The most recent ink line in my collection is the IWI Colors of Nature line. The line includes 24 colors so I will be presenting the collection in parts – today I’ll be covering 8 of the 24. At the end of this post, I’ll examine the feathering issue I’ve seen with the collection. I purchased my samples of IWI Colors of Nature inks at Vanness: each ink is $12 for a 30mL bottle or $2.60 for a 4mL sample.
I’ve divided up the Colors of Nature inks into various themes. The first is the Beginning of Seasons starting with the Beginning of Spring.
Beginning of Spring is a very bright yellow-green, a bit lighter than Ferris Wheel Press Fizzy Lime. Beginning of Summer (below) is a classic green with a touch of blue undertones.
Beginning of Autumn is a medium orange while Beginning of Winter is a classic blue-black.
The four Beginning of Seasons group is a bright collection and, I think, represents the seasons very well.
The four Beginnings inks on Cosmo Air Light paper:
The four Beginnings inks on Tomoe River paper:
I have tried to show a brief comparison between Tomoe River paper (left) and Cosmo Air Light paper (right).
The second set of Colors of Nature inks is the Divisions of the Year set. This includes Spring and Autumnal Equinox inks and Summer and Winter Solstice inks.
Spring Equinox is a beautiful multi-chromatic ink that looks like Sailor Manyo Sakura. However, this ink feathered terribly on the Col-o-ring cards. I will examine this issue in detail at the end of my post.
Summer Solstice is a bright red with a hint of blue undertones.
Autumnal Equinox was my favorite ink of these 8 inks. It is a dark golden brown and one of the few inks where I did not notice feathering.
Winter Solstice is a pleasantly shading dark gray ink. This ink did not show the feathering issues.
The Divisions of the Year inks all together:
The Divisions of the Year set on Cosmo Air Light paper:
The Divisions of the Year set on Tomoe River paper:
The Divisions of the Year inks on Cosmo Air Light paper (left) and Tomoe River paper (right):
Now to talk about the feathering issue with the IWI inks. The first swatch I created started showing serious feathering immediately. This is seen not only in lettering but also the swatch on the right.
When I used the same dip pen to write on Cosmo Air Light paper, you can still see feathering:
However, again with the same dip pen, when I wrote on Tomoe River paper, I found no feathering at all.
The IWI inks are watery and thin formulations – they remind me of writing with Papier Plume inks (especially those in the standard line). I believe this is the main reason behind the feathering. In future posts on the IWI inks, I will bring this up again after testing a few fixes. Make sure you read Part 2 next Thursday!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me and I was not compensated to write this review. Please see the About page for more details.
Great review! I really love some of those colors, but OMG! That is some SERIOUS feathering! Wow.
Jessica,
The way the inks are categorized is rather novel — I especially like the idea of inks for equinoxes (will there be ones for the solstices?), but they don’t seem to offer much that’s different in terms of the actual colours. And I agree that the feathering is a problem. I had never heard of this brand before and am always interested to know what else is out in the inky world.
Thank you!