eclat de saphir Archives

J. Herbin Inks

July 16, 2010 By Matt 5 Comments

J. Herbin inks have to be some of my favorite fountain pen inks available. J. Herbin inks come in 30 beautiful colors. Currently, I have ten of the J. Herbin Inks. I have purchased a few of these, but most have come directly to me from Karen Doherty. Exaclair, is the US distributor for J. Herbin Inks… [Please note, in no way does receiving these inks to test, inhibit the neutrality of the reviews.] Thanks again for the inks Karen! [Read more…]

Matt

Matt is a Systems Development Director for a multinational franchise. Matt has lived and worked in Hawaii, Chicago, South Florida and currently resides outside of Atlanta. He enjoys his hobbies including Technology, Gadgets/EDC, Fountain Pens, Wetshaving, Clocks, Antiques & Coffee. He even roasts his own coffee weekly.

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J Herbin Eclat De Saphir Ink Review

December 22, 2009 By Matt 2 Comments

J Herbin Eclat De Saphir [full size photo] – This is yet another beautiful color by J Herbin… I would have to say right off the bat, Eclat De Saphir doesn’t fail to satisfy. In the Esterbrook I used for this review, was a pretty dulled down 1550 nib. This nib can be rather scratchy, it has a sweet spot, but is sometimes difficult to work with. Regardless of the nib, the ink is sheer awesomeness. It flows wonderfully and is very well behaved. (No show / bleed through / feathering). This pen and ink combo produces a nice line that is a bit wet. There doesn’t seem to be too much shading with this Esty, but in my 9048 flex nib, this ink really shines. Flex pops this ink really nicely. The ink also takes a tiny bit to dry at about 7 seconds or so, at least that’s about what it took to dry on my Hammermill LaserPrint test paper.

The qtip test shows the ink to be similar to the Montblanc Royal Blue Ink Review I recently did. But in everyday writing, the Eclat De Saphir appears to be darker and less purplish.

This ink is very pretty, subtle nuances pop based on the nib & pen used. It’s a fantastic ink that I use pretty often. I highly recommend it!

Here are some of the other J Herbin Inks I have reviewed.

J Herbin was established in 1670, when Louis XIV, the Sun King, was 32 years old.

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-logo

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 archives in Paris.

This ink was purchased from: Peartreepens.com

Matt

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Montblanc Royal Blue Ink Review

December 21, 2009 By Matt 2 Comments

Montblanc Royal Blue [full size photo] – I inked this Royal Blue from Montblanc in a Sheaffer Stylist. This is an interesting pen, in case you didn’t already know, it actually writes a Medium and Fine line. How? If you write normally the Sheaffer Stylist give you a Medium line. If you flip it over and write upside down, it writes a Fine line (although it’s much more scratchy).

Ok, back to the ink…

I feel this Montblanc, is pretty much a color that falls in what I would call – a standard blue. It is a nice everyday blue with a hint of purple in it. It is very nice in this Sheaffer. Montblanc did a great job with the properties of this ink… the flow is amazing, it very lubricating, lays a nice wet line (in this Sheaffer Stylist) no problems with startups, no show or bleed through or feathering for that matter. I’d say it’s a rather well behaved ink. It also dries pretty fast, considering how wet a line this Sheaffer lays down on the Hammermill test paper. It also, has a bit of shading which is nice.

I would have to say, that this is one of my favorite standard blue inks that I have. I like it as much as the J Herbin Eclat De Saphir ink. It’s a well rounded pretty blue, that I would recommend to anyone!

Egad! I apologize, I just noticed a spelling error in the Ink Sample form. Sorry about that!

Matt

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Pear Tree Pens Ink Sampler

November 23, 2009 By Matt Leave a Comment

I recently purchased two ink samplers from Pear Tree Pens. If you haven’t checked out their site, I recommend you do so. What is pretty cool about this retailer is that they sell an ink sampler. For $4.99 you get to choose four inks to try. They bottle up approximately 1cc of each of the four inks you specify and vacuum seal the package. This is a great way to try a few inks without buying full bottles.

Pear Tree Pen ink samples

Seeing as how I am new to the Fountain Pen world, I decided to order two sample packs. They consisted of:

Aurora Blue
Diamine Turquoise
J Herbin Eclat De Saphir
J Herbin Rose Cyclamen
J Herbin Vert Pre
Noodler’s Baystate Blue
Noodler’s Dragon’s Napalm
Noodler’s Habanero

Pear Tree Pens Sample Pack

Pear Tree Pens Sample pack

Yesterday, I decided to flush some of my pens and fill a couple with the sample colors. Resistance is futile. You will enjoy these inks.

First up, Diamine Turquoise. Very pretty color. I filled it in one of my inexpensive Hero’s #329.

Diamine Turquoise & Hero 329

Next up, Noodler’s Baystate Blue, I filled this in a Platinum Preppy. Baystate colors have a higher alkaline content and should not be mixed with other inks. They have also been said to damage certain fountain pens. Since this is the first time using it, I used a $3 Preppy – just in case. The color is extremely bright cobalt blue – very intense I can see why people would risk an FP with this stuff. It is magnificent.

Noodler's Baystate Blue & Platinum Preppy

J Herbin Rose Cyclamen, I love this color – very vivid and it flowed very well in my Pilot 78g. While not an everyday color, it makes me smile.

J Herbin Rose Cyclamen & Pilot 78g

J Herbin Vert Pre – This is an awesome color, and I foresee it being in my ink rotation for a long time. I love this lime green. Its soft and bright all at the same time. My wife didn’t like it at first but its growing on her.

J Herbin Vert Pre & Hero 330

Aurora Blue. Not as brilliant as the Noodler’s Baystate Blue… But its close, also a much safer ink to play around with. Its a little dark in this photo but I used a vintage Esterbrook and it flows pretty wet. I would say this is a pretty nice well rounded blue.

Aurora Blue & Esterbrook LJ

Once I run these colors through, I will reink the pens with the remaining colors. I personally cannot wait to try the J Herbin Eclat De Saphir. Something tells me I am going to love it.

Here is a link to all the full sized images: flickr

Matt

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