Ink Review: J.Herbin 1670

Photo by Margana from FPN

This ink made it to me from France because I was too impatient to wait for it to be ready and available here stateside. I am glad I made the plunge and got it early. This is a great rich red. This is what I would call a Roman Lady red and is great and saturated. Herbin says it is modeled after the reds of the old royal court and I can see that.

The ink behaves very well flowing freely and in a good wet line from the nib. No feathering at all and no bleed through. I did not see any shadowing either which is even better so you can use both sides of even the thin paper. For myself I did not see a lot of shading just a hair, which is very pretty.

Dry time is in line with other Herbins, on a more absorbent paper I would say a left-hander would have no trouble using this one. The sugar cane paper seems to leave things on the top of the paper more than absorb. This ink does not do well with water at all. Over all as long as they offer it this is a keeper red for me.

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Ink Review: Noodler's Baystate Blue

The infamous Baystate blue some have called it the Pen eater. Well when I placed it into my Conklin Mark Twain signature, I can say it did not melt in my hand or explode on impact. Now I will say this is the only ink that will not be used in my standard Jinhao F5 for review. Because of the unique compounds in this ink, many think it is best to choose one pen and dedicate it to Baystate Blue only. Not wishing to have a magically melting pen this is what I did and my pretty Blue Conklin fit the bill.

Now onto the ink itself. The ink is a vibrant well-saturated and pretty blue. It is unique and you will not find the same color blue elsewhere so that hype is true. The flow was very well for my pen with no feathering on the paper. There was no bleed through and very light shadowing. I do not see much shading in the ink but I do not mind there not being much because it is such a very nice blue on its own.

Dry times are a little long so if you are using a dip pen or are a lefty just be careful of it. I would not say do not use it because it is just too nice of a blue not to use it. If you want to make a statement while still sticking to the professional standard this would be a good ink. Just make sure you are informed about all of the claims before putting it in your pen so you can make your own choice.

The reaction to water was a pretty good one I was impressed. This is going to be a daily use ink for me. This from a gal who does not use a lot of blue (usually).

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