Kwzi Ig Blue #4

[namrehsnoom]

Ink Review - KWZI IG Blue #4

 

KWZI inks are developed by Konrad Zurawski, a Polish chemist and fountain pen enthousiast, who started in 2012 with his own line of inks produced in an artisanal manner – i.e. handmade in small batches with lots of care & craftsmanship. The KWZI IG line consists of Iron Gall inks, that darken over time and are waterproof. Since I was looking at waterproof inks for use at work, I decided to give Konrad’s IG inks a closer look. Be advised that Iron Gall inks require more care from the fountain pen user in comparison to standard inks. Practice good pen hygiene!

 

 

Update: Thanks to feedback, I learned that this was a very early KWZI ink, that has been discontinued a few years ago, because it didn't live up to its maker's expectations. This review thus refers to my specific bottle of "unobtanium", that contains an ink that oxidizes to a nice waterproof dark grey.

In this review, I take a closer look at KWZI IG Blue #4 – my very first Iron Gall ink … although in reality, I would consider this a grey ink, with maybe a hint of blue in the undertones (at least in the bottle I got). But that’s exactly the reason I chose this IG Blue variant, because it is the most grey-leaning ink of his blue range of colours.

I was really fascinated by the writing experience offered by these Iron Gall inks. This particular one really shows the writing chemistry. The pen lays down a pale orange-brown line, that quickly oxidizes to a nice grey-black. Fascinating ! This is top-rate chemistry at work.

The chromatography of this ink is equally strange. What you see are the orange-brown components, which are most likely the IG chemicals involved in the oxidation process. And then there are the grey-blue parts that are indicative of the ink’s colour palette.

Thanks to the Iron Gall chemistry miracle, IG Blue #4 ultimately produces a nice dark-grey text line, with good contrast on all types of paper. This ink works well in all nib sizes – even with EF nibs the resulting line is nicely saturated and contrast-rich. With broader nibs, the ink’s shading emerges with a fine balance between the lighter and darker parts, resulting in pleasing aesthetics. This definitely is an ink with character.

To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. With IG Blue #4 the colour ranges from a pale light-grey to almost black.

The strong point of IG inks is their waterproofness. And in this area, Blue #4 definitely does not disappoint. This ink is rock solid when confronted with water – see my “water test” at the end of this review. Once dried, the ink is impervious to smudging and easily survives longer exposure to both running and still water. Even a 15 minute soak was easily survived – there is only some minor degradation of the text, which itself remains completely readable. Respect !

I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you:

• An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip
• 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation
• An ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain pen
• The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib
• A small text sample, written with an M-nib
• Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)

Konrad’s IG Blue #4 behaved perfectly on all paper types, and even wrote surprisingly well on Moleskine paper (although with noticeable show-through and bleed-through). The ink is equally at home on both white and more yellowish paper. While writing, the ink lays down a pale wet line, that dries within the 10 to 20 second range (with an M-nib). Soon after writing, the IG oxidation process will start to visibly darken the line, reaching its almost final state after a couple of minutes. After that, the text may still get marginally darker over the next couple of days as the oxidation process tapers off.

Conclusion

KWZI IG Blue #4 is a good-looking grey ink with beautiful shading. And being totally waterproof, this ink is made for use at the office. If you expected a more blue ink, you’ll have to look elsewhere – to my eye this evidently is a grey ink, with a hint of blue undertones. That of course is exactly what FPN reviews are for : to give you the opportunity to find out what an ink is about before committing to a bottle. If you’re into greys, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

 

Edited November 12, 2017 by namrehsnoom

[Ghost Plane]

Excellent review. Saved me from buying this one. I prefer the turquoise.

[lgsoltek]

Not what I expected at all. It's too grey to be blue right?

[lgsoltek]

Where and when did you get your bottle, namrehsnoom? I just checked two sellers, they all have IG Blue #1, #2, #3, #5 and #6, but neither have #4. I did find #4 on KWZ's own website though.

[namrehsnoom]

Where and when did you get your bottle, namrehsnoom? I just checked two sellers, they all have IG Blue #1, #2, #3, #5 and #6, but neither have #4. I did find #4 on KWZ's own website though.

I got my bottle from Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery here in Belgium about two months ago (sep 2017).

- - - herman

 

PS - maybe it's not commonly carried because it's really a grey :-)

Edited November 12, 2017 by namrehsnoom

[visvamitra]

Hmm, I haven't tried this one it seems

[niunia]

hi thanks @namrehsnoom for the review!!

It is quite surprising to see it here. This ink was manufactured only in small quantity at the begining of Konrad's activity and was withdrawn about 2 year ago. At that time KWZ manufacture scale was totally different and Konrad was not satisfied with the properties of this ink in longer run. So glad to see that someone found it enjoyable!!!

It was meant to be grey-blue turing into grey after oxidising.

 

Best wishes

-Mrs. KWZI

[MarkTrain]

This can't be right for a blue IG:

 

"The pen lays down a pale orange-brown line, that quickly oxidizes to a nice grey-black."

 

Ink has gone off?

[namrehsnoom]

hi thanks @namrehsnoom for the review!!

It is quite surprising to see it here. This ink was manufactured only in small quantity at the begining of Konrad's activity and was withdrawn about 2 year ago. At that time KWZ manufacture scale was totally different and Konrad was not satisfied with the properties of this ink in longer run. So glad to see that someone found it enjoyable!!!

It was meant to be grey-blue turing into grey after oxidising.

 

Best wishes

-Mrs. KWZI

Thanks for clarifying ... so I got me a real "vintage" ink ... cool !

 

But Konrad's right - as a blue ink, this one is not really working out. But I regard it as a grey ink, and as such I like it (especially for use at work due to its waterproofness). And now that I know it is "unobtanium", I'll treasure it even more ;-)

Edited November 12, 2017 by namrehsnoom

[lgsoltek]

Thank you Mrs KWZI for the clarification!

[inkstainedruth]

It's kinda too bad that it's not available. I like the idea of a grey IG ink.

But I agree -- it isn't remotely blue. And would not give any competition to either KWZI IG Blue-Black or IG Blue #3 (both of which I love).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[rudyhou]

despite that fact this is supposed to be a 'blue' ink, i find the grey tone color is very pleasant. i can see that an a grey ink i can use daily.

[senzen]

Great review, I see everything but blue!

[mhguda]

I was lucky enough - I guess - to get one of these early bottles... I ordered directly from Konrad. I was disappointed because the ink when it goes down is so light, I almost did not see anything until it oxidizes! Pretty dramatic, but not really useful. So I added some other, blue, ink in order to see what I wrote! and of course this blue is part of the final, dry ink as well... in fact, it's now a dirty blue black from the moment it goes down on paper. Drying, it seems to turn slightly darker. Thanks for reminding me of this one - I like it better now than when I first used it...

[Intensity]

I really like the final appearance of this ink. Unfortunate that we can't buy it now.