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Actually it won't be about turquoises, not in encyclopedical understanding of what turquoise actually is. Pure turquoise looks like that http://imageshack.com/a/img404/7428/ei21.jpg www.barwy.net Blue turquoise like that: http://imageshack.com/a/img706/1729/22ng.jpg www.barwy.net Anyway I've tried to compare five inks whether called whether considered turquoises. Their colors are bright and quite saturated. To be honest I don't like pure turquoise - I like however to fill my fountain pen with vibrant shade of blue. I compared five inks: BLEU PERVENCHE (J. Herbin), BLU MARE (Rohrer & Klingner), HIMMELBLAU (Standardgraph), NIEBIESKI TURKUSOWY (Nicpoń*), TURQUOISE (Pelikan). * Nicpoń is chemistry PhD Student that's active on Polish fountain pen network. He'c created limited line of nice, saturated inks in many colors. 1. Swabs on Mondi 90 g paper http://imageshack.com/a/img811/6673/qy1b.jpg 2. Ellipses "cut" from swabs http://imageshack.com/a/img834/1497/m97z.jpg 3. Two drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img607/7721/0zsu.jpg 4. Trace of ink left by the nib on the paper http://imageshack.com/a/img839/9781/sf31.jpg Left to right: Bleu Pervenche, Blu Mare, Himmelblau, Turquoise, Niebieski Turkusowy 5. Fast handwriting on Mondi paper http://imageshack.com/a/img844/8823/a9d5.jpg 6. Text written with Pilot 78 G with B nib on Oxford paper: http://imageshack.com/a/img138/5033/y4yv.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img547/4792/rpob.jpg left to right: Bleu Pervenche, Blu Mare, Himmelblau, Turquoise, Niebieski Turkusowy 7. Text written on cheap notebook Famous polish tongue twister http://imageshack.com/a/img163/8350/obto.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img716/7704/b3p2.jpg (Bleu Pervenche, Blu Mare, Himmelblau, Turquoise, Niebieski Turkusowy) http://imageshack.com/a/img607/8232/2kry.jpg (left to right: Bleu Pervenche, Blu Mare, Himmelblau, Turquoise, Niebieski Turkusowy) 8. Text written on cheap copy paper (Lyreco) printed with dots: http://imageshack.com/a/img30/6678/yivm.jpg 9. Text written in notebook http://imageshack.com/a/img812/6822/qk1c.jpg 10. Are they waterproof http://imageshack.com/a/img138/5731/mdva.jpg 11. Dry Times (Pilot 78 g witb B nib on copy paper): http://imageshack.com/a/img819/5915/flpn.jpg SUMMARY: I find it difficult to indicate the winner. I guess Pelikan Turquoise deserves to take this place - it's good ink, it has reasonable price and is easily accesible around the world. Blu Mare is really nice and intense though it's not easily seen on the scans. Niebieski Turkusowy looks really good and it behaves well in fountain pen. However it's not easy to buy this ink as it is not produced for mass market.

http://www.jherbin.com/images/logo_ship.jpg J. Herbin is known to be the oldest name in ink production in the world, and their inks 'l'Encre de la Tete Noire", "Perle des Encres," (The Jewel of Inks) and "l'Encre des Vaisseaux" (The Ink of Ships) were produced as early as 1700. M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom. J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world. By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships). J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company headquarters in Paris. At the moment company belongs to Exaclair Inc, that has rights to brands like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Brause or G. Lalo. J. Herbin offers 30 standard colors: http://www.zany.co.nz/Images/Assets/2555912/6/J+Herbin+Fountain+Pen+Ink++Available+in+30+Colours.jpg Ambre de Birmanie Bleu Azur Bleu Myosotis Bleu Nuit Bleu Pervenche Bouquet d'Antan Bouton d'Or Cacao du Bresil Cafe des Iles Diabolo Menthe Eclat de Saphir Gris Nuage Larmes de Cassis Lie de The Lierre Sauvage Orange Indien Perle Noire Poussiere de Lune Rose Cyclamen Rose Tendresse Rouge Bourgogne Rouge Caroubier Rouge Opera Rouille d'Ancre Terre de Feu Vert Empire Vert Olive Vert Pre Vert Reseda Violette PenseeI know many people find J. Herbin inks too muted and boring but I enjoy most of them. I believe J. Herbin makes amazing and unique ink and Rouille d'Ancre is one of those unique colors. I'd like to say I dislike it, because, c'mon, I'm a man. But I can't. i kind of like it. It's like dusty mauve-pink with some vintage charm. I don't know many colors similar to this one. Maybe Diamine Carnation - in a way? I find it intriguing and keep on coming back to it. The ink is well bbehaved but rather muted, so in order to fully enjoy its richness you would do well and behave wisely by choosing nib with generous flow. Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4553/eehKaT.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img661/9880/iIqPzu.jpg Software ID http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2184/FRMiG1.jpg Waterproofness http://imageshack.com/a/img910/4849/1GhIFd.jpg Oxford notebook, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img537/553/TCmb0j.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img905/4641/6MrL4R.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img540/6749/noNWaE.jpg Semikolon, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img538/2004/SHEnVa.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img673/9656/KmUz0i.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img540/916/d7AcwW.jpg Clairefontaine, Kaweco Sport Classic, B nib + Kaweco Al Sport, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img540/1849/wvkhiC.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2659/A3jvgQ.jpg Hero 5028, stub 1,9 http://imageshack.com/a/img538/2696/keqyzi.jpg

J. Herbin - Cacao du Brésil This is my first review after the "Fall" - the November 2020 outage of FPN. I wanted to take this opportunity to express a heartfelt thank you for the huge amount of effort by Wim and the FPN Admin team to bring our favourite forum back online. You guys rock! La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. J. Herbin is probably best known for their inks in the “La Perle des Encres” series. In this review, the spotlight shines on Cacao du Brésil, which is one of the stars in this line-up. This ink immediately managed to seduce me — it’s simply a superb writing ink, a gorgeous cool grey-brown colour with excellent saturation even in the finer nibs. Also tons of elegant shading, that starts to appear with F nibs, and really delivers with broads. Definitely my type of ink, and — in my opinion — one of Herbin’s best! J. Herbin inks come packaged in simple 30 ml bottles. These bottles are merely adequate, and not really well-suited for piston-fillers — they are not very deep, and piston-filling from a half-empty bottle can be a challenge. My trick is to fill an ink-sample vial with ink, and piston-fill my pen that way. Cacao du Brésil makes a great match for my Edison Collier Red Dragon, which is the beauty in the pic below. Cacao du Brésil writes a saturated line with quite satisfactory lubrication, even in drier pens like my Lamy Safari. With wetter pens the ink leaves a deeply saturated grey-brown line, and loses a bit of its prominent shading. To illustrate the colour span of Cacao du Brésil, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I totally saturated portions of the paper with ink. This J. Herbin ink shows a medium colour range, without too harsh a contrast between light and darker parts. This translates to elegant shading when writing. On the smudge test — rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab — the ink behaved perfectly, with only minimal smearing. Water resistance is quite good — the ink survives even longer exposures to water, leaving a light grey residue on the paper which remains very readable. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography. This makes Cacao du Brésil an ink that is perfectly usable at the office. Drying times for this ink are in the 5-15 second range, depending on the type of paper (with the Lamy Safari M-nib). With the more absorbent copy paper that you’ll find at the office, it’s close to 5 seconds. With less absorbent paper, drying times are more in the 10-15 second range. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper — from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with the Lamy Safari M-nib Source of the quote, written with a Platinum 3776 Century B-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Cacao du Brésil looks great on both white and more yellowish paper. I didn’t detect any noticeable feathering, just a hint on the notoriously bad Moleskine paper. With Moleskine and GvFC paper, there is some show-through and a tiny bit of bleed-through — but nothing too bad. Overall, Cacao du Brésil behaves exceptionally well. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen — a wet-writing Platinum 3776 Century with a broad nib. Here the ink leaves a very saturated line, which leans towards black-brown, taking away some of the more prominent shading you get in drier pens. Related inks To compare Cacao du Brésil with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the centre. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test — all in a very compact format. I don’t really have any close matches to this grey-brown in my collection though. Iroshizuku kiri-same — a grey ink with brown undertones — appears to be a distant cousin. My other browns are just … more brown. Inkxperiment – The Fall (Last Leaf Standing) As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and these single-ink drawings often present a real challenge. These inkxperiments allow me to explore the colour-range nuances that are present in the ink. I love doing them! The grey-brown tones of Cacao du Brésil match perfectly with the autumn season in my part of the world. No need to look any further for inspiration. Dark-brown earth, glistening wetly from yesterday’s rain, and on the trees a last leaf clinging to the branch. I started with a piece of 300 gsm watercolour paper, that I thoroughly wetted with water to which I added a bit of ink. I then used a broad brush to draw in the outline of the field and the sky. Next I drew in the tree with the last leaf standing. To complete the drawing, I used a fine brush to add the striped pattern that adds texture to the earthen field. The end result gives you a good idea of the colour range that can be achieved when using Cacao du Brésil in a more artistic context. Conclusion J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil is a great ink: a really special cool grey-brown, that works with all nib sizes and on all types of paper. The ink is also fairly water-resistant, and well suited for the workplace. And it shows some beautiful shading that really gives that extra oomph to your writing. This is an ink that really gives me pleasure — heartily recommended! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

So, at one point of another... we have all said.. "Wow, I wish I could get THAT ink".. but is discontinue/expensive/unobtanium .. etc So, here is the place where you should come and check if "THAT" ink has a Doppelgänger (look-alike, double, one who nearly or completely resembles another).. I will start... I will remind you, that even the same ink looks different depending on nib/flow/paper .. so these are examples inks with the same/similar hue.. that depending on your nib/flow/paper it might look identical.. Have you heard of Sailor Tanna Japonensis (Evening Cicada).. what about Sailor Shin Zan (Deep in the Forest).. well if you can't get those, you can grab a bottle of Safari.. is cheaper, not exclusive, and easy to find. photo below... (in real person they look almost identical) Knowing how famous scanners and pictures are for not completely represent what your eyes perceived, you get both... and take my word for it.. With the right pen you can get the exact look. C.

J.Herbin - Vert Empire La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. Recently, I've been looking into Herbin's "La Perle des Encres" series. I've had my eye on "Vert Empire" for some time now, and decided it's time for a review of this ink. Vert Empire is a terrific grey-green ink, that's right up my alley. Muted, subdued, greyish... yummy! The ink's colour has to be seen to be fully appreciated - the scans in this review don't do it full justice. This ink has the cunning ability to change character with the available lighting: sometimes showing off a more yellow-green hue (under artificial light), and at other times appearing almost as a pure grey. The scans in this review capture reasonably well the way the ink appears in normal daylight. This is an ink that immediately appealed to me. A tranquil colour, full of character, and with heavy grey undertones that give the ink a vintage vibe. The ink looks beautiful on all paper types, with good contrast even with finer nibs. Shading is very present even in finer nibs, but remains aesthetically elegant. I really like the looks of this ink - a prime candidate for my top three of 2019. The ink has quite satisfactory lubrication, even in drier pens like my Lamy Safari. With my wetter Pelikan pens the ink is very well saturated, and writes like a dream. Vert Empire also has a broad colour span. To illustrate this, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This beautifully illustrates the ink's wide colour range. This J. Herbin ink moves effortlessly from a very light grey-green to a very dark, almost black green. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved perfectly with almost no smearing. Water resistance is a bit disappointing though. The ink loses all colour, but still leaves behind a perfectly readable light-grey ghost image of your writing. Not great, but your writings will be recoverable. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that the grey components of the ink remain on the paper. This is an ink that might still be at home in the workplace. Vert Empire is also a fast-drying ink - with typical drying times in the 5-10 second range with my Lamy Safari (M-nib). I was surprised at this, because it totally feels like a really wet ink. As such, this ink might also be suitable for lefties. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) Vert Empire looks really nice on both white and more yellowish papers. On low-quality paper (yes that's you, Moleskine) it exhibits a small amount of feathering, but all-in-all not too bad. With Moleskine paper, there is significant show-through and a bit of bleed-through - not unexpected for this fountain-pen unfriendly paper. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen - a wet Pelikan M120 with an M-nib. Here the ink leaves a very saturated line. As you can see, Vert Empire manages to look really nice in all nib sizes, with great contrast and elegant shading. Nice. Related inks To allow for a good comparison with related inks, I employ a nine-grid format, with the currently reviewed ink at the center. Each grid cell shows the name of the ink, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. Inkxperiment - Mining Tower As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and these single-ink drawings often present a real challenge. It also gives you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this drawing I used 300 gsm rough watercolour paper. For my topic, I went back to the industrial heritage of my home town (Genk, Belgium), where the last coal-mine shut down in 1988. The mining tower is now the centerpiece of a lively cultural complex. I started off with heavily water-diluted ink to paint in the background. I then used mildly diluted Vert Empire to draw the mining tower and foreground. Final highlights were added with a broad-nibbed fountain pen filled with Vert Empire. The end result gives you a good idea of the colour span that Vert Empire is capable of. Conclusion J. Herbin Vert Empire is a truly great ink, that pleasantly surprised me on all fronts: georgeous grey-leaning green colour, beautiful shading, good saturation - and all this even in finer nibs. Even better, the ink is relatively fast-drying and works well with all paper types. Combine all this, and you've got a winner. This ink went straight to my top three for 2019 ! I heartily recommend it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

As a huge fan of J. Herbin inks, I was thrilled to learn about five new standard inks introduced in 2018. I've got the bottles and I'll review them shortly. New inks come in standard J. Herbin glass bottles that contain 30 ml of the writing fluid. Ink splash CdT is a decent, moderately saturated ink. I dislike the color, but appreciate the behaviour. I won't judge you if you buy a bottle. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Color ID Color range Fabriano, Kaweco Classic Sport, BB Tomoe River, Kaweco Classic Sport, BB Maruman, Kaweco Classic Sport, BB Water resistance

As a huge fan of J. Herbin inks, I was thrilled to learn about five new standard inks introduced in 2018. I've got the bottles and I'll review them shortly. New inks come in standard J. Herbin glass bottles that contain 30 ml of the writing fluid. Ink splash Vert de Gris is great. I like grey inks, especially when they're more complex and tis one fills the bill. It's saturated enough to read it easily, it flows very well and has reasonable amount of lubrication (although it's nowhere near Sailor inks in this regard). Overall, it's a keeper. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Color ID Color range Fabriano, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Tomoe River, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Copy paper, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Maruman, Hero 616, fine (?) nib Water resistance

J.Herbin - Orange Indien La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. Recently, I’ve been looking into Herbin's "La Perle des Encres" series. The subject of this review is "Orange Indien" - an ink for which I had high hopes. On first impression, I liked the colour a lot: a muted orange that leans a bit towards the brown. I like my inks non-vibrant, so in this area Orange Indien did not disappoint. One thing I quickly noticed: it's almost impossible to capture this ink's colour with my scanner. It always turns out too brown. So in this review, I mostly use pictures to show off the ink, since these match much more precisely the colour I see with the naked eye. The tranquil character of this ink appealed to me - this is an ink that is quite pleasant to use for personal journaling. For writing, you do need wet pens to fully enjoy the ink. With dry pens, like the Lamy Safari, the ink feels too unlubricated and doesn't produce a line with sufficient saturation. When combined with a wet pen (e.g. a Pelikan), the ink looks great even in finer nibs. Orange Indien has a moderate colour span, with not too much of a difference between light and fully saturated parts. To illustrate this, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This accurately illustrates the ink's colour range. The moderate colour span indicates that this is a soft-shading ink. The ink shades nicely, but without too much contrast between the light and dark parts. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved perfectly, with almost no smearing. Water resistance is non-existent though - some brown-orange smudges remain, but what is left on the paper is no longer readable (well - if you're a forensics expert, you can probably reconstruct the original words, but for daily use Orange Indien should be kept away from water or other liquids). Orange Indien dries relatively quickly in my Safari test pen (M-nib), taking about 5-10 seconds to dry. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) With this test, Orange Indien shows its weakness. It is prone to feathering, even on papers where this is almost never a problem. I noticed slight feathering on Moleskine (no surprise there) and printing papers, but also on Paperblanks Paper. The latter is a bummer for me personally, since I use Paperblanks Embellished Manuscripts as my daily journals. On other papers, feathering didn't seem to be a problem. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen - a wet Pelikan M101N Bright Red with an F-nib. With this wet pen, the ink wrote smoothly and with much better saturation. Orange Indien loves to be combined with wetter pens and broader nibs. Nice looking ink! Related inks To allow for a good comparison with related inks, I employ a nine-grid format, with the currently reviewed ink at the center. Each grid cell shows the name of the ink, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. Inkxperiment – portrait of a blushing lady With each review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I'm reviewing. This is often quite challenging, but it has the advantage of showing the ink's colour range in a more artistic setting. I enjoy doing these little drawings immensely - it's quite a fun extension of the ink hobby. For this inkxperiment, I really lacked inspiration. So I employed the random-line technique: draw some random lines on the paper, and see if some topic drifts to the foreground. I started out with HP Premium Photo Paper, and drew some random lines using a Q-tip dipped in Orange Indien with the paper completely submerged in water. This gives soft lines, and colours the background of the paper. I then lifted the image of a lady from the randomness, and painted it in with different ratios of water-diluted ink. For her hair, I used pure Orange Indien. Here the ink bled out a bit on the face, creating the blushing effect. So instead of a lady, you get the portrait of a blushing lady ;-) The end result gives you a good idea of the colour span that can be obtained with Orange Indien. Conclusion Orange Indien is a nice-looking non-vibrant orange, that looks quite well on paper. You should pair this ink with wet pens to get a nice writing experiende. The ink has a tendency to light feathering on a number of papers in my test set. Unfortunately for me, this also happens on Paperblanks paper. Personally, I really like the ink's colour, but the feathering on my daily-use paper kills this ink for me (at least as a writing ink). Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

As most of you already know in two months J. Herbin will introduce new ink in 1670 glittery line - Caroube de Chypre. That's great. I was afraid that after Diamine Shimmertastic inks mass introduction J. Herbin will have hard time engineering some new color. They've decided to go with brown with goldish particles and named this ink Caroube de Chypre. Mishka from Bureaudirect sent me a sample and I'd like to present some photos and thoughts on the ink. Tghe color can be described as reddish brown. The flow is nice alythough some particles always stay in the feed. Happily they're easy to clean. I'm not crazy about the color but let's be honest 1670 line isn't 100 % about unique color, it's more about beautiful bottle and color / glitter combo. And Caroube de Chypre shines like crazy. Also I'm impressed by J. Herbin marketing - they make people wonder whether they'll see another ink in 1670 line, make them wait impatiently. To be honest it's much better than introducing a lot of special inks at once. Personally I dislike shimering inks and I lack motivation to review all Diamine line. However I'm always eager to try new J. Herbin ink (or Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year) because they make me feel it'll be something special. It never is but I wait impatientluy to try it nevertheless Enough talking. Let's take a look at some pictures. Sample vial Ink splashes Drops of ink on kitychen towel Software ID Tomoe River, Kaweco Classic Sport, B Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, B Oxford, Hero 5028, stub 1,9 Mini-comparison

Ink Shoot-Out : J.Herbin Vert de Gris vs L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Olifants In 2018, J. Herbin released a number of new inks in their "Perle des Encres" series. The one I fell in love with is Vert de Gris, a terrific grey-green-blue ink that rightfully deserved a spot in my favourite inks of the year short-list. Recently I accidentally discovered that Callifolio Olifants has a very similar hue... in fact, these inks are really close matches. Time to do a detailed comparison and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where two inks engage in fierce battle to determine who is the winner. And today truly is a special fight - our French champions are masters in the art of Savate - also known as French kick-boxing. In the left corner, the deadly weapon from Paris - J. Herbin Vert de Gris aka the "Grey Reaper". In the right corner, from southern France, the steel-footed "Elephant Kicker" – L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Olifants. The champions enter the ring! The crowd is roaring! The bell rings and the first round begins... may the best ink win! Round 1 – First Impressions These French inks are well matched, and make a great first impression. They show a muted grey-green-blue colour, that really appeals to me. The colour contrasts nicely with the Rhodia N°16 paper in my Lamy Safari M-nib. The inks show character, with nice shading even in finer nibs. I especially like their dusty appearance. These inks are definitely teals, but also lean towards the grey, giving them a vintage appearance. I really like what I see here. Both inks look very much alike, but there are some differences: Vert de Gris is more saturated, and leaves a wetter line on the page. In contrast, Olifants is a much drier ink, which feels less lubricated. This is especially noticeable in finer nibs. Olifants has a bit more blue in it, which is most obvious in swatches. Both inks make a great first impression. In the looks department, they are well matched. But Vert de Gris feels nicer in the pen due to its superior lubrication. A small difference, but the first kick goes to the Grey Reaper. Just enough for a win on points. Round 2 – Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. With the EF nib, the better saturation of Vert de Gris comes into play, resulting in more contrast-rich writing. With broad nibs though, Vert de Gris becomes a bit too saturated and loses some of its character. Here the drier Olifants looks more pleasing to me. Colourwise both inks look very similar in writing. Both inks also shade nicely, without too much contrast between light and dark parts. This aesthetically pleasing shading gives more character to your writing, and shows up even with the finer nibs. For this round, the focus is on writing, and here both inks are strong performers. Vert de Gris works a bit better in EF/F nibs, producing a more saturated line. On the other hand, Vert de Gris tends to oversaturate in broader nibs. Here the drier Callifolio Olifants manages to gain the upper hand in the looks department. But both inks are jewels, that are really on par with each other. Some nice punches, some good kicks, but neither ink gets the upper hand. As such, this round ends in a draw. Round 3 – Pen on Paper This round allows the batlling inks to show how they behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? One thing is immediately apparent: these inks are at home on a wide range of papers, both white and off-white ones. On more absorbent paper like Fantasticpaper (top), the drier Olifants makes the best of the paper. But on less absorbent paper, the roles are reversed - due to its better saturation, Vert de Gris definitely looks better in these circumstances. The inks both consistently produce great-looking writing on all the papers I tested them with. Swatch saturation varies across paper types (depending on absorption and roughness of the paper), but for writing these inks manage to produce consistently contrast-rich lines on the page. Both champions move with lightning speed - throwing kicks and punches - but neither champion gives ground. As such, round 3 also finishes with a draw. The crowd is going nuts... what a fight! These inks show no weakness! Awesome! Round 4 – Ink Properties Both inks have drying times in the 15-20 second range on the Rhodia paper. But... oh my god... look! ... the Grey Reaper explodes in a flurry of kicks, and finally punches through the defenses of the Elephant Kicker. In the smudge resistance test - rubbing the text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Vert de Gris shows itself to be less prone to smudging. This better water resistance also shows up in the droplet test, where I drip water on the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes. Vert de Gris definitely shows better water resistance, losing colour but showing a crisp greyish residue that remains very readable. Olifants behaves quite well on itself, but can't reach the level of water resistance shown by Vert de Gris. What a spectacle! J. Herbin Vert de Gris pulled some kicks and punches worthy of Jean-Claude van Damme, the Muscles from Brussels. Callifolio Olifants totally caved! The crowd is cheering... More! More! More! There is no doubt... this round is a solid win for Vert de Gris. Round 5 – The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like the most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and show off a broad colour spectrum, ranging from very light greyish-blue to a really dark teal. I really enjoyed using them. Personally I prefer the greyer looks of Vert de Gris. This ink shows a bit more character, and provides more of a gloomy feel that I really like. The accompanying drawing was done on HP photo paper, and on this medium Callifolio Olifants definitely shows its blue-er nature. For this round, both champions are again well matched. They both look beautiful, but this judge prefers the greyer gloominess of Vert de Gris over the more bluish tones of Olifants. A personal judgement, but still... this round goes to Vert de Gris on points. The Verdict Both inks are real jewels, that look beautiful on all types of paper. And it took a while to notice some worthwhile differences. But in the end, round 4 is the decisive one : Vert de Gris clearly dominates when water resistance comes into play. It also wins on points in some of the other rounds - but that's more of a personal impression of the judge. Both J.Herbin Vert de Gris and Callifolio Olifants are top quality inks. But put them next to each other, and the result is clear: Vert de Gris throws the better kicks and punches, and is the definite winner of this exciting fight.

http://www.jherbin.com/images/logo_ship.jpg J. Herbin was established in 1670. M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom. J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world. By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships). J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company headquarters in Paris. At the moment company belongs to Exaclair Inc, that has rights to brands like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Brause or G. Lalo. J. Herbin offers 30 standard colors: http://www.zany.co.nz/Images/Assets/2555912/6/J+Herbin+Fountain+Pen+Ink++Available+in+30+Colours.jpg Ambre de Birmanie Bleu Azur Bleu Myosotis Bleu Nuit Bleu Pervenche Bouquet d'Antan Bouton d'Or Cacao du Bresil Cafe des Iles Diabolo Menthe Eclat de Saphir Gris Nuage Larmes de Cassis Lie de The Lierre Sauvage Orange Indien Perle Noire Poussiere de Lune Rose Cyclamen Rose Tendresse Rouge Bourgogne Rouge Caroubier Rouge Opera Rouille d'Ancre Terre de Feu Vert Empire Vert Olive Vert Pre Vert Reseda Violette Pensee I received a sample of Bleu Pervenche from Michael R.. Thank you. Normally I don't use such colors too often. Once in a while I'll fill one of my pens with something similar and write with it at work. Bleu Pervenche is rather nice. Using the bottle would take me years so I won't have one, but this ink has it all if you like blue turquoise / azure inks. Ink Splash http://imageshack.com/a/img673/8616/USxqZo.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img538/9458/bhyKRp.jpg Oxford Recycled 90 g, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5903/6l0z0G.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img540/1756/JJvHZE.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/1676/KysCcU.jpg Franklin-Christoph notebook, Kaweco Sport Classic, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img673/7342/TVIpiJ.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2901/W7Wqq6.jpg Calendar, Kaweco Sport Classic, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img633/8071/QWYx9r.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img540/9321/BrgqJM.jpg

http://www.jherbin.com/images/logo_ship.jpg J. Herbin was established in 1670. M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom. J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world. By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships). J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company headquarters in Paris. At the moment company belongs to Exaclair Inc, that has rights to brands like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Brause or G. Lalo. J. Herbin offers 30 standard colors: http://www.zany.co.nz/Images/Assets/2555912/6/J+Herbin+Fountain+Pen+Ink++Available+in+30+Colours.jpg Ambre de Birmanie Bleu Azur Bleu Myosotis Bleu Nuit Bleu Pervenche Bouquet d'Antan Bouton d'Or Cacao du Bresil Cafe des Iles Diabolo Menthe Eclat de Saphir Gris Nuage Larmes de Cassis Lie de The Lierre Sauvage Orange Indien Perle Noire Poussiere de Lune Rose Cyclamen Rose Tendresse Rouge Bourgogne Rouge Caroubier Rouge Opera Rouille d'Ancre Terre de Feu Vert Empire Vert Olive Vert Pre Vert Reseda Violette Pensee I received a sample of Bleu Azur from Michael R.. Thank you. I hate the color. Also it's surprising that on ink splash and on kitchen towel green dominates while during writing blue becomes dominant. Ink Splash http://imageshack.com/a/img540/8220/sb1CGU.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img537/930/EHIer3.jpg Software Id http://imageshack.com/a/img537/6188/tKXTy6.jpg Oxford Recycled 90 g, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img673/1319/Y0k5Ge.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4661/wl219w.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/736/BKB4TL.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img673/7272/zaRHXP.jpg

Amethyste De L'Oural is the first ink in the new Jacques Herbin 1798 Inks Collection. 1798 commemorates a special year in the history of Herbin, and a turning point in the history of France. At the moment, there's plenty of shimmering inks on the market. Generally, I don't like them. Glitter irritates me. Marketingwise, though, J. Herbin still reigns. The story behind the inks, packaging anc choice of colors are first class. Neither Diamine nor De Atramentis are close. The ink comes in nice and quite comfortable glass bottle. What's not to like? A deep rich purple with quite good behavior. The ink shimmers. However I did my best to hide the glimmer. It was easy. I just let the ink sit for a day and it seems most of the particles went down. Some glitter can be seen but it's tolerable and allows me to enjoy ink color. The flow is good and so far I haven't experienced any clogging or dry starts. The ink feels wet and in broader nibs it behaves like a gusher. The ink is well saturated and has some water resistance to it - text is still visible after spending fifteen minutes in water. It's feels well-lubricated. It's rather slow to dry on Rhodia paper. Very mild feathering (there might be more with a wider/wetter nib) can be observed on bad quality paper. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Color ID Color range Fabriano, Lamy Al-Star, broad nib Tomoe River, Lamy Al-Star, broad nib Rhodia, Lamy Al-Star, broad nib Water resistance

As a huge fan of J. Herbin inks, I was thrilled to learn about five new standard inks introduced in 2018. I've got the bottles and I'll review them shortly. New inks come in standard J. Herbin glass bottles that contain 30 ml of the writing fluid. Ink splash BdP is great. I like bb inks, especially when they're more complex and this one fills the bill. It's saturated, it flows very well and has reasonable amount of lubrication (although it's nowhere near Sailor inks in this regard). Overall, it's a keeper. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Color ID Color range Fabriano, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Tomoe River, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Copy paper, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib Maruman, Hero 616, fine (?) nib Water resistance

J. Herbin - Vert de Gris La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. In 2018, J. Herbin introduced some new inks in their “La Perle des Encres” series. The one that caught my eye - thanks to visvamitra's review in this forum - is Vert de Gris. This ink looks to be right up my alley - a nice dark grey-leaning teal. This was later confirmed by one of Tas's famous ink ramblings. Vert de Gris is an ink that definitely deserves a place in my collection, so I went ahead and ordered a bottle. Upon arrival, I immediately started experimenting with the ink, and it really lived up to my high expectations. Vert de Gris has a gorgeous colour, definitely a dark teal, but with heavy grey undertones. This is an ink that's brewed for me! The ink looks beautiful on all types of paper, and is well saturated. As such it works great in the finer nibs I typically use. And it gets only better... even with fine nibs, there's tons of elegant shading present. You just have to love this ink! It went straight to my top three for 2018, just behind MB Swan Illusion Plume. The ink has quite satisfactory lubrication, even in drier pens like my Lamy Safari. With my wetter Pelikan pens the ink is heavily saturated, and writes like a dream. My only problem here is that I need to adapt my handwriting, and write a bit larger than the tiny scribbles I'm used to. Vert de Gris also has a wonderfully dynamic colour span. To illustrate this, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This beautifully illustrates the ink's broad colour range. This J. Herbin ink moves effortlessly from a very light teal-grey to a very dark, almost black teal. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved perfectly, with only minimal smearing. Water resistance is amazing - the ink effortlessly survived even longer exposures to water. Really well executed! This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that the grey components of the ink remain on the paper. If you need a water-resistant ink, Vert de Gris certainly fits the bill. This is an ink that will be at home in the workplace. Vert de Gris is also a fast-drying ink - with typical drying times in the 5-10 second range with my Lamy Safari (M-nib). I was surprised at this, because it totally feels like a really wet ink. As such, this ink is also suitable for lefties. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Vert de Gris looks really nice on both white and more yellow papers. On low-quality paper it exhibits a small amount of feathering, but all-in-all not too bad. With Moleskine paper, there is significant show-through and bleed-through - not unexpected for this fountain-pen unfriendly paper. Writing with different nib sizesThe picture below shows the effect of nib size on your writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen - my very wet Pelikan M101N Lizard with an M-nib that writes like a broad. Here the ink leaves a very saturated line (and I really need to write a few font-sizes bigger with this pen ;-) Related inksWith this review, I have changed my format for presenting related inks. My earlier presentations of related inks lacked enough information to be really useful. I therefore changed to a nine-grid format, with the currently reviewed ink at the center. The new format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. I hope that you'll find this way of presenting related inks more useful. It's a bit more work, but in my opinion worth the effort for the extra information you gain. Inkxperiment - Walk in the WoodsAs a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and these single-ink drawings often present a real challenge. It also gives you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this drawing I used 300 gsm rough watercolour paper. For some reason, grey-leaning inks inspire me to draw winter landscapes, so that's what you get here. I started off with heavily water-diluted ink for the lighter tones, gradually adding more ink for the darker parts. For the horizon line, the main tree and the walking couple, I used pure Vert de Gris, heavily saturating these subjects. The end result gives you a good idea of the colour span that Vert de Gris is capable of. ConclusionJ. Herbin Vert de Gris is a wonderful ink, that pleasantly surprised me on all fronts: georgeous colour, beautiful shading, good saturation - and all this even in finer nibs. Even better, the ink is relatively fast-drying and shows great water resistance. Combine all this, and you've got a winner. This ink went straight to my top three for 2018 ! I heartily recommend it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

J. Herbin - Lie de Thé La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. J. Herbin is probably best known for their inks in the "La Perle des Encres" series. In this review, the spotlight shines on one of the stars in this line-up: the gorgeous golden-brown Lie de Thé. This ink immediately grabs the attention with its wonderful colour - a golden brown with yellow-orange undertones. This is a soft brown with tons of character and a tremendous colour range, ranging from a whispy sepia-tone to almost black-brown when fully saturated. The ink looks great on most paper types (Moleskine excepted), and exhibits elegant shading without too much contrast between the light and darker parts. J.Herbin truly scored a winner with this one. The ink has quite satisfactory lubrication, even in drier pens like my Lamy Safari. With wetter pens like my Pelikan Smoky Quartz with B-nib, the ink leaves a very saturated brown line, and loses a bit of its golden qualities. To illustrate the broad colour span of Lie de Thé, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This beautifully illustrates the ink's broad colour range. This J. Herbin ink moves effortlessly from a very light sepia to a very dark, almost black brown. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved perfectly, with only minimal smearing. Water resistance is amazing - the ink effortlessly survived even longer exposures to water. Really well executed! This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that the grey components of the ink remain on the paper. If you need a water-resistant ink, Lie de Thé certainly fits the bill. This is an ink that will be at home in the workplace. Lie de Thé dries relatively fast on more absorbent papers (5-10 second range), but takes significantly longer on less absorbent paper. On Tomoe River e.g. the drying time is about 25 seconds with my relatively dry Lamy Safari with M-nib. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Lie de Thé looks great on both white and more yellowish paper. I didn't detect any noticeable feathering, not even on the notoriously bad Moleskine paper. With Moleskine paper, there is however significant show-through and bleed-through - not unexpected for this fountain-pen unfriendly paper. Writing with different nib sizesThe picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen - my very wet Pelikan M200 Smoky Quartz with a B-nib. Here the ink leaves a very saturated line, which leans towards black-brown, unfortunately taking away some of the golden-brown beauty that appears with less wet pens. Related inksTo compare Lie de Thé with related inks, I use a nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. I hope that you'll find this way of presenting related inks useful. It's a bit more work, but in my opinion worth the effort for the extra information you gain. Inkxperiment – Autumn VillageAs a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and these single-ink drawings often present a real challenge. It also gives you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this abstract autumn village, I got my inspiration from some pics I found on Pinterest. The drawing was done on 200 gsm cold-pressed watercolour paper. To create the different tones in the picture, I used different ink-water ratios (from 1:20 for the really light parts, to 1:2 for the darker parts). The rooftops were done with pure Lie de Thé. The end result gives you a good idea of what Lie de Thé is capable of in a more artistic setting. ConclusionJ. Herbin Lie de Thé is a gorgeous golden-brown ink, that pleasantly surprised me on all fronts: a beautiful colour, great shading, good saturation - and all this even in finer nibs. The ink also has great water resistance, which is a plus if you want to use it in the workplace. This is an ink that deserves a place in anybody's ink collection - recommended! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

Lierre Sauvage was my first green ink. I still like it and use it more or less regularly. The ink isn't extremely saturated but that's fine for me, I like it this way. If you like green inks you can check my comparison of 48 green inks. http://imageshack.com/a/img537/7125/AthRm1.jpg INFO Producer: J. Herbin Color: Lierre Sauvage Bottle: 30 ml, nice, not practical Saturation: good Flow: very good in all pens I've ever filled with it Shading: beauty INK SPLASH http://imageshack.com/a/img537/7453/BuXuRN.jpg DROP OF INK http://imageshack.com/a/img745/9185/wKwBmN.jpg CHROMATOGRAPHY http://imageshack.com/a/img745/5954/eXjEdw.jpg SOFTWARE IDENTIFICATION http://imageshack.com/a/img910/9012/tLJqkY.jpg COLOR RANGE (made with PS gradient tool) http://imageshack.com/a/img674/2565/ofszRi.jpg Calendar - TWSBI, 1,1 stub http://imageshack.com/a/img537/8592/OIjQFm.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img674/2854/sltQcw.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4458/2o5uAQ.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img905/9355/QgfNlB.jpg RHODIA http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4934/sKW7ZA.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img901/5100/sKgm8T.jpg And here's THICK layer of ink on Clairefontaine 120 g paper http://imageshack.com/a/img908/4900/CyGdOq.jpg

As a huge fan of J. Herbin inks, I was thrilled to learn about five new standard inks introduced in 2018. Additionally, there's new 1798 ink called Cornaline d'Egypte. It comes in an elegant glass bottle that contains 50 ml of the writing fluid. Ink splash The ocher tint of Carnelian of Egypt, inspired by gemstones, is nice. i like this kind of muted oranges. It brings warmth to the writing. Because the ink contains glittering particles it should be approached as a high-mainenance ink. Sounds scary, but if you won't leave a pen filled with it in a drawer for a year I wouldn't expect any trouble. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Color ID Color range Fabriano, TWSBI 580, stub 1.1 Copy paper, TWSBI 580, stub 1.1 Tomoe River, TWSBI 580, stub 1.1 Water resistance

Ink Shoot-Out : J.Herbin Poussière de Lune vs L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne Over the course of the past few years I have developed a taste for dusty, murky inks. Excellent colours for gloomy autumns and dark winter evenings... Two of the inks I love very much are J. Herbin’s Poussière de Lune and L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio’s Bourgogne. Both are nice dusty purples that fit very well with the autumn season. A perfect time to do a detailed comparison, and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where heavyweight inks do battle to determine who is the winner. In the left corner - the well-known J. Herbin champion – Poussière de Lune. In the right corner, also from France, the challenger from L’Artisan Pastellier – Bourgogne. Which champion will remain standing at the end of the fight ? Let's find out... Round 1 - First Impressions Both inks are wonderful murky purples. These are dark and moody inks, well suited to writing on gloomy autumn evenings. Count Vladimir Dracula would have loved them both, and so do I. There are some differences though: Poussière de Lune is much more saturated and lubricated – the pen flows over the paper and leaves a very well saturated line. Bourgogne writes drier with noticeable feedback from the paper. As a result, Bourgogne leaves a finer line with less saturation.Bourgogne is a darker purple with more grey-black undertones. This is a matter of personal taste, but I definitely prefer the darker purple of Bourgogne.Both inks appeal to me. Poussière de Lune is technically the better ink for writing, but colour-wise I really consider Bourgogne to have the edge. For this round, both champions are on par with each other. Let’s call it a draw. Round 2 - Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. J. Herbin’s Poussière de Lune wrote wonderfully, with very good ink-flow, and leaving a well saturated line. In contrast, Callifolio Bourgogne is much less lubricated, and leaves a consistenly thinner line on the paper. With normal writing, the colour difference between both inks is less apparent. Although Callifolio has more grey-black undertones, in everyday writing this is not immediately obvious. You need to look carefully to see the difference. Both inks also exhibit an aesthetically pleasing shading. Being dark inks, the shading is not very prominent – from dark to darker purple – but it is there, and gives extra character to the writing. For this round, Poussière de Lune clearly has the upper hand, and showed the best technique. A clear and definite win. Round 3 - Pen on Paper I added this round to indicate how the battling inks behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? In my opinion, Callifolio Bourgogne is the more able of the champions – It’s dustier and murkier on a wider variety of paper. The only exception is with Tomoe River paper, where I like the result of Poussière de Lune better. For this round, Bourgogne gets the upper hand and gets a win on points. Round 4 - Ink Properties Both inks have drying times in the 15-20 second range on the Rhodia paper. Both inks also do fine on the smudge test, where a moist Q-tip cotton swab is drawn across the text lines. There is some smearing, but the text remains perfectly legible. For the droplet test, I dripped water onto the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes, after which I removed the water droplets with a paper kitchen towel. Neither of the champions exhibits good water resistance – although with some patience you might be able to reconstruct the written word. Also Poussière de Lune leaves more of a purple mess on the page. The chromatography shows that both inks leave a greyish residue, with Poussière de Lune leaving more purple smearing. You can also see that Bourgogne is the darker of the two, with more grey-black undertones in the ink. Overall though – the chroma’s look very similar. In this round, both inks show more or less the same behavior, resulting in a draw. Round 5 - The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and the lack of water resistance allows for nice effects when using a water brush. But I must admit that I like L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne a lot better than J. Herbin Poussière de Lune. Bourgogne is much nicer to draw with, and has a much more pleasing dark dusty purple colour. The dark grey in this ink is what really makes it shine. In comparison, Poussière de Lune is too purple in appearance. This is of course a personal decision, but it is the judge’s conclusion that this round is clearly won by the more artistic ink – Callifolio Bourgogne. The Verdict Both inks find a proud place in my collection, and both are suitably gloomy inks for the dark autumn season. If you are in search of some dusty dark purples – no need to look any further. But counting the points, I find that L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne has a slight edge over J. Herbin Poussière de Lune. A fight needs a winner, and in this fight I grant the victory to Callifolio Bourgogne.

I like french inks. J. Herbin is good ink maker. Although I don't really like blue/blacks I find Bleu Nuit quite interesting. I won't use it as there's too many inspiring colors to write with, but I can recommend it to anyone who's looking for well behaved dark blue ink. Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img673/4569/YGxeRU.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4059/Uzid7a.jpg SOFTWARE ID http://imageshack.com/a/img907/3887/XFplvT.jpg Color Range http://imageshack.com/a/img746/8435/X7jdDW.jpg Kalendarz - Kaweco Classic Sport, eyedropper, blaszka B http://imageshack.com/a/img910/4448/Q0BcxO.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img633/2416/UbFubE.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img538/6332/wbr7fm.jpg

Poussiere de Lune was one of J. Herbin inks that were reformulated so time ago. As a result the ink doesn't fully remind me the sample I've once tried liked a lot. But still - the color is really, really nice. Let's start from the bottle. Nice but not practical. http://imageshack.com/a/img909/4053/hBDTHS.jpg INFO Producer: J. Herbin Color: Poussiere de Lune Bottle: 30 ml, nice, not practical Saturation: good Flow: very good in all pens I've ever filled with it Shading: beauty INK SPLASH http://imageshack.com/a/img746/8380/GwW8r8.jpg DROP OF INK http://imageshack.com/a/img538/46/5tqTwI.jpg CHROMATOGRAPHY http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5064/ISoFnQ.jpg SOFTWARE IDENTIFICATION http://imageshack.com/a/img673/4035/g3B3fg.jpg COLOR RANGE (made with PS gradient tool) http://imageshack.com/a/img912/7868/dectzJ.jpg Calendar - Kaweco Sport, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img661/7233/M0ppEp.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img673/4020/EJCsvk.jpg Good quality copy paper http://imageshack.com/a/img537/9381/BLc3uM.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img673/4020/EJCsvk.jpg

J. Herbin was established in 1670. M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom. J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world. By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships). J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company headquarters in Paris. That's what J. Herbin says about themselves. They've been on the market for quite some time and I guess they now what they're doing. Vert Olive is quite nice. Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img673/6687/YyMqPI.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img911/7262/wPBMd8.jpg Chromatograpghy http://imageshack.com/a/img907/2899/otKE1e.jpg Software ID: http://imageshack.com/a/img537/7290/F08Wsg.jpg Color range http://imageshack.com/a/img540/9730/XNVSEZ.jpg Calendar - Kaweco Sport Classic, eyedropper, broadf nib http://imageshack.com/a/img674/9140/BbLvyZ.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4931/r21wTz.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img908/8856/KxquTu.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img540/7543/8KNIz5.jpg

http://www.jherbin.com/images/logo_ship.jpg J. Herbin was established in 1670. M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom. J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world. By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships). J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company headquarters in Paris. At the moment company belongs to Exaclair Inc, that has rights to brands like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Brause or G. Lalo. J. Herbin offers 30 standard colors: http://www.zany.co.nz/Images/Assets/2555912/6/J+Herbin+Fountain+Pen+Ink++Available+in+30+Colours.jpg Ambre de Birmanie Bleu Azur Bleu Myosotis Bleu Nuit Bleu Pervenche Bouquet d'Antan Bouton d'Or Cacao du Bresil Cafe des Iles Diabolo Menthe Eclat de Saphir Gris Nuage Larmes de Cassis Lie de The Lierre Sauvage Orange Indien Perle Noire Poussiere de Lune Rose Cyclamen Rose Tendresse Rouge Bourgogne Rouge Caroubier Rouge Opera Rouille d'Ancre Terre de Feu Vert Empire Vert Olive Vert Pre Vert Reseda Violette Pensee Vert Empire isn't bad but I'm not really keen on this color. Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img540/1508/SFA5rM.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img673/6687/cVBqLi.jpg Wodoodporność http://imageshack.com/a/img673/7401/NokAyE.jpg Poljet, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img673/6144/gEdNca.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4636/8xEjmj.jpg Company notebook, Kaweco Sport Classic, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img537/1452/Cu0zzv.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img912/8792/vku6Dr.jpg

I like french inks. J. Herbin is good ink maker. Eclat de Saphir has great name and is well-behaved ink. However I'm not really into similar hues, so I'll leave this one to others Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img674/6945/EfEHKi.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img537/4241/cdLBwF.jpg SOFTWARE ID http://imageshack.com/a/img540/6990/cMCEib.jpg Color Range http://imageshack.com/a/img537/8972/tWEfVG.jpg Calendar - Kaweco Classic Sport, eyedropper, B nib http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4940/VHUTpA.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img911/6093/fXA9Ad.jpg