KWZ Ink - Liquid Words 2020

KWZ Ink Mehoffer’s Blue - ink drop

KWZ Mehoffer’s Blue is a limited-edition ink. Each year, KWZ creates an exclusive ink for the Poland Pen Show, as part of the Liquid Words series. Although the 2020 show was ultimately cancelled, the 2020 ink was released as scheduled. Mehoffer’s Blue honors Polish painter Jósef Mehoffer, and the color was inspired by a prominent blue in his painting “The Strange Garden”.

KWZ Ink Mehoffer’s Blue - ink swatch card

Visually, this is a deep, rich blue, with a textured look that matches well with the billowy blue dress in the painting. In the splatter, pooling is edged in a deep, pink sheen. On premium papers, this sheen can also be seen as a profile edging on written strokes. The sheen isn’t excessive or distracting, and it adds interest to the ink.

Mehoffer’s Blue is a nice writing ink. On office copy, strokes were fairly clean, although there was minor blurring and feather. This would likely be reduced by using a fine or extra fine nib. There wasn’t any sheen, shading, or halo on office copy, but drying was under 5 seconds. It really performs nicely on premium papers. Strokes were crisp and clean. Stroke edge sheen was visible, but there wasn’t any dark haloing. Shading was mostly minimal on three of the four premiums, and none was seen on Mnemosyne. Drying times were from 15-30 seconds.

Josef Mehoffer’s “The Strange Garden”

I enjoyed this ink. I definitely recommend it, and would love to tell you to grab a bottle, but at best, this is a difficult ink to find. If you can find some, grab it! It’s a lovely, rich blue, and a nice writing ink. I’d love to see KWZ release this one as a standard in their collection.

December 2020