The Well-Appointed Desk

On the last day of Inkmas, I finally broke and dipped into the glitter ink. This is Diamine Shimmer Spearmint Diva (50ml for $20), the perfect Christmas Eve eve ink… all sparkly, icy and seasonally green.

The sparkle is a fine silver and it catches the light really well.

There’s even a really nice bit of magenta shading in the swatch and with the dip nib. HAWT!

Shimmer-licious!

I filled my TWSBI Mini Demonstrator with the EF nib which is the first time I’ve actually used a glitter ink in a fountain pen rather than just dipping into the ink. This was the ink to jump into glitter ink full monty.

Even with an EF nib, I was able to coax sparkle out. It was very visible once the ink dried and the ink dried quickly with the fine nib. Double bonus for a lefty. Thanks to the transparent body, I was able to see when the sparkle had settled and give the pen a good roll on the table to redistribute the flakes.

I don’t have any other sparkle inks that even compare. J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor is much darker and DeAtramentis doesn’t make a sparkle ink even close. The only ink I had that compared colorwise was Kaweco Paradise Blue.

All-in-all, I was super happy with Spearmint Diva, except the name… It’s a little silly but so is sparkly ink. Great color, great sparkle distribution and so far, no clogging.

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TOOLS

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
• Pens: Empire vintage traveling dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), TWSBI Mini Demonstrator EF
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
• Brush: Blick Studio Round #0 Brush
• Ink: Diamine Shimmer Spearmint Diva (50ml bottle for $20)

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Am I really on the eleventh day of Inkmas already? Today, I guess I’m still in Poland with KWZ and I’m Warsaw Dreaming ($15 for 60ml bottle). It seems oddly appropriate to review the darkest ink on day after the darkest night of the year.

Warsaw Dreaming is a dark, dark, dark blue black. It’s almost a violet blue black. It’s listed as a black ink but there is a visible sheen of blue-violet tone. It’s not sheen-y like some of the Oster inks but its not as blackout black or flat black as other inks.

(My apologies for how messy this writing sample is… I did it at 6am in the morning. And it took two tries to get it THIS legible! I even had to tape two pieces together and its still a train wreck. It’s not a reflection of the ink. I’m a tragedy.) The ink is a solid option for a black that’s not black-black. This KWZ ink is thicker in consistency than others. I didn’t notice the signature scent as much as other KWZ inks.

Compared to other off-blacks and Waterman Intense Black (for a control sample), Kyo-no-oto No. 1 is more bluish, Bookbinder’s Snake Ink Red Belly Black is cooler and more greenish (IMHO, maybe?) and Sailor Chu-Shu is clearly more purplish.

Black inks are something we all need to have around but its not always the most exciting thing we have to buy. While Kyo-no-oto No. 1 is a popular option, its pretty pricey. Warsaw Dreaming is a great alternative for a black that’s not as run-of-the-mill  but still might add a little variety to your day-to-day writing. It’s still water soluble so it won’t cause too many issues in clean-up and it’s half the price of Kyo-no-oto.

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TOOLS

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
• Pens: Empire vintage traveling dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Esterbrook #2442 nib in a Shawn Newton custom nib holder
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
• Brush: Blick Studio #0 Round Synthetic Brush
• Ink: KWZ Warsaw Dreaming (60ml bottle for $15)

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

On the tenth day of Inkmas (I’m starting to think I didn’t count my days correctly or maybe I should have done Inkmas Advent because I have a ton more inks I could review!), I decided to go to Poland and take a walk with KWZ Walks Over Vistula ($15 for 60ml bottle). The name derives from the Vistula River which runs through southern Poland, through Krakow and Warsaw.

The ink swatches up with a good deal of shading. Its a deeply saturated blue with turquoise undertones and a reddish sheen. Because of the saturation though, when confined to a finer nib, there is less color variation.

In writing, there is more evidence of shading but the Rhodia paper does not show off any sheen. The dry time was a little slower than I expected so I smudged a bit (lefty problems).

KWZ is definitely making efforts to encroach on Oster territory with Walks over Vistula. This ink splashes solidly between Blue Sea and Lake of Fire in the color range. All three are competiviely priced as well.

This is a very saturated color and KWZ inks have been known to stain so be cautious if you are putting this color in a favorite demonstrator or light-colored acrylic pen. Its a lovely color but I would hate to see this ink stain a Pelikan M605 Ghost (AKA Transparent White). I plan to test drive it in my Wing Sun 698 first.

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TOOLS

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
• Pens: Empire vintage traveling dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Esterbrook #2442 nib in a Shawn Newton custom nib holder
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
• Brush: Blick Studio #0 Round Synthetic Brush
• Ink: KWZ Walks Over Vistula (60ml bottle for $15)

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

On the ninth day of Inkmas, I reviewed an ink that is virtually impossible to get. Sorry!

Scriptus 2017 Confederate Confederation Brown is another sample I acquired from a member of my local pen club. It was the special ink created by KWZ for the Toronto Pen Show this year in honor of the 150th anniversary of Canada becoming a confederation.  It was a limited edition color for the show and as far as I know, unless you know someone who attended the show and purchased a bottle, there is no way to acquire any of this ink. I am reviewing this to share the ink and hopefully provide some other options if you love it but can’t get any.

Scriptus Confederate Confederation Brown is a cool brown which is similar to the Glare Olive Brown from yesterday. Coincidence? The club member who shared it with me was a bit disappointed that the ink wasn’t a warmer brown given the name. I can’t blame her. I was expecting more brown as well and was surprised at how green it was.

In my small stub nib that I use for my writing sample, the green undertone becomes pretty apparent on the Rhodia paper. In finer nibs, I suspect it would be less evident but this is definitely not a warm chocolatey brown reminiscent of brown bears, hot cocoa and rich soil. This is more of a deep forest, woodsy, evergreen brown.

The color is very saturated so there is only a little shading and no sheen.

But in the plus column, this is a classic KWZ formula with the original scent that is so distinctively KWZ. Accept no substitutes here.

When compared with other brown inks, Confederate Confederation Brown reminds me most of Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Guri or Sailor Jentle Rikyu-Cha which are both readily available.

Edit: Thanks to Twitter follower @skeskali for correcting me. The ink is actually called Confederation Brown not Confederate Brown… That’s a whole different color!

Other reviews:

• Wondernaut: 150 Confederation Brown – Scriptus 2017 Le Ink By Kwzi
• Gourmet Pens: ScriptusToronto 2017 x KWZI 150 Confederation Brown

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TOOLS

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 7mm guide sheet
• Pens: Empire vintage traveling dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Esterbrook #2442 nib in a Shawn Newton custom nib holder
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
• Brush: Blick Studio #0 Synthetic Round
• Ink: Montblanc UNICEF Turquoise (50ml bottle for $39)