Rotring Isograph Ink Bottle 23ml - White

I purchased this ink for my Staedtler Technical Pens Staedtler Mars Matic Technical Drawing Pen Set 700S4M and am very pleased with it!I have actually owned my set of pens for twenty years (yes thats right, TWENTY YEARS!) but through a combination of care and quality they still work as good as the day I bought them.I have always used ink from Staedtler Staedtler mars matic paper Drawing Ink. Black 23ml., but over the past few years it has become inceasingly expensive and difficult to find.I have been aware of 'Rotring' products for years and still have my Drawing Board Rotring College Drawing Board A3 S0314150, so know of their quality and their reputation.However I am quite precious of my pens and have been reluctant to use another ink, but due to a delivery issue recently I decided to take the plunge and purchased this Rotring Drawing Ink.And very glad I am!In all honesty I can actually find no difference in the inks quality or performance, with only the lower price being a way to seperate the brands.The ink comes supplied in a 23ml plastic bottle, the plastic is clear so as to better see the amount left within, and the screw top reveals a 2mm nozzle that allows for accurate refilling of the pens.The ink is beautifully black and is of a consistency that is perfect for drawing on most types of paper, card and even tracing paper.It dries quickly, approximately 6 seconds on the heavy duty acid-free paper in my lovely Moleskine Sketchbook Moleskine Sketchbook.In the past I used my pens for producing technical drawings such as design plans for metal work components, but I don't have much call for that nowadays (!) and instead use them for sketching all manner of things in various sketchbooks and pads, this ink works perfectly for that and compliments my precious Staedtler pens a treat.I have a suspicion that I may be purchasing more of this Rotring ink in the future!

A good functional dispenser of ink.

Rotring's ink is well known and well-respected for use in their similarly well-regarded technical drawing pens. I don't own those unfortunately, but I did find myself needing some suitable ink for a cheap but nice no-brand brush pen that only came with an ink convertor and no cartridges or ink.On a recommendation I bought this as other brush pen users have advised that it is quite thin and therefore less likely to clog up the bristles of a brush pen tip.My brush pen is a natural hair one so this is a particular concern.It was a little bit fiddly to get the ink into the pen as unlike Rotring's own pens there's no hole to put the ink directly into, and I had to squeeze some ink into a container and then suck it up with the ink convertor. This caused a bit of waste, but then this ink is not really intended for that purpose so that's not a fault of it.In terms of performance though I am really pleased with it. So far (very early days) there's been no clogging of the brush pen and the ink flows very well. Also, it is quite dark and rich in colour (though not perhaps on par with Kaimei ink) and is perhaps even comparable with Pentel and Kuretake inks. In respect of waterproofness though it performs excellently and so drawings made with it can be used with watercolour paints etc. It also worked flawlessly with alcohol markers and dye-based brush pens, which is a performance comparable to both Platinum's Carbon ink and Pentel's pigmented ink.PROS:Flows well.Hasn't ruined my brush pen so far :)Really impressive water and other medium resistance - as good as any ink available in my opinion.Nice, rich black colour.CONS:I know it is not intended for brush pens, but the bottle isn't ideal for use with ink convertors with its narrow squeeze hole (like a bottle if glue).The bottle is quite small for the price so this could end up quite an expensive way to fill up my brush pen.OVERALL:Having received a cheap brush pen with a ink convertor, but without the promised ink bottle and ink cartridges I was at a loss to know what ink to fill it with. Platinum Carbon ink was an option and would have been fine I am sure, but it is very expensive, too much so for a cheap brush pen that I wasn't sure would be any good. Windsor and Newton drawing ink is not a good idea as a previous cheap piston brush pen got partly ruined by it - you live and learn - with stiffened brush tip and an inability to get the purple/pink ink out. On a recommendation then I bought this Rotring ink as the ink apparently being thin 'should' make it suitable for use with brush pens that use ink convertors. Mine having a natural rather than synthetic brush tip is a particular challenge for some inks, but all I can say is so-far so-good.I will update the review if that changes so that others in this position are aware.It makes me think that Rotring, who clearly know their ink and technical pens, ought to consider making brush pens, too.

Perfect. Does exactly what it says on the tin. High quality as expected. Use it for ink drawings with the 0.1 Rotring isograph, very smooth, no issues.

Quality

This is my " go to" drawing ink. Many years as a graphic designer taught me Rotring ink is reliably the best.

With the amount I seem to need for one of my near legendary drawings, what is left in my Staedtler bottle probably 'would have done'.But I like drawing, so - Hey Ho! The illustration is A3. The pen? 0.25mm in DIAMETER..Took a while.

Like everything from Rotring....Perfect!