KWZ El Dorado Ink is, produced by KWZ Ink Company, which is one of the “new kids on the block” in the ink manufacturer world. KWZ inks have been made in Poland since 2012 and is pronounced “kah-veh-zeh”. Each of their inks are handmade from scratch using raw materials and chemicals and are the creation of Konrad Zurawski.
Konrad, a self described “fountain pen fan” and “handyman”, is a graduate of the Faculty of Chemistry from the Warsaw University of Technology and is a current Ph.D student at the same university. He started his ink business producing iron gall inks with the sole purpose of having more friendly characteristics that would not gum up fountain pens as bad as traditional iron gall inks.
Konrad accomplished this task and then continued to produce other standard non-iron gall inks. These inks have been created with about any characteristic that he chooses to include. With his background and expertise along with his passion, KWZ inks are here to stay and will become a mainstay with pen enthusiasts. Konrad’s main goal with KWZ inks is to focus on creating unusual, unique, less common ink inks that cannot be found anywhere else. KWZ El Dorado ink fits this description.
El Dorado is one of 44 colors of the KWZ standard ink series. These are non-waterproof, dye based inks. KWZ El Dorado is a beautiful yellow-gold color with a brown tint as it is applied to paper. As it dries the ink has more of an orange tint. KWZ El Dorado ink is darker than Noodler’s Apache Sunset and thus dark enough to be very legible and used for may purposes.
Continue reading for your chance to win the KWZ El Dorado fountain pen ink that we use in this review.
We found the following traits during our review of KWZ El Dorado ink that you may find useful:
Testing Factors
For our review of KWZ El Dorado ink we used a French made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on Rhodia dot pad paper. The glass dip pen has a tip that is similar to a fine fountain pen nib.
Bottle Sizes
KWZ El Dorado ink comes in an large capacity, round opaque 60 ml. glass bottle. Each bottle has a wide mouth lid that makes ink access with any size pen very easy. The packaging is also very simple, but elegant, coming in a glossy white cardboard box with basic black lettering. A label on the top of the box names the ink color, ink sku, batch number as well as a small ink swab for color. If anyone has any questions about KWZ inks, Konrad includes his physical address and website on the back of the box.
Cost
KWZ El Dorado ink is a very reasonably priced ink option, retailing for $15.00 in the US, which is fantastic for this large 60 ml. imported ink from Poland.
Dry Time
During our review of KWZ El Dorado ink we experienced a dry time of approximately 7-8 seconds. This is typical of a non-waterproof dye based ink, making it very usable at both the home and office.
Bleed Through
We found absolutely no bleeding during our review of KWZ El Dorado ink We used large amount of ink during our cotton swab test and still absolutely no bleeding.
Feathering
We found no feathering during normal use while testing KWZ El Dorado ink on Rhodia paper. However, during the water test we found some feathering at the wettest part of the test.
Water Test
KWZ El Dorado ink is a dye based, non-waterproof ink. As such, when we ran a wet cotton swab over a dried ink sample, we found some line distortion, slight feathering and significant color smearing. All of these traits are not unusual for a non-waterproof ink.
Shading & Sheening
KWZ El Dorado ink produces some nice shading, with the dark gold color to a lighter yellow color. Another nice feature is that El Dorado can produce dark red sheen with wetter lines.
Conclusion about the KWZ El Dorado ink
We are very excited to be carrying KWZ inks and offer our loyal customers even more ink color options than ever before. KWZ El Dorado ink is a fantastic color, with unique traits. Being a dark yellow-gold color with some brown and orange traits and possible red sheen, this ink very interesting and unique. El Dorado ink is reasonably priced for an imported ink and has a decent dry time. Konrad, as the owner of KWZ inks, is passionate and innovative, continuing to try and improve his craft, which is making new, attention-grabbing ink colors. Happy Writing from Poland!
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Absolutely Gorgeous colour ink!! I really love the El Dorado orange colour!! It’s smashing! Thank you for the review of it. God Bless & Love You Bunches!!!
My favorite ink is Diamine Lilac Satin.
New color, same KWZ quality.
Very helpful review. I was considering ordering s bottle of Apache Sunset but for the price and color variation, I will buy this one instead!
I kind of like this one.
I am not really a fan of bright coloured ink but this new ink from KWZ seems dark enough that I’d like to try it. Thanks for the review and the chance to win a bottle.
That is an amazing yellow! And I happen to like the smell of KWZ ink
Love this color!!! Which reminds me, I NEED a bottle of it!
I haven’t tried many different brands of ink, but so far my favorite is Diamine. This ink looks like it would be a near perfect match for my golden yellow Pilot Retro Metro.
Nice ink!
Lovely golden color. Reminds me of quinacridone gold paint. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I wonder if you have done/will do a sort of comparison between ‘budget’ inks. Like a basic, everyday sort of ink that won’t ruin pens or break the bank when used frequently/heavily (like I do when I take notes in classes).
I do love a orange ink that shades well.
So pretty – and its fast drying which is great.
Looks beautiful and love the shading!!
I bet this would look cool in a demonstrator
Newest favourite colour would be Diamine Schubert. Got to try it and see it in action at a recent pen meetup and was instantly smittened.
I love the deeper color. Awesome shading characteristics. Tom
Darker than Apache Sunset, and lighter than Habanero.
Lovely! Plus review more shading inks in blue/green tones. Thanks!
I love apache so def need to try this color
I love the color orange, so this ink is absolutely gorgeous.
Nice ink. Have you reviewed Diamine Autumn Osk yet?
I have 3 KWZ inks that I like very much: Brown-Pink, Green-Gold, and Honey. But my all-time favorite ink is still Noodler’s Ottoman Azure.
I’m usually not a fan of this color but I’m so wow’d right now! I need to try this.
It really reminds me of Apache Sunset, very nice.
What a gorgeous color! I don’t own any KWZ inks, and this one would look nice in any of my pens, especially the orange ones. As always, you asked what I would like you to review – what about inks that are no longer in production, ones you would especially like to see again.
This ink looks almost too light to be usable…
KWZ has great inks, and this one looks great! Between a yellow and orange, the color variation reminds me of Noodler’s Apache Sunset.
I do like Apache Sunset, but I do admit a little darker would be nice. Plus with the way I am going through orange lately, more ink is never a bad think.
please… again 3234
That ink looks crazy!
Good colour
I love orange. I will have to buy a new pen for this ing.
Can’t get enough of those KWZ inks!
Looks like sunrise. Very nice
Have never tried any ink from this brand, but it looks like a great color!
Great looking ink. I look forward to your reviews of the rest of the KWZ lineup.
I’m really interested in handmade inks, would love to see reviews of more colours.
Never tried KWZ. It’s time to do it.
That’s a gorgeous orange/yellow !
I would like to own this ink. I’ve nothing like it in my collection of inks.
I love that there are companies like this one. I want to give young start ups my business. And good ink too of course!
I bought a very basic ink from Herbin called ‘Blue Myosotis’ that I like a lot.