Fresh Ink: Kiwi Inks Fairy Dust

One of the highlights of my Twitch streams is the opportunity for viewers to make me ink up any pen I own with any ink of their choosing, via a channel points redemption. It allows for unique combinations, and gets me out of any preconceived combinations that I have brewing in my brain.

This most recent combination of Kiwi Inks Fairy Dust in my Bungubox Pink Love is one of my favorites in a while, and one of the most obvious pairings ever. I mean, a Pink sparkle pen with Pink sparkle ink? Why didn’t I think about this before!

I bought a few Kiwi Inks earlier this year at the Atlanta Pen Show, and while I have been using them a bit, I haven’t done any dedicated reviews. Fairy Dust has been sitting in the review queue for a while, so I appreciated the choice to use with one of my favorite pens of all time.

Luckily for me, and this ink, my Pink Love is fitted with Sailor’s Music nib. That means I shouldn’t have any issues with the flow of the shimmer, and that has proven to be the case so far. It performs very well, with constant shimmer throughout my writing. I’d say it has been better than expected.

Are Kiwi Inks better than expected? I still have more to go through, such as Quetzacoatl, Mermaid Black, and Rainbow in a Bottle, but we are off to a good start.

Which one should I ink up next?

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Hippo Noto & Kiwi Inks V. 1: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I received an email several months ago from Hippo Noto (makers of the Hippo Noto Notebooks) about a collaboration with Kiwi Inks. The photos showed a sheeny, shimmery, purple-pink-green-blue ink that immediately ushered an audible "Wow!" from my lips. I ordered a bottle, but I didn't open it until this week.

What a wondrous unicorn ink this is! It isn't something you'd want to use in a sober office environment. Nope. This is an ink that says, "Hey y'all! Wahooooo! Let's party and eat cotton candy and ride carousels and chew grape bubble gum and dance in glitter!"

Of course, the wahoo factor depends on the paper you use. On my Col-o-dex card, the ink's properties are subdued. A deep purple predominates with lovely lime green sheen breaking through in the writing and splats. I must have forgotten to shake up the bottle thoroughly before I did my card, because only a little shimmer is showing.

On Rhodia white dot-grid paper, the ink is even more tame. Virtually no sheen is displayed (except in the swipes) and all you see is the purple. I did remember to shake before swabbing, so you can see the blue shimmer in the swab.

Chromatography shows the various base colors in the ink: lavender, pink, and magenta.

Midori MD Cotton paper and a fat ruling pen bring out the gorgeous green sheen in the ink. Clearly, you'll get the best results with broad nibs and paper that isn't too absorbent.

I wrote a longer writing sample in my MD Journal with a TWSBI stub nib. The ink flowed well and sheen shows up, especially in sunlight.

But the best paper to use in conjunction with Hippo Noto & Kiwi Inks V. 1 is Tomoe River Paper. On Tomoe, not only do you get the beautiful green sheen, but all the spectacular colors burst like fireworks in the splats and dribbles. This is definitely an ink you'll want to play with.

You can purchase Hippo Noto & Kiwi Inks V. 1 from the Hippo Noto website ($25.00 for 30ml). The third wave of this ink will ship at the end of January/early February. If you prefer even more wow you can opt for V. 2 which features rainbow shimmer!

(I purchased this ink with my own funds.)