These Are a Few of My Favorite Greens

The Sound of Music’s My Favorite Things floated my way when I thought about comparing the green inks in my current rotation. J. Herbin Vert Empire, Private Reserve Avacado (sp.), and Montblanc Racing Green are delightfully well-matched to their pens but might not be as wonderful in other models. It took a long time to discover two of these pairings and the third was entirely by luck. Oh, if you like flex, Vert Empire shades beautifully in an Esterbrook ‘J’ with a 9128 extra-fine flex nib. So there is that, too.

Dark Green Fountain Pen Ink

My complete list would also include Sailor Uranari Green, J. Herbin Vert Olive, Diamine Emerald, and Iroshizuku shin-ryoku. These inks work well for me in lots of pens so they are worth mentioning as well.

Probably the most versatile of the bunch are Diamine Emerald and MB Racing Green. PR Avacado dries a little slower than the other two but can be easier to find in the U.S.

There is one caveat when it comes to green ink. I’ve found nearly all of them change, whether lighter or darker, softer or bolder, depending on the pen and especially in a scan. If ever there was a color to which YMMV applies, green is it.

Any one of these inks could be a good addition to your collection but if you like green as much as I do, one just won’t be enough.

J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil – A Change of Shade

Have you ever thought the ink from a new bottle just didn’t look like your last purchase? Or have you wondered if a formulation changed without notice? Well, your eyes weren’t deceiving you if you questioned the color of J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil.

Thanks to a Twitter exchange with Laura, a/k/a Phthalo on Fountain Pen Network, and a comparison swatch, the alteration came to light.

J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil Comparison

No question there is a difference in color. Karen Doherty at Exaclair offered to check with J. Herbin regarding that difference and allowed me to publish the reply.

Here is the (translated) answer from France – “Cacao du Bresil ink ref H130/45= Indeed Herbin confirmed that the change in color is due to a new colorant added; the older one was unbalanced and unstable.”

Certainly the new formula has more black to it and could well pass for black or dark gray in some lighting conditions. This cool brown isn’t highly saturated so the color of the paper comes through in a charming way. Tests on G. Lalo Verge de France Rose Stationery proved especially interesting.

J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil

Cacao du Brésil is a bit dry and might tame a free-flowing pen though I haven’t put that to the test. There’s a small amount of shading so it might be lovely for drawing but it is also conservative enough for business. In a black pen it could do double duty at your desk and for a little sketching during lunch hour. Versatility is always a plus.

If you have been wedded to black ink but think there might be more to ink than basic black, J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil might be just the thing to make the transition. If you like bright and lively colors, Cacao du Brésil may not be exciting on its own. However, paired with the right paper, it might be a good addition to your ink rotation. For five years it has slipped in and out of use here. I never traded it as I have many other inks and that’s actually a pretty good recommendation.

J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil

New Limited Edition Pens and Inks from Pilot/Iroshizuku

It must be that time of year for pen companies to birth new products since both Sailor and Pilot have released limited edition items recently. While Sailor has developed the smoke green Pro Gear pictured below with its own ink, Pilot has created three gorgeous inks for Ito-ya in Japan along with three 2009 limited edition colors for the Grance. Not a dud in the bunch.

iroshizuku fukagawa-nezu

iroshizuku shimbashi-iro

iroshizuku edo-murasaki

2009 LE Pilot Grance in Brown

2009 LE Pilot Grance in Water Blue

2009 LE Pilot Grance in Spring Green

Another Sailor Pro Gear for My Wish List

The BUNZO Aizumi Store has commissioned a very limited edition of a unique new Sailor Pro Gear. With a run of just twenty-five pieces, this smoke green model will only be available in Japan which is too bad since it is one sweet looking fountain pen. The green ink that goes with it looks yummy as well.

Smoke Green Sailor Pro Gear

Sailor Ink - Limited Edition

Where is that Pen Fairy when you need her?

Quo Vadis Habana Ink Test

This one speaks for itself.

Quo Vadis Habana Ink Test

J. Herbin Vert Olive

J. Herbin Vert Olive languished in my collection for months before it found the perfect pen. That is the long and short of the story – long time to find the right kind of pen and a very short list of pens that suit it really well. Now that represents my preferences in inks and your story may differ.

Maybe you will like it in a fine nib. The color was soft and pale in my fine and extra-fine Japanese pens but more robust in a free-flowing Levenger True Writer. While I dallied with lots of other inks, the bottle just gathered dust. I share my office with several birds so that doesn’t take long. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I decided to follow my own advice and loaded Vert Olive into a pen with a wide nib, the Lamy Joy 1.1mm italic. The color was better than good and improved still more when I slowed my strokes allowing more ink to flow onto the paper. Now this was the green I’d hoped for all along.

On white paper Vert Olive has blue undertones and on a yellow based paper it has yellow undertones. Either way it is a bright olive color rather than the drab olive green that I associate with the military. I would have liked it either way. This is not a high saturation or high contrast ink but one that is very easy to read. It would be suitable for margin notes as well as correspondence and can hit a calm and relaxing note for journal writing.

To round out the characteristics, there is good shading and flow but not much lubrication which means that your nib may talk to you. I don’t mind since on occasion my birds tilt their heads and listen intently trying to catch the little squeaks coming from my bird/pen. However, people visiting my workspace have yet to comment on that extra bird so it isn’t loud enough to offend others.

J. Herbin Vert Olive Written Sample

Vert Olive did not reproduce very accurately but here’s the best my scanner could muster. Light behind an image, as you find on a monitor, seems to bring out a yellow that doesn’t appear on paper. I’ve attempted to compensate for that issue. Check out more reviews and scans from Biffybeans and La Plume Etoile. Each of us achieved a slightly different shade in our images of Vert Olive, a product of technology and not the ink itself. The true color is probably somewhere in between. On my monitor the image at J. Herbin is the closest to my written sample so go by that if you are uncertain.

Need to work on my letter forms but you can still get the idea from my written sample. J. Herbin Vert Olive is a lovely olive color but needs the right pen to reach its full potential. Wait. Isn’t that true of most inks? Duh!

In Praise of J. Herbin Perle Noire

Stephanie of Spiritual Evolution of the Bean did a comparison of black inks this week that finally got me to ink a pen with J. Herbin Perle Noire. It’s been on my shelf for months, unloved, since I’m inspired by colored inks. Being inspired means more writing and that’s the whole point. Sometimes it pays to rethink old ways and last night was perfect for being inspired by the most mundane color of ink, basic black.

For the last several days I have been testing paper. Not as much fun as testing ink but paper, ink and pen are a team and if one player lags in performance, it drags down the score for the whole game. As I was looking for yet another ink to test on a paper that should have been performing far better than it was, Stephanie’s post nudged me in the direction of something black. Perle Noire had received only a dip test when it arrived. Nothing special, just a solid black like many other black inks I’ve tried over the years. Time to take that dusty box off the shelf and load my black marble Levenger True Writer F with what I expected to be a satisfactory ink for yet another disappointing test.

Have you guessed where this is going? Indeed, Perle Noire performed beautifully on the paper for which a stellar reputation seemed quite undeserved. That led to another paper that might not deserve the adulation it has amassed, Moleskine. So I grabbed my trusty grid style cahier (long ago dedicated to ink testing) and wrote two short lines, the name of the pen and the name of the ink. That’s all it took to see that for the first time in ages, I had discovered a pen and ink that showed almost no feathering on Moleskine paper. Imagine that! Now that’s an almost so don’t expect perfection if you try this test at home. But it is a very, very acceptable performance. Plus Perle Noire dries very quickly unlike the Noodler’s Black I used to write with in my Moleskine days.

So now I have a black ink for when only basic black will do, J. Herbin Perle Noire. Okay, it’s a duh moment not a eureka moment but I’m happy with my discovery anyway.

Iroshizuku Ink Swatches

Just in case you have yet to see Pilot’s Iroshizuku ink, check out these swatches on Pilot’s website. Unfortunately, they are not offered in the U.S. except by a vendor or two and a few eBay sellers who have them for sale at exorbitant prices. However, for a dedicated inkophile, that won’t be a deterent.

If over $20 per bottle seems as outrageous to you as it does to me, J. Herbin and Diamine have plenty of colors to match any rainbow. Both brands are sold by vendors who if not local will at least ship worldwide.

So go ahead and add some color to your collection. It’s a great way to brighten your day and refresh your interest. Pink ink anyone?

Inky Chart

Ever wondered whether an ink is darker than another or more colorful or even more red or more blue? Then this chart from RMImaging.com is for you. The 2001 book used as source material contained 269 inks and that’s no inconsiderable number. But inkdom has grown significantly since then so you might not find your favorite ink on the list including anything from Diamine or Noodler’s. Still there’s plenty to learn about inks that have been around for a number of years and continue to be staples in many collections, mine included.

Ink, Paper, and Moleskine

Recently I was asked about ink performance and brands of paper. Color ranks number one for me but performance matters. After much experimentation and frustration with inferior brands of paper, I settled on a few favorites that work well with virtually any pen or ink. Sticking with the same paper adds consistency to my test results and using good paper eliminates feathering and bleed-through.

The remaining key issue for me is drying time. Generally the higher the color saturation, the slower an ink dries. Using a very fine nib compensates slightly by laying down a smaller amount of ink. So I tend to use more highly saturated inks in fine and extra fine nibs and I know what to expect when I don’t.

The paper that seems to evoke the strongest opinions is made by Moleskine. Love it or hate it Moleskine says “cool” better than anything currently on the market. Admittedly the journals are handy and come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The buff paper and pale blue lines make for a very classy, vintage-looking journal.

Moleskine paper is highly unpredictable though and not always friendly to fountain pen ink. Sticking a blotter paper or any absorbent paper between pages reduces smudging but feathering is a given with most inks. However, Noodler’s Black, Legal Lapis (a Pendemonium exclusive) and J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune with a vintage Parker “51″ worked well for me during my Moleskine phase. If you’ve discovered good pairings, post a comment. That’s information lots of folks could use.

The sketchbook of Vincent van Gogh (1888–1890)