Review: Kwzi Northern Twilight

November 17, 2016

It pays to have friends in inky places. A buddy in Toronto was able to snag some of this limited edition ink for me (it's an exclusive for Scriptus Toronto).

I'll start off with this footnote: While I have a large-ish stash of ink, I've never venture into dark blues or blue-blacks--I just find them kind of boring. That this ink was LE, and was from an independent ink maker that I've been following for a couple of years, is what made me decide to get one.

Color: I like the color--I don't love it. That's nothing against this ink, it's just that dark blues are kind of one-note to me. It's good to have one in the inkbox for when you need it. I like this one a little more than most dark blues because it's really a super-dark teal. I've had a couple of other dark teals that I liked, but they looked grainy on the page. This one doesn't suffer the same grainy problem. I might try it in a drier pen to see if I can get some variation and shading.

Handling: I like the feel of this ink. It takes a while to dry, but both the pens I tested with are VERY wet writers so you should take that into consideration. I never had a problem with the flow, and the ink feels nice and wet as it goes down.

Durability: There's a teeny tiny bit of water resistance. WR isn't a big deal to me, but I know that's not the case for everyone. After letting the ink dry I didn't have any smudging problems.

Notes: First, I like the label a lot. If you compare it to the label for Monarch, I like the sketch feel to this one way more than something that looks like clipart. Second: KWZI inks have a smell to them and this one is no different. I'm not going to call it an odor, because it's not objectionable--in fact it smells a little like a hot chocolate with some vanilla added.

Overall: I like it more than I thought I would originally, and I think that's mainly due to how the ink handles.

November 17, 2016

Thanks for the quick review. Do you have any thoughts on its sheening? I've heard some reports that on some more water resistant paper (Tomoe River, etc...) you can get some really spectacular coloring. It's possible Rhodia is just a little too absorbent.

November 17, 2016

Thanks for the quick review. Do you have any thoughts on its sheening? I've heard some reports that on some more water resistant paper (Tomoe River, etc...) you can get some really spectacular coloring. It's possible Rhodia is just a little too absorbent.

Hard to say. Right now I'm out of Tomoe until after the holidays. All I have is Rhodia/Clairfontaine.