EFNIR: KWZ Aztec Gold (Iron Gall Light)

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: KWZ Aztec Gold (Iron Gall Light)

This is review #169 in my series.  Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Cleaning was quick and easy. My other "gold" inks are more yellow than this one. My other browns tend to be more red or yellow than this one. It has the slightest hint of green, but not as much as KWZ Green Gold or Robert Oster Bronze. The scan has the text a little pale and maybe a little too green. The zoom and absorbent paper images are quite accurate. Text in the screen capture is a little too dark.

Line width of this ink was really fine at 240µm, even in a fatter part of the line. (Scale this time is 300µm with ten 30µm increments. The black grid is 100µm increments. Magnification is 100x.)

For fun, I did a microscope smear, also at 100x. The dark blob on the left is a drop of ink, unsmeared. I suppose the dark specs might be the iron gall, dunno, but it's interesting.

And here is a screen of the final result, for those not interested in the video:

Scan of Completed Review:

Zoomed in photo:

Absorbent Paper Closeup (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper):

Line width measured via microscope at 100x:

Water test results:

Smear at 100x:

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap

Previous Review: Pilot Black.

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Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh?  Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy.  Comments appreciated!

[Ergative]

Oh, dear, yes, just as you observed: for an Iron Gall ink (even IG light!) that's some pretty lousy water resistance!

[LizEF]

7 minutes ago, Ergative said:

Oh, dear, yes, just as you observed: for an Iron Gall ink (even IG light!) that's some pretty lousy water resistance!

Well, it was pale to begin with.  And it's a lovely color that's interesting under magnification, so I guess I'll forgive the lack of water resistance.

[mizgeorge]

Oh dear. I keep hoping there will be a KWZ ink that I will be attracted to enough to get past all the things I don't like about them. This one very clearly isn't it.

 

Thank you as always @LizEF - that's saved me from another one

[LizEF]

12 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Oh dear. I keep hoping there will be a KWZ ink that I will be attracted to enough to get past all the things I don't like about them. This one very clearly isn't it.

I didn't notice any scent...

 

12 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Thank you as always @LizEF - that's saved me from another one

You and your bank account are most welcome!

[yazeh]

Great review@LizEF. That's a definite pass. I prefer the magic mushrooms to that 🍄

Is it my imagination or do the blue inks have the most amount of bejewelled strands?

[LizEF]

42 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great review@LizEF.

Thanks!

 

42 minutes ago, yazeh said:

That's a definite pass. I prefer the magic mushrooms to that 🍄

Aw.  Poor unloved ink.  

 

43 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Is it my imagination or do the blue inks have the most amount of bejewelled strands?

I guess it depends on what you mean by "bejewelled strands".  But I think I have more blues than anything else, and it's probably the color that sheens most, so it makes sense that the blues would stand out in your memory.

 

Meanwhile, in unrelated news, Erle Stanley Gardner's 1933 Perry Mason is quite different from the Hollywood Raymond Burr version.   Back again in 2 hours when I'm done with book 1.

[yazeh]

What I meant was that the line looks like a single braid, in where one of the strands scintillates like a crystal. Hence bejewelled strands.  

 

 

Stories are blueprints for movies, which are changed to very last minute. Just read the Casablanca making of story. You'll be surprised or not 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

I see green, too!

 

Do I have this ink?….not sure.  But an Aztec Goat must be scary indeed.  
 

Thanks again for another fascinating review; it's like you used an eraser on that swatch.  👀

[LizEF]

56 minutes ago, yazeh said:

What I meant was that the line looks like a single braid, in where one of the strands scintillates like a crystal. Hence bejewelled strands.  

  Yeah, I do think that's more common in the blue ones.

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

...  But an Aztec Goat must be scary indeed.  

 

6 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks again for another fascinating review; it's like you used an eraser on that swatch.  👀

You're very welcome!  No erasers (other than water) were used on this ink.