Let’s take a look at KWZ Cappuccino, a beautiful creamy coffee brown! Background information KWZ is a new-to-me ink brand, though it’s been on the market since 2012. Konrad Żurawski is the one-man owner and manufacturer: according to his website, he started off trying to improve inks he owned and started making iron gall inks. It used to be that you could only order inks through his website, but luckily, it’s becoming easier to get. KWZ inks are packages in a simple glass bottle. I believe you get 60ml of ink. There’s a sticker on the front with the name of the ink as well as a small swatch, which appear to all be done by hand. The first thing you’ll notice when you open the bottle is that you get a heavy whiff of a vanilla scent, similar to the smell of vanilla extract. If you’re sensitive to smells, this definitely will not be the ink brand for you. The scent dissipates eventually, but my notebook still smells a bit like vanilla if I put my nose to it. Taking a look: the scan KWZ Cappuccino is a brown that leans orange. It reminds me a lot of the color […]
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Let’s take a look at De Atramentis Virgo! Background information I’ve talked about the De Atramentis brand on this blog before, and I don’t have anything else to add to that blurb! But if you’re new to the brand, there’s nothing wrong with an introduction, right? De Atramentis is like the German Noodler’s: it’s owned and operated by one person who makes everything! And just like Noodler’s, De Atramentis has a massive catalog. They have a ton of different colors, some scented, some repackaged as “specialty” inks (like the popular Alexander Hamilton being Aubergine in a different bottle). All De Atramentis inks come in the same bottle so far, and Virgo is no different. It’s a glass bottle with a simple paper label on the front that has the name of the ink. Since Virgo is a specialty ink, it also depicts an illustration of the Virgo constellation. You get 35 ml per bottle. It’s shaped a bit like a spool of thread, with two “rims” on it. Just like De Atramentis Pisces, Virgo comes in the Astrology line. The bottle says “olive green,” and I would pretty much agree. I think it’s a bit less yellow than the color […]
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Hello, I’m Felicia the calligraphy person, I use pointed pens for calligraphy, and I love colours, so when I was asked to give these inks a try, I said yes! First thoughts: My first impressions are that these inks look beautiful. They are stored in these cylindrical glass bottles with a plastic black screw on cap that opens and closes easily, feels functional, minimalist and clean, in a good size. What I’m often not so keen about as a calligrapher is the neck of the bottle being too small to dip the nib into, and the Elixir ink bottles have a good size, they are nice to hold, open and close, it doesn’t feel or look flimsy. When you open the bottles up, they do have quite a bit of a smell that reminds me of my old Sakura watercolours or paint, and I wonder if it’s the binder that is responsible for the smell. There’s no ingredient list, so I have no idea what goes into the inks. The colours are beautiful too. I was quite struck by how Sunset Siloso looks in the bottle, it’s completely translucent, and I must say I was quite excited at the […]
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Let’s take a look at De Atramentis Pisces, an ink with a very unique color! pharaonisConrad is a Californian fountain pen lover. wintersharks.blogspot.com
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We’re taking a look at—deep breath—NAGASAWA PenStyle-Den KobeINK物語 #8 Arima Amber! There was a time you had to buy this ink in Japan or get a courier service to have it mailed to you. But we live in an incredible time, don’t we? pharaonisConrad is a Californian fountain pen lover. wintersharks.blogspot.com
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I got my hands on two inks from Elixir Ink Company for review through Maybelline recently and couldn’t be more pleased. The Elixir Ink Company is from Singapore, and their inks are produced locally. Support local? Yes! The one I’m reviewing today is the River Safari ink. It’s always nice to try items that are locally made. I explored Elixir’s website and found out that the two inks I received were their limited Edition Inks specially made for Singapore Fountain Pen Lover’s (SFPL) 2017 Pen Show. Unfortunately, according to Elixir’s website, they’re currently out of stock. Anyone knows if they will be producing more stock? Performance The writing sample above is written on a Maruman Spiral notebook, and I had no problems with bleed-through and feathering. The ink is almost pH neutral at 7.5. It writes a little dry for me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the nib. Others had provided feedback, saying the inks were a little on the wet side. Pros Their River Safari is a pretty, dark olive green with a little bit of shading. Olive Greens had never been a personal favourite, but i’ve grown to like them recently as […]
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A while ago I had published my Rohrer & Klingner (I will just call it R&K in the rest of the post) series overview from parts 1-6, covering 3 R&K inks in each part. I love manufacturers who make a greatly attractive series of ink colours, but then again, we are all spoilt for choice, and a variety of ink colours can make choosing the “ideal” one quite difficult. But call me picky or not, sometimes I am targeting that one specific ink colour which eludes me, despite the sheer variety of inks available on the market! Before the R&K ink series, I had also published a 4-part series of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks, 24 colours in total. For a number of those inks, I managed to spot some sheen very easily. I don’t know if this is characteristic of Japanese inks or not, but I hadn’t managed to spot much sheen in other inks, especially those from R&K. I wasn’t convinced that R&K inks have totally no sheen, so I decided to do a little experiment on my own. DO ROHRER & KLINGNER INKS HAVE SHEEN? For my ink swab records, I usually made a single ink layer followed […]
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Being of Chinese descent, I always celebrate New Year’s day twice in quick succession. The first New Year is, of course, the one most people know of, which occurs on Jan 1. The second new year, usually occurring within 2 months from Jan 1, is the Lunar New Year. Old Chinese traditions follow the lunar calendar which places the turn of the year during the beckoning of spring. This year, the Lunar New Year falls on Feb 8 and both the 8th and the 9th are public holidays in Singapore. HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR, all of you out there who celebrate it! If you’re into Chinese zodiacs and all that, this year is ushered in by the Monkey. There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac and Monkey is the 9th animal. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the Monkey has not predicted anything related to fountain pens for me this year, so it’s up to me to set my own resolutions! Adjusting to my own lifestyle To be perfectly honest, I have had very few chances to use fountain pens on a daily basis over the past couple of years. Most of my chances of writing, if any at all, are when […]
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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 […]
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Welcome to Part 5 of my Rohrer & Klingner giveaway! I hope you’ve enjoyed the series so far, and I’ve received many comments about the inks. It’s interesting to see everyone’s perspectives on their own favourite colours. I had initially thought that Alt-Goldgrün is the classic favourite, but it seems like other ink colours such as Helianthus (surprisingly), Salix, and Magenta were also mentioned! Let’s see if you like the colours being featured today… Scabiosa • Scabiosa • Scabiosa • Scabiosa Scabiosa is another iron gall ink, just like the Salix, which means that it is supposed to be rather permanent on paper. Scabiosa refers to a type of honeysuckle, with pretty, round flowers, and embellishments among the petals, making it look like a pincushion. It’s no wonder that they also call it the “pincushion flower”. When searching for Scabiosa, I came across mostly purple flowers, but there are some that are deep, brownish-red, just like the ink. Scabiosa has a colour that I might associate with “liver”, but it inclines towards purple rather than brown. Just like Salix, the swab comes out a little lighter in shade, but when writing with it, you can see that it’s a deep, almost royal red-brown-purple […]
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