proofness of this ink.

I was worried this purple might too closely resemble black, but the lighter parts of pen strokes display the color amazingly. A soft, warm, greyish purple, relatively desaturated but still easily identifiable � just what I had hoped. The shaded portions are quite dark, so there is a lot of contrast in each letter, but I don't find this to be terribly bothersome. The actual raw quality of the ink is delightful, as well, and I found no issues with bleeding, smudging, or dryness, only the high contrast between lighter and darker regions, but that is all in one's taste. Would recommend.

I love this ink so much. The color looks great on all my paper, most of which is low to okayish quality. I will say it isn't always a consistent flow in my LAMY Al-star, so sometimes it is more saturated in color and sometimes it is lighter, but I actually kind of like the effect. It is perfect if you want professional-looking notes but don't want the classic blue/black in my opinion, though more stuffy work places might not be okay with purple. It shades from being really rich and dark to being this dusky lilac. It somehow writes both very fine, dry lines and dries incredibly quickly (in my EF lamy nib) while also being wet enough not to feel scratchy and give nice shading. It is waterproof which is really nice. I have cleaned out my pen twice now since having it (I clean my pens once a week when they are in use- this is recommended for scabiosa as it is an iron-gall apparently) and haven't had trouble getting it out of my pen at all, it cleans really nicely. Apparently with time it will wear down on the metal parts of the pen, so maybe if you are using more expensive pens with more metal parts and you are worried you might want to pass on this one? But I liked it so much I went and got the 50 mL bottle as soon as I ran out of my sample and have made it my primary ink in my primary pen ever since.

Fantastic ink. It immediately became my favorite after filling a single A5 page. I journal extensively and am typically a chronic ink changer, changing ink about every five pages in an A4 size notebook. Usually, I quickly grow weary of any single color and feel compelled to swap ink. Not so with this RandK Scabiosa. I am nearing the end of a 96-page Rhodia A4 notebook filled almost exclusively with this Scabiosa and still find the ink as soothing to my eyes as on the first page. For males concerned about the color appearing too feminine, not so. It goes down rather pale and then darkens into a nice bold purple over 15 minutes as it oxidizes. As for pen maintenance, I have only used it in a fine nib Pilot Custom 74. I notice just a bit more nib creep than usual, but nothing excessive. Also, when I last removed the nib and feed for a deep cleaning, I noticed that the underside of the nib seemed to be stained with a light patina from the ink that didn't come off with a 100% water solution. For me, that's not a concern since the beautiful top side of the nib is not discolored. Overall, I highly recommend this ink.

I received the sample vial of Rohrer & Klinger Scabiosa and a vial of Salix. I cleaned out my Delike Element and loaded an empty cartridge with 50/50 Salix/Scabiosa. It doesnt feather much, or bleed, or ghost the back side of the page on bad work paper. (Cheap notebooks from O.D. and wholesale club copier paper) The color is nice. It's a blue black with purple once it has sat for a while. It's drier than my previous ink, which was probably a jinhao or something like that in black. The dry ink and ef nib makes for a good writing experience on bad paper. Good EDC combo, especially at work. Hope it doesn't eat the pen! I will clean it at each refill anyway. I like the R&K Scalix pretty well for it's purpose.