EFNIR: Kitty Inkpot Windy Forest Seeks Alpine Birds

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Kitty Inkpot Windy Forest Seeks Alpine Birds

This is review #389 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink from China was gifted to me by a generous FPNer. My apologies for not including the Chinese name of this ink-my database language doesn't support double-byte characters, nor do I know how to write them properly. Please see my inks spreadsheet which now has a tab with both the Chinese and English ink names. This is a chroma-shading ink. Since this attribute can be less stable over time, I'm reviewing all of them out of sequence.

On my swatch, the ink is mostly pale brown (and lovely), but the heaviest spot is green at the center and red around the edges. Meanwhile, the Crena card shows several shades of muted red to tan-pink, with hints of grey (would be green?) at the lower right corner.

The large text in the video thumbnail is the most accurate color representation.

Cleaning was absurdly quick and easy with plain water.

Zoomed in photo (Not awful, but reality isn't as saturated or red as the image.)

Photo (formerly screenshot) (Text is too desaturated.)

Scan of Completed Review (Color is off a little, but this is probably the closest.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Both: My eyes don't see all those colors in the image. My eyes see a solid tan color (and neither has quite the right shade of tan). The color on absorbent paper is less saturated than on copy paper.)

Line width (Roughly 300µm. The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. With 389 inks measured, the average line width is 299µm.)

Swatch card comparison (Colors are fairly close to reality.)

Microscope image (100x. Colors are off, but cool details.)

Microscope image (100x. Cell phone camera. Same area, colors are closer to reality.)

Alternate Papers (Colors aren't too far off. Iroful is slightly redder-leaning in real life. The dark patch on Iroful suggests lavender, until you look closely, and then it leaves you unsure. The dark patches on Clairefontaine and Life are green in the center. All three have red halos.)

Other (You can barely tell, but there's a strong green cast from my Cross vs the Prera. Paper is Hobonichi Techo 2026.)

Previous Review: Kitty Inkpot Kumquat on the Other Shore.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Due to an overabundance of inks, the poll is discontinued for now. I will prioritize older inks before they can go bad. I will continue to do 2 chromashading, then one older ink, until all the chromashading are done. Then I will alternate 1 older and 1 non-US ink for however long each "stash" lasts. Please don't send me more inks until 2030.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here. Or read Part 8: The Ice Fields Adventure.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[dhanks]

This bolsters my opinion that there are way too many inks and ink makers these days.  But I do appreciate your reviews.

Rumpole

[yazeh]

Great review @LizEF 

I'm glad I'm not reviewing this ink.😊 The name was giving me a headache. So after a bit of prodding with my good friend and know-it-all, Chat GPT, it gave me the following reasoning:

The name 风林知寻山鸟 is difficult to translate cleanly. Literally, it combines wind / forest / knowing-or-seeking / mountain bird, so the intended meaning is probably something like “Seeking the Mountain Bird in the Windy Forest” or “A Mountain Bird Found in the Wind.” However, it does not read like natural Chinese prose; it feels more like a poetic mood-collage built from attractive nature words. In English, the effect would be something like “Windforest Know-Seeks Mountainbird” — evocative, but a little pseudo-mystical rather than straightforward. This kind of poetic naming is common in Chinese stationery and lifestyle branding, though this particular phrase feels awkwardly stylized.

 

As for the colour I really like it with the F/M nib in your Hobonichi notebook. 😀

 

Was there an ellipse in the storyline. The transition felt abrupt. Though, I liked the triangle wizard confrontation. 🤔

 

The multiple papers and swatches are very helpful. And gives a feel of the range. 😺

 

I'm sure this ink is best suited for brush and Western calligraphy and obviously art work. 🎨

 

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery to this crazy world, where men have not yet figured out the wisdom of Maya Angelou. 🙏🙏🙏

[LizEF]

54 minutes ago, dhanks said:

This bolsters my opinion that there are way too many inks and ink makers these days. 

Meanwhile, I adore these pale, tan inks!  Can't get enough of them.

 

55 minutes ago, dhanks said:

But I do appreciate your reviews.

 Thank you!

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great review @LizEF 

Thanks!

 

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I'm glad I'm not reviewing this ink.😊

But it's such a lovely pale tan! 😢

 

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The name was giving me a headache.

 

25 minutes ago, yazeh said:

So after a bit of prodding with my good friend and know-it-all, Chat GPT, it gave me the following reasoning:

The name 风林知寻山鸟 is difficult to translate cleanly. Literally, it combines wind / forest / knowing-or-seeking / mountain bird, so the intended meaning is probably something like “Seeking the Mountain Bird in the Windy Forest” or “A Mountain Bird Found in the Wind.” However, it does not read like natural Chinese prose; it feels more like a poetic mood-collage built from attractive nature words. In English, the effect would be something like “Windforest Know-Seeks Mountainbird” — evocative, but a little pseudo-mystical rather than straightforward. This kind of poetic naming is common in Chinese stationery and lifestyle branding, though this particular phrase feels awkwardly stylized.

 

26 minutes ago, yazeh said:

As for the colour I really like it with the F/M nib in your Hobonichi notebook. 😀

 The Wanderlust is a fine nib.  It only does this when the feed is flooded.  Turns out either the pen isn't as wet as I thought, or the ink is drier than I thought.  It's still lovely.

 

27 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Was there an ellipse in the storyline. The transition felt abrupt. Though, I liked the triangle wizard confrontation. 🤔

Hmm.  Last time:

Quote

Essri nibbled at his breakfast. He had no appetite. “Apparently we’re needed in Ferovere,” Quin told Professor Eenness. “When your business is finished, contact me and we’ll arrange a visit to Essri’s village.” Essri wanted to slither back into his room in Quin’s pack. What wath I thinking!? I can’t fathe my mom. They parted ways at the portal stones, Eenness going to Inkabar and Quin to Norvelt. “What’s wrong, thnek boy?” Makhabesh asked. “Jutht tired,” Essri lied. When they finally arrived in Ferovere, Essri could feel the tension. In the distance, a crowd shouted, “Council Magica!”

And today:

Quote

“I’m gonna go check it out,” Makhabesh said. He launched into the air before Vika could stop him. He circled high, then headed toward the chanting. Below him, two groups faced off across the main square in front of the Wizards’ Palace. Looks like a bunch of folk gathered against the Wizards’ Council, he told Vika. While he watched, the wizards started forming themselves into a triangle with the High Wizard at its tip. Each person put a hand on the shoulder of someone in front, and held their staff with the other hand. I don’t like the look of this.

 

So, it's really one scene from 2 POVs.  Breaking it across 2 weeks, I can see that it seems abrupt.  The lack of proper paragraphination doesn't help.

 

31 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I'm sure this ink is best suited for brush and Western calligraphy and obviously art work. 🎨

Or people who like pale tan inks.

 

31 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery to this crazy world, where men have not yet figured out the wisdom of Maya Angelou. 🙏🙏🙏

You're most welcome!  She paid a high price for that wisdom, but yeah, too bad folks won't just take her word for it.

[yazeh]

3 minutes ago, LizEF said:

But it's such a lovely pale tan! 😢

I meant that because of the name. I get all flustered with weird wacky names, unlike you.  

 

As for the abruptness, it's fine. It's like a jump cut in movie, shocking and innovative in the 60s, and now probably old school.  

[LizEF]

23 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I meant that because of the name. I get all flustered with weird wacky names, unlike you.  

 

 

23 minutes ago, yazeh said:

As for the abruptness, it's fine. It's like a jump cut in movie, shocking and innovative in the 60s, and now probably old school.  

🙏

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

As for the abruptness, it's fine. It's like a jump cut in movie, shocking and innovative in the 60s, and now probably old school.  

At least I didn't have a distance scene of our characters riding in a vehicle while one of them recounts the entire plot as "dialog".  

[Penguincollector]

    This is a beautiful color, I am in agreement with you, Liz. Oh no, what’s riled everyone up and sewed division between the wizards and the villagers? I find brown and grey inks really interesting, the mix of colours (why my keyboard goes between UK and US spelling is a mystery) used to make the ink seen in swatches, chromatography, and microscope images is fascinating. Hope our erstwhile friends are up to this new challenge.

[LizEF]

30 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

This is a beautiful color, I am in agreement with you, Liz.

 

31 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Oh no, what’s riled everyone up and sewed division between the wizards and the villagers?

This is actually the conclusion of The Grey Spot Adventure (link is to the corresponding page on my website, should you wish to re-read) - where grey spots were un-coloring people and places at random in Ferovere (and elsewhere) and Quin was sent by the Librarian to Grafitia to confront Count Nicolas about it.  Then Quin got called away to search for Professor Eenness while other folks negotiated with Count Nicolas.  While we've been freezing our collective tuchuses, stuffs haz happened, and our adventurers are now returning to discover this confrontation between the folks who support the Wizards' Council and those who want to restore the old Council Magica.  

 

35 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I find brown and grey inks really interesting, the mix of colours (why my keyboard goes between UK and US spelling is a mystery) used to make the ink seen in swatches, chromatography, and microscope images is fascinating.

 The video makes this look grey, but it's not. It's obviously tan in person.  I do find myself enjoying muted browns, though.   Meanwhile, maybe your keyboard is trying to migrate...

 

36 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Hope our erstwhile friends are up to this new challenge.

🙏

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

At least I didn't have a distance scene of our characters riding in a vehicle while one of them recounts the entire plot as "dialog".  

You can use screenwriters' gimmick. When writing "Action" lines we need to write the briefest action lines, sort of show not tell. 😊

[Penguincollector]

12 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 The video makes this look grey, but it's not. It's obviously tan in person.  I do find myself enjoying muted browns, though.   Meanwhile, maybe your keyboard is trying to migrate...

 

  Oh no, the Grey Spots are getting to your camera!  😆  Thanks for the link, I usually reread the story before I look at the next review, but I ran into the review on YouTube whilst making my morning latte and it hadn’t taken effect yet.  I have been gaining an interest in tan inks lately- a friend gave me a sample of a lovely Sailor one, and the colors coming out of China have been really different, which I love. 

[LizEF]

15 minutes ago, yazeh said:

You can use screenwriters' gimmick. When writing "Action" lines we need to write the briefest action lines, sort of show not tell. 😊

That was a screenwriter's gimmick - in the 1980s.   (So many TV shows used that hack.  I'm sure it's listed somewhere on that tropes website.)

 

But yeah, I try to balance my showing and telling as much as the format allows.  

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Oh no, the Grey Spots are getting to your camera!  😆

 

3 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Thanks for the link, I usually reread the story before I look at the next review, but I ran into the review on YouTube whilst making my morning latte and it hadn’t taken effect yet.

 You're most welcome!

 

4 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I have been gaining an interest in tan inks lately- a friend gave me a sample of a lovely Sailor one, and the colors coming out of China have been really different, which I love. 

I'm finding them addictive!   

[A Smug Dill]

Thank you for yet another ink review!

 

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

On my swatch, the ink is mostly pale brown (and lovely), but the heaviest spot is green at the center and red around the edges. Meanwhile, the Crena card shows several shades of muted red to tan-pink, with hints of grey (would be green?) at the lower right corner.

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

The multiple papers and swatches are very helpful. And gives a feel of the range. 😺

 

This is the weirdest of the KittyInkpot inks for me, because what I have looks nothing like what is shown in the marketing photos — and the photos from various (Chinese social media ‘influencers‘) testers look all different from each other! It's not just a matter of my/one bottle being inadvertently mislabelled, either; I made a mistake, and ended up ordering this ink twice (and not in the same week). Both my bottles look consistent with each other to me.

 

Here are the official marketing photos:

 

 

 

 

 

I really don't know what to make of it.

 

[LizEF]

17 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Thank you for yet another ink review!

 You're most welcome!

 

18 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

This is the weirdest of the KittyInkpot inks for me, because what I have looks nothing like what is shown in the marketing photos — and the photos from various (Chinese social media ‘influencers‘) testers look all different from each other! It's not just a matter of my/one bottle being inadvertently mislabelled, either; I made a mistake, and ended up ordering this ink twice (and not in the same week). Both my bottles look consistent with each other to me.

 

Here are the official marketing photos:

Wild!  Maybe I need to break out the Pilot Parallels - except there's probably not enough left in my Cross Wanderlust to do more than a single stroke with my widest Parallel...  Parts of that calligraphy (the pale grey-tan mostly at the tops of letters) look similar to what I see, though.

 

18 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

I really don't know what to make of it.

 Me, either.  I'm guessing those writing samples just pour a ton of ink into the lines...  But then, my microscope slide looks nothing like the colors in the chroma at the bottom, or the official marketing images...  Maybe this ink is absurdly paper-dependent?

 

Either way, I like the tan, so, meh, whatever.  

[Sailor Kenshin]

Not only does this ink have a whopper of a cool name, but it's also too light to read, so there's that.  😉  

 

The micro is surely A Random Forest of Doom! 

 

Our heroes are not having A Nice Day, but that makes for Good Story.  Tuesdays are magical fun... I always look forward to the review and story.  Even hard to read Unobtainiana.  Thanks and kudos to you, @LizEF.   
 

(The lilacs and azaleas are blooming!  Yay! )

[Baggins]

5 hours ago, LizEF said:

Windy Forest Seeks Alpine Birds

WOW 🤩 also love the name/translation! 👌❤️

 

This ink is more for my choice of nibs B and 1.1 😊. In the photos don’t understand why it gets lighter towards the end of the page 🤔.

I think these pale, non resistant to water would not be adequate for notes or correspondence (what I do most with FP), as they would tend to disappear in time and become illegible. But the color is nice 😊.

 

Another smashing review of the far east inks.

[dhanks]

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

Meanwhile, I adore these pale, tan inks!  Can't get enough of them.

 

 Thank you!

"Due to an overabundance of inks, the poll is discontinued for now. I will prioritize older inks before they can go bad. I will continue to do 2 chromashading, then one older ink, until all the chromashading are done. Then I will alternate 1 older and 1 non-US ink for however long each "stash" lasts. Please don't send me more inks until 2030." 

 

As I was saying....

Rumpole

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Not only does this ink have a whopper of a cool name, but it's also too light to read, so there's that.  😉  

 Don't tell @yazeh, but yeah, the name is kinda cool.  I don't remember this one being a problem in person, but then, I seem not to mind these pale things - it's not like (SPOILER ALERT) Ostrich Sycamore Tree (coming up in 3 weeks) - that one, even I struggled with it.

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

The micro is surely A Random Forest of Doom! 

 The crystalized pink forest of doom!  

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Our heroes are not having A Nice Day, but that makes for Good Story.

Ain't that the truth!  For some reason, no one wants to read about people having a nice day - at least not until the very end of the story (or the start, I suppose, but then only if it gets ruined).

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Tuesdays are magical fun... I always look forward to the review and story.  Even hard to read Unobtainiana.

 Thanks!

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks and kudos to you, @LizEF.   

You're most welcome!

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

(The lilacs and azaleas are blooming!  Yay! )

Hooray!  Meanwhile, it's supposed to get up to 97° today! (That's 36.1°C for the rest of the world.) 😱  To clarify matters, today is 12 May - May! Not July, not August - May!  The "mountain west" is on the verge of drying up and blowing away in the wind.

 

But I'm very happy you have flowers to see and smell.