Ink Review: J. Herbin Orange Indien

[diarcher]

Orange Indien. An ink color I wanted to have for so long. An ink color that has been the topic of a lot of discussions about non-black and non-blue inks. This ink, together with the bottle of Larmes de Cassis was sent to me by Exaclair's VP Karen Doherty last year as another addition to the orange stuff in my Happy Halloween post. The box did not make it for the Halloween, and came much, much later. But it's here and so I'm writing a review.

 

 

This ink reminds me of yummy sapin-sapin*, fragrant Clementines (Mandarin orange), The Body Shop's Satsuma soap bars and warm summer sunsets...

 

 

I love the fact that the makers of J. Herbin inks truly pay attention to details in their product packaging and presentation. J. Herbin ink boxes are elegantly designed, with a separate icon for each ink color. Orange Indien has an elephant icon and I love it!

 

 

The Herbin ink bottles are also very unique - each bottle has an integrated pen rest, but it's too small to hold even medium-sized pens. Here, my copper Esterbrook SJ barely fits into the pen rest. Despite that, the boxes and bottles are always easy to store in a box or cabinet because they are compact.

 

 

Orange Indien is another excellent ink from J. Herbin. I am very eager to try it when I received it, and I wasn't disappointed. I wrote a full page journal entry using it and the color did not hurt my eyes. Yes, the color jumps off the page at first, because of its bright color, but it's not so intensely bright that it will be difficult to read. It has excellent flow, as all Herbin inks are, and significant shading is seen when used to write with broad or italic nibs. There is even minor shading in the lines I wrote using the Parker Jotter. It may not be very visible in the photos.

 

The ink looks darker in white (Rhodia) paper than in the off-white, ivory (Scribe) paper. It is even darker in the lines I wrote using the Parker Jotter pen than the Manuscript Calligraphy pen. Shading can be seen in the lines of text written with the Manuscript pen.

 

On the ivory-colored paper, Orange Indien looked a bit pale, and it shows traces of yellow in the orange. The lines written with the Parker Jotter are thicker, but not darker than the Manuscipt-written text. There is more uniformity in color here, between the Manuscript and Parker written text, but I'm not sure if that can be attributed to the paper color, or the fact that Scribe paper absorbed more ink. The only thing I saw here that There is considerable feathering and bleed in the Scribe paper.

 

Here is the back page of Scribe paper with significant bleed when I used the medium-nibbed Parker Jotter. There is no feathering and bleed on the Rhodia paper, though.

 

 

Since I got another orange ink on my stash I thought of doing a comparison. Orange Indien and Caran d'Ache Saffron are two brightly-colored inks that will never fail to lift the mood of any note, letter, or card written with them. The two inks differ in their brightness and tones, as Orange Indien has more yellow to show, compared to the CdA Saffron which has more red.

 

 

Lastly, to complete this review, I tested the Orange Indien's drying time, against two slow-drying inks on medium-nibbed Parkers. I have not done this test before but I felt like doing it, so here it is. In case the text tags I added is not legible, the orange lines belong to Orange Indien, which on Rhodia paper took more than 30 seconds to dry. Next to Orange Indien, the lines belong to Diamine Burnt Sienna, written using a Parker Rialto. This ink dried in less than 25 seconds. The third set of lines belong to Private Reserve Copper Burst on a Parker 25 pen. It took almost a minute for Copper Burst to dry.

 

 

The other test I should have done but didn't is the water soak test. Perhaps I'll do one in my future reviews, but I held on for now. I don't think I need to do that yet, as my notebooks, journals and such are not that vulnerable to water and anything wet. I think the premise here is that if it's my Journal, or my "Notes" notebook, or my Starbucks daily planner, I am sure to take very good care of them, especially what's written inside. In a country like the Philippines where it rains for more than half of the year, I have learned how to think of ways to protect my stuff (read: laptop, notebooks, pens) from water. But I'll do watersoak tests in my future ink reviews.

 

A 30ml bottle of J. Herbin Orange Indien sells for US$10 at The Goulet Pen Company and PhP475 at Scribe Writing Essentials. (I have no affiliation with both companies, though.) (Same review is posted on my blog Rants of The Archer, http://archer-rantings.blogspot.com)

 

 

* From Wikipedia: Sapin-sapin is a layered glutinous rice and coconut dessert in Filipino cuisine. It is made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, and coloring with coconut flakes sprinkled on top. Sapin-sapin means "layers" and the dessert is recognizable for its layers, each colored separately. It has been referred to as "a blancmange of several colored layers, sweetened and flavored with coconut milk".

Edited February 4, 2010 by diarcher

[Ed Ronax]

Excellent review, thanks.

[jorgerp1]

Very nice review and the ink looks GREAT (I need it!)

[Triplet Mom]

What an EXCELLENT review! I loved all of the great pictures, the writing samples, and the beautiful descriptions. You've captured this inks wonderful qualities with perfection! I look forward to more reviews from you in the future.

 

Warm regards,

Lynne

[lapis]

Yes, an excellent review. Especially all scans of physical matters like bleeding an drying. I must say, it really is fun to read a new review after I've purchased and tried out the same ink myself. Anf then hear what somebody else finds out. A beautiful, very intense orange.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[ailleurs]

Ok, you've convinced me to make this my next Herbin purchase. Wow is that gorgeous.

 

Excellent review I especially appreciate the scans of the show through and drying times.

[LWB]

I cann't add anything to what has already been said....great review (fantastic photos).

[Enai]

Excellent review!

 

I recently got this ink also, and it's a keeper. It reminds of of an orange popsicle. It's a truly delicious orange--looks good enough to eat!

[jgrasty]

Excellent review, thanks! I use this ink everyday in a Sheaffer Snorkel in my engineering notebook to highlight actions I need to take. I love the color and the shading this ink provides.

[reprieve]

This is a great review!

 

Orange Indien looks like a lovely orange. It's one of the few Herbin inks I have yet to try--will have to pick up a bottle soon!

Edited February 5, 2010 by reprieve

[GouletPens]

Great review, and thanks for the shoutout! I just ordered some more of this ink because I know everyone's gonna want some now

[Signum1]

Excellent italic writing. Thanks for the review of this orange ink.

[TMac]

Great review. Very thorough. I have not inked Orange Indien in some time. This review makes me want to ink a pen this weekend!

[Ondina]

Very nice review, is always so nice to see the same ink on white and off-white paper. Thank you.

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

This is the orange ink that I use as my fall and halloween ink.

[Ghost Plane]

I use this all the time. The shading in an IB or BB is glorious

[gregamckinney]

I've always had bad luck with OI. It is too washed out for regular writing.

When I've used it, the color on the page is nowhere near as vivid as in your example.

 

Hmm. I wonder if I got a bad bottle.

 

greg

[diarcher]

I've always had bad luck with OI. It is too washed out for regular writing.

When I've used it, the color on the page is nowhere near as vivid as in your example.

 

Hmm. I wonder if I got a bad bottle.

 

greg

 

 

Greg, I'm sorry to hear that. Have you tried using it on a different paper-pen combination? Some of my pens write light, though they have medium nibs, and some write very dark, solid lines, despite having fine nibs. Also consider the paper you are using. In my experience with the samples I used in my post, the Scribe paper absorbed more ink but the final look when it dried is lighter than the one on the Rhodia paper. I hope this helps you in any way.

 

Cheers!

 

Clem

[Mauricio]

Great review ... and your handwriting it gorgeous. Thanks for sharing with us!