L'artisan Pastellier Bouton D'or - Encre Classique

[Old_Inkyhand]

Hello everyone

I have never tried to review anything in my life, but it is time to change it! I haven't found any review of this ink, what inspired me to publish this mini review. I know it's far from perfection, but I am a beginner and my camera is not the best one either At least I've tried, I tell myself.

L'Artisan Pastellier Bouton d'Or - Encre Classique line.

(warning - image heavy)

To be honest, I wasn't even aware that such an ink existed when Visvamitra sent me a generous sample of it (thank you!). I knew about the Callifolio line, but Encres Classiques were a big mystery.

This ink is named Bouton d'Or, but shall not be mistaken for J. Herbin's ink with the same name. The latter is much more similar in colour to the flower from which it derives its name - the marsh buttercup. L'Artisan Pastellier's creation is a joyful orange ink, which reminds me of freshly squeezed orange juice or a tangerine. It is a vivid, yellow-leaning shade with no dusty undertones.

Les boutons d'or - golden buds. Picture free to use from pixabay.com.

It doesn't shade much - especially in my fine nib - the saturation is decent. On Oxford paper it stops smudging after about 9 seconds.

I decided to compare it with five other inks - Lie de The and Orange Indien by J. Herbin, Bookbinders Everglades Ratsnake (sample from Vis), Robert Oster Yellow Sunset Signature Ink and Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red. I don't have any pens inked with Everglades Ratsnake and Orange Indien at the moment, so the names of these two inks are written with Kaweco Royal Blue. Pens used from left to right: Waterman Hemisphere new 'F', Parker Frontier 'F', Rotring Esprit retractable 'F' (two times), Sheaffer Targa gold B/BB nib, Waterman Hemisphere old type 'F'. The paper is Oxford A5 lined notebook, made in Spain.

• The Ratsnake is definitely redder. While Bouton d'Or is a tangerine, the Ratsnake is more of a grapefruit.
  
• Orange Indien is a rusty colour. In some reviews it looks much 'cleaner', I believe it may be a result of batch variation. Mine is a nice calm orange with a bit of dirt - only visual, of course.
  
• Yellow Sunset is definitely yellow and should be used with broad, wet nibs - so if you like fine nibs, but you are seeking a fresh, sunny colour, you would be more satisfied with L'Artisan Pastellier Bouton d'Or.
  
• Velvet Red is a complex dark red with pink and rusty undertones.
  

How water resistant it is? Let’s see.

The biggest picture shows the original, dry note on Oxford paper. The upper small image shows how it looked after having been put under running water for five seconds. The lower small image shows how it looked like after full immersion (about 1 minute underwater).

I was pleasantly surprised with the results. An accidental spill won’t ruin your notes. It is not bulletproof, but it has some water resistance.

I have tested in on a few types of paper.

• On Oxford there was no showthrough, no feathering and no bleedthrough.
  

• On art paper (chalk overlay) the colour was a bit dull, but the ink behaved just fine. Little showthrough. See below.
  

• On cheap copy paper the line wasn’t as extremely crisp as on Oxford and there was some bleedthrough. It doesn’t look much worse, though, because this is not a shading ink.
  

• On my Feathering Horror paper (a notebook I got from one of the universities) this ink behaves better than my other inks. Feathering is reduced to minimum.
  

In L’Artisan Pastellier online shop this ink costs 3,82 Euros (circa 4,27 $) and comes in 30 ml round bottles, which have black bakelite caps with no wax on it. Unfortunately, the minimal value of an order is 25 Euros, so you’d have to shell out 21 euros for some more goodies if you wanted to buy directly from them. What’s more, people complain about the shipping costs, so you would want to organise a group buy, find a different source or prepare to pay more. The cost of ink itself is good – 30 ml of Bouton d’Or are slightly cheaper than 30 ml of Lamy ink and slightly more expensive than 30 ml of Waterman ink (which comes in 50 ml bottles).

I can’t say a lot about the bottle, as I don’t have it, but I believe it looks like this one (photo borrowed from www.artisanpastellier.com):

Overall, I like this ink. It doesn’t shade dramatically, but it has a very nice colour, it behaves nicely, provides a good flow, is quite resistant to feathering and has some water resistance. It could as well serve as a less retina searing highlighter. So far it is my favourite orange – but I haven't tested many of them yet and I am biased in favour of yellow-leaning oranges.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Please share your thoughts.

[Old_Inkyhand]

Please note that most of the pictures are a bit too yellow here and a bit squeezed. Please right click on the photo and choose the 'Open image in a new tab' option to see the original size and scale the picture.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Old_Inkyhand

[visvamitra]

Well done

[mmg122]

Nice job on your first review, OI. Although it is not a color I would use, it seems quite well behaved and reasonably priced.

 

Mary

[Old_Inkyhand]

Thank you both very much! The font may be too big, but I've heard people complain about small and hard to read letters.

That's fun

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for this review; I agree it is a very pleasant ink & surely suitable for use, as shown here. It is always nice to see an ink many might think "pale" be perfectly nice when compared to others that are readily recognised as legible. I especially appreciate your inclusion of the Bookbinder's orange without the "coiling thing" it is named for!

[Old_Inkyhand]

Thank you for this review; I agree it is a very pleasant ink & surely suitable for use, as shown here. It is always nice to see an ink many might think "pale" be perfectly nice when compared to others that are readily recognised as legible. I especially appreciate your inclusion of the Bookbinder's orange without the "coiling thing" it is named for!

Thank you! I had a tendency to steer clear of light colours. I thought that a yellow or light orange ink may be not for me, as I use my inks for writing only - no washes, decorative headlines etc. I was pleasantly surprised with both L'Artisan Pastellier Bouton d'Or and Robert Oster Yellow Sunset, although Yellow Sunset will remain my fun ink - it is legible and nice in my very wet, very broad Sheaffer Targa, but it makes it very slow to dry. I did a dry times test today for it and I gave up when it smudged after 60 seconds

You're welcome! Bookbinder's Grapefruit is waving to you.

[amberleadavis]

Great comparison!!

[jasonchickerson]

Looks like a much more useable yellow than Herbin's own Bouton d'Or. Well done. However, favorite ink in this color range is Herbin's Ambre de Birmanie, a lovely muted amber with great behavior.

[Old_Inkyhand]

Great comparison!!

Thank you very much

 

 

Looks like a much more useable yellow than Herbin's own Bouton d'Or. Well done. However, favorite ink in this color range is Herbin's Ambre de Birmanie, a lovely muted amber with great behavior.

Thank you! Yes, Bouton d'Or by J. Herbin seems to be a very bright yellow colour. Ambre de Birmanie is yellow with a tad of brown, I think, and Bouton d'Or by L'Artisan Pastellier is somewhere in between yellow and orange, rather leaning towards orange than yellow in real life.