The Pen Addict

Review: J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

When I first saw J. Herbin's Ambre de Birmanie fountain pen ink, I thought this would be perfect for taking on a vacation to the Mediterranean.  Can't you just see Italian villas and Spanish castles in this shade?

 

 Here I am in the wet, green, cloudy Pacific Northwest, but in the end I'm still finding this color very useful and really  a joy to work with.  It implies a sunny day even if it's not literal...

It's dark enough in a fountain pen to work well for line drawings...

You can use it in a brush pen to add mid-tone.

Brush it over some fountain pen inks and it will make mud... but over others it makes magic.

This ink is great in fountain pen or brush pen. I see the most potential for use in sketching, but if your pen lays down a nice dense line, it's beautiful for writing as well.  

Review: Noodler's Antietam ink

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

Antietam (pronounced something like an-TEE-dum) is not one of the more frequently appreciated colors of Noodler's ink, but I'm a big fan.  This ink is generally described as looking "antique" or like dried blood. It caught my eye while searching for a rich, red-tinted brown, and it fits the bill very, very well.  

This particular color of Noodler's isn't widely available but right now it does appear to be stocked by both Writer's Bloc and Goulet Pens. 

 

Because the color has such strong shading, it changes a lot depending on what you're using it with - your paper and especially your pen make a huge difference.  In general, the thicker it is laid on and the less absorbent your paper, the more the ink moves towards an extremely rich deep red.  A lighter layer can look like rich orange or thin tomato, depending on the paper and pen.  Some paper pushes it towards brown.

Here's the ink looking like thin tomato, loaded into the cartridge of a Kuretake Hair Brush pen and applied to cream-toned Aquabee watercolor paper. While I don't love the tomato shade, the layering options it allows for are quite fun.

 

Here it is looking like a rich, antique brown, loaded in a Lamy Safari and laid down in a Moleskine Sketchbook.  These are salvaged architectural pieces sketched last December during a Portland Urban Sketchers expedition to the Architectural Heritage Center.

 

This was on vintage accounting paper, applied in combination with a Kuretake Fudegokochi gray pen and lots of water (Antietam is a water soluble ink).

These two animal sketches are from the same Moleskine notebook, but the giraffe page had a coat of red acrylic on the opposite side which may have affected the ink absorption... which affected the ink color. I think that's why the giraffe looks a deeper red, while the sloth is a little bit orange.

The Noodler's flexible nib pen (review forthcoming) was a great match for the Antietam ink - check out the gorgeous shading on the sloth's fur. It's a little like what you get from a bamboo dip pen.

 

Antietam ink has a huge amount of character and a lot to say - all these sketches show different tones, but all the ink came out of the same bottle.  I recommend this ink most highly for use in line drawings using a pen that allows line variation, in which case it adds a lot of energy and shading without the need to add watercolors.  

If you do want to use it in combination with other colors, it will take some caution as the Antietam is strong and can clash with your regular palette, and of course be careful adding water since it is not waterproof - but there's a lot of room for adventure here, and the gorgeousness of the color will make you want to find new ways to use it.

Review: J. Herbin Lie de Thé Fountain Pen Ink

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

Not long ago I started exploring brown pen options in the post Brown Pen Battle. Now I add for consideration a fountain pen option:  J. Herbin's Lie de Thé (Tea Brown) ink.

J. Herbin offers some gorgeous, brilliant, and intriguing colors, and Lie de Thé is no exception.  I found it to be a very pleasing brown tone that seems to dance between all its constituent colors so that sometimes I see more green or yellow in it and sometimes red.  The above strokes were made with a brush;  I've also loaded the ink into my Pilot Penmanship and Hero M86 Chinese Calligraphy Pen, shown here with a couple of comparison colors.

 
Of course, the J. Herbin inks are not waterproof, and therefore are not going to be ideal for all uses. Still, oh man, what a lovely color.  

My only other brown-ish ink right now is Noodler's Antietam, which is actually more of a red than a brown. It's an extremely beautiful color that I've tried to use as if it were brown but the red can easily overwhelm a drawing or clash with watercolors that get added later. This J. Herbin brown, on the other hand, is beautifully balanced.  It works great as a brown that can play nice with most other colors, adding rather than competing.  It doesn't demand the spotlight but it's willing to step up when needed. 

Here you can see that the color works gorgeously both for line and with added water. There is no watercolor used in this drawing - just the Lie de Thé and a waterbrush, along with a gray brush pen for the distant buildings (see my next review, up soon.)  

There are so many beautiful colors of ink to use, but a well-balanced brown gets special points for versatility.  This ink is gorgeous on buff paper and white, with water and without, with added colors or on its own. If you're looking for a water soluble brown ink to sketch with, that will work for a lot of subjects and a variety of styles, the Lie de Thé will not disappoint.

 

 
 
 

Review: Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen - Super Fine

The Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen in it's brand new packaging glory.

After becoming obsessed with Esterbrooks, I've felt a need to acquire an Esterbrook desk pen set. I really wanted to try out desk pens and see if I could really use it daily. While this never happened, I got a Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen instead. This pen is particular in that it comes with a cartridge of carbon ink, which is waterproof.

The pretty gold-plated stainless steel nib of the fountain pen. It has the signature Platinum "P" logo.

The Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen writes as smoothly as a fountain pen should and solidly. It has a 14K platinum nib and takes ink with cartridges. After the ink empties, I'm pretty sure you can just take a syringe and fill it up perhaps. What's interesting about the cartridge though is that it is stopped by a metal bead which plugs the whole of where the ink comes out. Just stick the cartridge in the pen, push with some force, and then the bead is dislodged and the ink is flowing. The pen feels very nice in my hand and looks very elegant with its elongated body. The cap feels a bit cheaper, but this doesn't mean that it not good quality. I guess it is because it comes with a stand to put the desk pen in, but I did not buy it and felt that the cap was sufficient for me.

The fountain pen tested on Clairefontaine 90g paper.

I found that I really loved the carbon ink! It's waterproof and it dries reasonably fast compared to the majority of fountain ink pens. However, this carbon ink is lighter in pigment and is more so a dark grey than black. And also, because it is carbon ink, it is not suitable for all types of fountain pens and may clog up some of the finer more delicate ones (or so I have heard). 

However, I found that I cannot ever posses a desk pen. In the beginning, I was able to use it daily and it was nice. Yet, as time went by and I became swamped with school things, I used it less and less.. and it made a big mess as the ink pooled to the bottom since I heard that a desk pen has to be stored pointed down.

Another view of the Carbon Ink Pen and the cartridge it comes with.

In conclusion, I found that this pen is not for me. At all. I've realized that I really do need portability for me to actually use pens (daily), especially since I am not always at my desk. But, the carbon ink is really interesting and some people may be able to find good uses for it, particularly artsy folk who like to deal with watercolors and other watery things. I'm highly considering buying a bottle of Platinum carbon ink and loading it up a fountain pen, if I find the correct fountain pen to use it with.

The Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen can be found for a mere 12$ at Jetpens.com! A fairly great price. (But it appears to be sold out currently). The accompanying stand can be found for 18$, and a bottle of carbon ink can be found for $22.50 - both at Jetpens.com.

Guest Review: J. Herbin Bleu Nuit Ink

While trying to think of something to write for my first review of anything, I came across a newspaper article on the FTC announcing an expansion of its endorsement guidelines to include blogs.  So in the interests of full disclosure let me acknowledge that the bottle of J. Herbin Bleu Nuit ink was provided free by Karen Doherty, VP Marketing, Exaclair as part of their Bastille Day celebration.  She also included two small notebooks, a baby Rhodia lined pad and a mini Clairefontaine wirebound lined 90g paper.  No money exchanged hands for this review (though I certainly would have paid).  More importantly, no zebras were harmed in the process of filling the converter.

The Bleu Nuit is a lovely medium dark blue, like 501 jeans denim after a few washes.  The color patch definitely has some purple in it, but when writing I think I see some dark gray.  I'm using a Rotring Surf fountain pen with a medium steel nib and a slightly cranky attitude regarding its main purpose in life (to glide over this Rhodia 80g paper smoothly, thank you).  I may not be exerting enough pressure however.  One thing I noticed is how the Bleu Nuit seems darker this morning as compared to the writing sample from last night.  I think the nib and innards of my pen were still slightly wet from changing inks and washing with lukewarm water.  So I've learned I'll need to wait 12 hours or so to really get a sense of the color.
     
J. Herbin's Bleu Nuit is definitely a great addition to your blue ink collection.  It dries reasonably fast, which is a plus when the cats decide to lay down on the pad and have a quick snooze before their main nap--'cause they can!
     
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Thanks for doing this review Diane - it is much appreciated!  If anyone else would like to contribute a guest post on The Pen Addict, I would love to have you. Email me at the address on the sidebar, or ping me on Twitter @dowdyism.

Click here for the XL review.