Ink Swatch Wednesday: Kiwi Inks
A long while ago I bought a bunch of samples from Kiwi Inks. I think I'd seen them mentioned on r/FountainPens and was curious about them. They sold generous 5mL samples for the inks I was interested in – Glamorous Peacock, Treasures of Atlantis, Mermaid Black, Nebula Space Kitty, Quetzalcoatl, Scarlet Gold, Fairy Dust, and Rainbow in a Bottle – 7 shimmers and 1 multishader. I admit that their ink names really appealed to me, and led me to choose some of the ink samples I bought, but they were kind of double-edged swords, since my expectations were higher than the inks performed in reality.
The shimmer inks have fairly subtle shimmer. The scan above barely shows the shimmer, though I suspect that'll be closer to how it'll appear in regular writing than my pictures below catching the shimmer in direct sunlight:
Rainbow in a Bottle is the multishader, but I decided to take a picture of it in full sun along with the shimmers.
So, in reality, these shimmer inks are tame relative to the other shimmers I really like, like Van Dieman's Azure Kingfisher, or Wearingeul's I Am a Cat, which are quite blingy on paper, regardless of lighting. These Kiwi Inks are decent inks, but I haven't used them much, except for Glamorous Peacock, apparently, since its remaining volume is lower than all the other ink samples. 🙂 Its combination of peacock blue base, red sheen, and gold shimmer remind me of Azure Kingfisher, or Diamine Arctic Blast, but not as shimmery.
I'll also mention that I was disappointed by Rainbow in a Bottle. The picture on the site showed more chromashading than I can see in my ink sample, but even then, it wasn't really comparable to other well-known multishaders like Sailor Ink Studio 123, or Troublemaker Milky Ocean, Foxglove, or Kelp Tea. If you call something "Rainbow in a Bottle," you kind of have to deliver something more than a translucent bluish aqua ink. 😛
Kiwi Inks has more beyond what I showed here. They also have some inks where you can customize the base color, shimmer and/or sheen color, and even the level of wetness. If you're curious to try inks from another small maker, especially if you like subtle shimmer inks, or want a custom formula, perhaps give Kiwi Inks a look.