J. Herbin Lie de The

[WillSW]

This was my first J. Herbin, and a wonderfully chosen Christmas gift from my grandmother. After trying the cool red-brown of Noodler's Red-Black and Waterman Havana, and the warm orange-brown of Pelikan Brown, I was excited for a green-brown. It's a lovely color, and is used as much as my other favorite, the Pelikan.

 

On Rhodia, drying time is 10 seconds, and it looks gorgeous with that bright white ground. The pens used are some sort of Sheaffer Touchdown and a Pilot 78G with an M nib swapped from a Plumix. Its color remains fairly consistent through different pens. I'm not sure what else to say except that this ink is a necessity for anyone who thinks they are a brown aficionado. Great ink.

 

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[Ondina]

One of my two favorite browns and a simply amazing ink. Shading, behavior, looks, resistance, what's not to like? Thank you for the very nice review.

[Ondina]

I forgot to add....you're right. One thinks it looks gorgeous against bright white paper....till you use it on off white or ivory ones. Then you find what perfection is made of.

[GouletPens]

Lie de Thé is an all-around favorite by many for a 'vintage' looking brown, especially when used on off-white paper. If you want to transcribe the Constitution or DofI, that's the ink to use. Here's a little something I did for fun (in a Clairefontaine GraFit pad): http://www.inknouveau.com/2010/04/j-herbin-watercolor-drawings.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qVJOiluU9_4/S8dWBDEJFyI/AAAAAAAAAFE/fnkAB-sr3vY/s1600/16LiedeThe.jpg

[Ed Ronax]

Great review, thanks.

[Lennart Wennberg]

Thanks for the review!

 

A perfect ink for a Golden Pearl Vac.

 

 

[zenrabbit]

Went on a trip back in late March out to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Took along a notebook to do some sketches and had Lie de The in my pen to take notes and do the rough outlining before filling in with colored pencil. That ink seemed to match the landscape very nicely. It is one of my favorite browns and has a nice vintage feel to it. Here are a couple of samples from my notebook:

 

 

[Biber]

Went on a trip back in late March out to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

 

 

Great sketches!!! I have fond memories of a summer spent in Southern Utah at the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival in the late 80s. We were able to get around a bit and saw a lot of the National Parks and other natural attractions. It really is another world out there - so vast and breathe takingly beautiful. I could see my self escaping the world and moving out there. Thanks again for the great sketches.

 

Sorry for the diversion, carry on...

 

B

[smwknits]

Thanks for the beautiful review. That is a very appealing shade of brown. At ten seconds drying time though, I don't think it would be good for lefties.

[Bronze]

- Thank you for the review

 

It's about time I order a bottle of this ink.

[Highbinder]

I love this ink but it seems quite fussy what pen it'll work with consistently. Had some flow issues.

[sombrueil]

I love this ink but it seems quite fussy what pen it'll work with consistently. Had some flow issues.

 

does that mean it is dry/skippy in some pens?

 

I love this color, and would like to try it out with flexy nibs . . . advisable?

[zenrabbit]

I have never had a problem with this ink being dry or skippy. I have used it in a few Esterbrooks with different nibs ranging from XF to F and also in a Laban Mento with a fine nib and a Lamy Al-Star with XF nib. No problems in any of them.

Brett

[gyasko]

I've never had any problems with it flowing. I generally use it in Esterbrooks, Skylines, and Dorics.

 

And yes, it's a good ink for drawing, too.

[Highbinder]

I love this ink but it seems quite fussy what pen it'll work with consistently. Had some flow issues.

 

does that mean it is dry/skippy in some pens?

 

I love this color, and would like to try it out with flexy nibs . . . advisable?

 

Just seemed quite a dry ink compared to my other inks. I've loaded my pelikan back up with lie de thé to see how it copes again - so far so good..

[WillSW]

Thanks for the beautiful review. That is a very appealing shade of brown. At ten seconds drying time though, I don't think it would be good for lefties.

 

I don't think that's actually an accurate dry time, but in a wettish pen on the non-absorbent Rhodia it takes somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds, which is actually very good. I don't know how rapidly it needs to dry to be comfortable for lefties, but it's definitely not a slow dryer.

 

I've also had no problem with flow.

[Penman222]

Thanks for a nice review of one of my new favorite brown inks (I think I have six now). I am currently using it in my medium Lamy 2000 and the flow, saturation, and shading are nearly perfect for this somewhat wet writing pen. The color is simply amazing - not to dark and not too light.

[futhark]

To each his or her own. I could never quite take the green cast, so I mixed some Waterman Havana brown in my bottle of Lie de The and created something new that is even more archaic-looking but still has the Herbin shading.

[Biber]

To each his or her own. I could never quite take the green cast, so I mixed some Waterman Havana brown in my bottle of Lie de The and created something new that is even more archaic-looking but still has the Herbin shading.

 

Diamine Golden Brown is very similar but without the green cast. If anything it goes on a bit yellow but that quickly subsides and it dries a nice golden brown with wonderful shading, even with F and XF nibs.

 

B