Kwz Warsaw Dreaming

[white_lotus]

KWZ recently released some new inks, and Warsaw Dreaming is one. KWZ never had a black ink in their line until now. I imagine Mr. and Mrs. KWZ thought why make a black ink when every other ink maker has a black ink, and nearly all of them are pretty decent? And in a way they are right. But this set of three inks focuses on the elusive quality "sheen", so now there was a reason to have a black ink, one that has some sheen.

 

Except there is Sailor's Kiwa-guro nano-pigment black ink that "sheens" on nearly everything, sometimes looking like pencil. Which can be very annoying if you want to see black ink.

 

This ink has some sheen on some papers, more typically the coated papers (Tomoe River, Rhodia). More absorbent papers probably won't see much of this property. The ink is very dark, maybe even as dark as Aurora black. It appears comprised of a black in supplemented with blue, purple, and a bit of red dyes. This based on my simplistic paper towel chromatography. I'll post a photo later.)

 

The flow is very good but I do notice an occasional hard start. It's not as bad as with KWZ Baltic Memories which was an ink I fought with. So the Warsaw Dreaming is pretty decent on that score, but not perfect.

 

As a very dark black there is no shading on the papers I used, but that's expected. There was no show through or bleed through experienced on the good papers, (MvL, Rhodia, TR).

 

The ink is not waterproof, and not water resistant. Because of the heavy dye load it will run, and the flow enhancers will help the ink penetrate both sides of the paper making your writing undecipherable.

 

The label is great.

 

As a fan of KWZ inks I wish I could recommend this ink unreservedly. I think it's a good ink, but your writing experience with it may be very pen, nib, and paper dependent. I recommend buying a sample first to see how it meets your writing needs.

 

Edited to add the simple paper towel chromatography.

 

Pen: Edison Collier (F-steel)

Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory.

Camera: iPhone 7 using Camera+ app

Edited December 27, 2017 by white_lotus

[Jan2016]

Thank you for the review!

 

And the cocktail recipe....

Edited December 27, 2017 by Jan2016

[white_lotus]

I wanted to add a brief update to my original review. I hadn't used my KWZ inks in a while and wanted to go back to them. There wasn't any reason why they'd been neglected, just simply that other inks were falling into the rotation. I always have liked black inks, they have an appealing gravitas on the page. So I decided to give this ink a go again know that it has been some time since I'd used it.

 

I'm having a good experience with it in a Pelikan M400 (F). Not having hard starts or any problems with this ink. And it's sheen is nice in that the ink on the page looks luscious like wet highway asphalt in the rain. Think subtly shiny.

[Tas]

I saw some today in the flesh. Your review is spot on. Thank you again.