(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
The best ink decisions you can make are those that take place at a pen show. That's exactly how I ended up with a bottle of KWZ Gummiberry, and I'm very happy with this bright little ink that I picked up earlier this year in Atlanta.
Gummiberry (not to be confused with the Iron Gall Gummiberry version from KWZ) is a bright purple with lots of personality. It pops off the page and has some moderate shading to boot.
Gummiberry was one of the handful of KWZ samples available at the Vanness Pens ink testing station at the Atlanta Pen Show, and I fell in love with it immediately. I'm not normally so attracted to purples, but this one was so vibrant and fun that I couldn't resist.
The saturation and vibrance dials of this ink are turned up to eleven, and the hue is such a delicious color...it looks edible. The shading is another prominent feature, and it varies the ink color from dark purple to light violet in places. The shading isn't incredibly dramatic, but it's certainly noticeable in most nibs. If you're looking for something a bit more dialed down in terms of saturation, Iroshizuku Murasaki-shikibu might do the trick nicely.
The dry time for Gummiberry in my 1.1mm stub nib wasn't impressive, coming in around 20 - 25 seconds usually. In a German fine nib, this dry time was reduced by about 5 seconds. So, it certainly doesn't win any awards for its drying time, but it's within the normal bounds — especially for such a bright ink.
From what I've seen, feathering and bleeding are nonexistent with this ink as long as you're using decent paper. There's a bit of spider vein crawl when using this ink on common copy paper or even standard Field Notes paper, but it's not extreme. For any of your favorite papers, I'm sure Gummiberry will perform admirably.
As far as nib lubrication goes, Gummiberry is right in the middle of the scale. It's not dry, but it's not wet. I tested this in 4 different nibs, and had the same results. There also haven't been any problems with skipping, hard starts, or unusually short drying times when left uncapped and unused for around a minute at a time.
Cleaning the ink out of pens isn't difficult, but it does take quite a few flushes to remove all the bright purple from pens. I've found this to be true for many of the bright inks I normally use. At any rate, it's not a big deal.
KWZ Gummiberry is available in a 60ml bottle for around $15 if you're ready to go all in, or you can pick up a small sample for a couple of bucks to make sure it's everything you hoped and dreamed for in a bright purple ink. The price is a great deal, and I highly recommend this fun, playful ink.
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