KWZ Chicago Blue. As you may know, Fountain Pen Follies serves not only as chief cook and bottle washer here, but also as de facto head of the Department of Inky Mysteries for the Chicago Pen Show.
Our show is lucky enough to welcome two gorgeous limited edition inks from Papier Plume this year, namely Lake Michigan Summer and Ivy 108. But, because I always try to find excuses to intone this, “There is another.” That is Chicago Blue from KWZ Ink.
You may have heard that the Chicago Cubs baseball team winning the World Series this past November, after 108 years of futility? Well, we at the Pen Show made a solemn vow that if the Cubs won, we’d celebrate with a special ink for the show.
We wanted a blue that would be strong, bright and celebratory. That would write well and look great on paper, and do the city proud. It’s blue for the Cubs, and the Bears and the Fighting Illini, for the L’s Blue Line, and for the Chicago Blues. For the blue bikes we used to ride when we were kids, when Schwinn made the Sting-Ray right here.
KWZ Inks are made by Konrad Wojciech Żurawski and his wife Agnieszka Żurawska. I want to take a look behind the scenes at KWZ Ink at some point, but for now, just know that they handcrafted this ink themselves, from the initial recipe, to the mixing and making of the ink, to its bottling and shipping. They usually even swab each individual bottle label themselves. Since Chicago Blue has a printed label — which Agnieszka drew — there’s a hand-written note in every single bottle.
KWZ hit it out of the park with this ink. It shades, it sheens, it’s a beautiful color. It’s exclusive to the Chicago Pen Show, May 4-7, 2017. I know not all of my readers can go, but … you should! No, I know some people just can’t get here that weekend. Hopefully a friend is going and can snag you a bottle of Chicago Blue.
Fountain Pen Follies 