J Herbin - Caroube De Chypre

[missuslovett]

Well. This is my first effort at reviewing an ink and I'm starting with something spectacular. The latest 1670 J Herbin metallic, Caroube De Chypre (Cyprus Carob), is a robust brown/purple, pretty much the exact colour of the very strange fruit of the Carob tree. It's a kind of pea, apparently! The ink itself is very wet and easy flowing, I'd say towards the red end of purple. It's not a shader, though, of course it sheens like crazy with plenty of gold after a good shake. I have a very ambivalent attitude towards metallic inks. Some I love - Rouge Hematite; Brandy Dazzle (which have some subtlety in colour shading, rather than just sparkle) and some really only show their best when used with dip pens and great flex - Emerald of Chivor, especially. For me, at least, I think Caroube De Chypre is going to fall into the latter category. A great, big, fat show off, that's a bit too gloopy for every day but great to have on the ink shelf for a bit of showbiz.

 

See what you think...

 

 

[visvamitra]

Thank you for nice presentation of the ink. Personally I think it's the least interesting ink in 1670 line).

[missuslovett]

Agree. I wish it were...brownier.

[jasonchickerson]

Thank you for nice presentation of the ink. Personally I think it's the least interesting ink in 1670 line).

Surely that would be stormy grey. Boring and a terrible performer.

[Cryptos]

I rather like Stormy Grey. I think it has a kind of subtlety to it, even without the sparkly bits. Of course if one doesn't like greys in general...

[lgsoltek]

Surely that would be stormy grey. Boring and a terrible performer.

 

I agree. That feathering is horrible.

[Cryptos]

I don't get any feathering either...

[dapprman]

I'm another for whom Storm Grey works fine - I use it with a broader nib and tend to use it for cards, thank you letters, etc.

[Cryptos]

I literally just jammed this nib into an Esterbrook dipless, dipped in the ink, wrote and photographed. All the flaws of my handwriting exposed, for shame, but...

 

 

 

I don't get any feathering on Tomoe River paper either.

 

Apologies to the OP for slight off topic deviation.

[inkstainedruth]

Agree. I wish it were...brownier.

 

Curious as to what you mean by that. Is it too red-leaning? Too purple/maroon? Something else?

I just ordered a sample of Caroube de Chypre. I tend not to like red-leaning browns, but am hoping (from some of the other scans I've seen) that the gold combats that somewhat.

As for some of the other comments. I have the "original" version of Rouge Hematite (with the gold flakes), which (to my great surprise ) I like a lot. And I LOVE Stormy Grey. I actually bought a full bottle without bothering to get a sample first, after seeing a written exemplar at DCSS a couple of years ago. I've tried both versions of Bleu Ocean (the original, without the gold, was really over-hyped IMO; the later version is prettier, but I already have a bottle of Diamine's Shimmertastic Blue Pearl, so I didn't really need a full bottle of Bleu Ocean. Emerald of Chivor I'm passing on -- I didn't like the underlying color (and no amount of gold dust and red sheen could hide that... ).

So I'll see whether Caroube de Chypre is worth a full bottle or not when the sample comes in....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[penultress]

Thank you for the writing sample! I really like this ink. I am waiting for my order to arrive this week.

 

I also really like Stormy Grey - I do like saturated greys - but Emerald of Chivor still needs some work. I don't work well with green in general but I really like the sheen!

[missuslovett]

 

Curious as to what you mean by that. Is it too red-leaning? Too purple/maroon? Something else?

I just ordered a sample of Caroube de Chypre. I tend not to like red-leaning browns, but am hoping (from some of the other scans I've seen) that the gold combats that somewhat.

As for some of the other comments. I have the "original" version of Rouge Hematite (with the gold flakes), which (to my great surprise ) I like a lot. And I LOVE Stormy Grey. I actually bought a full bottle without bothering to get a sample first, after seeing a written exemplar at DCSS a couple of years ago. I've tried both versions of Bleu Ocean (the original, without the gold, was really over-hyped IMO; the later version is prettier, but I already have a bottle of Diamine's Shimmertastic Blue Pearl, so I didn't really need a full bottle of Bleu Ocean. Emerald of Chivor I'm passing on -- I didn't like the underlying color (and no amount of gold dust and red sheen could hide that... ).

So I'll see whether Caroube de Chypre is worth a full bottle or not when the sample comes in....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Brownier... I suppose I meant I would like it to be a little earthier and a little less juicy fruit. I diluted it experimentally to see what happened and it's actually quite pink underneath all that. Perhaps it's too subtle for me. I think I may have a problem with purples anyway!

 

I agree with you about Emerald of Chivor. I think I love the red sheen more than I do the actual colour. It's great with dip nibs when you can get to show it off properly. I'll have to try some Stormy Grey. I rather like Diamine Sparkling Shadows, though I haven't invested in a whole bottle yet.