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J HERBIN LARMES DE CASSIS ( My first ink review, Suggestions highly appreciated) Ink reviewed here from an Indian point of view. I do not think that there are so many Indians using high quality note books or papers regularly. I am not. Went to one paper mart and asked for the highest quality paper, and he suggested JK Excel Bond paper. So my review goes like this. Brought this bottled ink from PensAvenue – As usual -happy customer, no affiliation- ( I should be happy, as this ink not available elsewhere). For 30 ml- 695 Rs. As a lover of Blue shades,I was thinking of a nice violet color, but frankly I was little unhappy initially. What color is this? Violet – definitely NO Pink – But I would like to call some other color as Pink. Then what ? A bottle of Pink ink was lying there just like that… then J Herbin wanted to fill a Hero pen with some Black ink already in the it, and spoilt the whole ink in the bottle..? Any way after filling in few pens I have started writing in my work sheets. After 3-4 days, the following points were observed. Now I am more using pens filled with this ink than others. If the color were pure Pink, I would have stopped using this long before, especially in my work place. If it were pure Pink, it wouldn’t be as legible as this. My friends were appreciating this color. If it were pure Pink, they would have considered this as more feminine color. These are not just excuses for wasting money on inks, I am really appreciating the color. So What color is this ? This is the swab to analyze.. This picture shows a Pink in the darker side. Strongest component is Red, least is Green and Blue in between. A simple chromatography shows Blue and Red components of this ink. This is how it appears in a bottle diluted with water…. More violetish…. Diluted ink also show almost the same color components, the darkness is reduced.. I have to say that the mother nature also shows few examples for Larmess De Cassis! Color components of the above flower. COLOR ON PAPERS FINE NIB, A 4 PAPER FINE NIB, JK EXCEL BOND MEDIUM NIB, A4 MEDIUM NIB, BOND BROAD NIB, A4 BROAD NIB, BOND. VARIOUS WIDTHS, ARUL SCRIPT NIBS. THIS IS DEFENITLY A FLOWERY COLOR….. COLOR PROPERTIES OF THIS INK The itself is having a slight variation in color according to the tip size and flow of the pen. Here the Fine tipped nib was that of Camlin Trinity, which was having high flow and medium tipped was Lamy Safari with only moderate flow. 2. Shading is there theoretically …. when writing with a CI nib, there is much contrast between horizondal stroke and vertical strokes. As the flow of the pen increases, these contrast tends to disappear. The slight shading we are getting in Lamy with moderate flow in not seen even in Broad tip when flow is increased. FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES I CONSIDER THIS INK AS NON SHADING. 3. Saturation - I consider this as medium one. Defenitly not a thick ink. PROPERTIES IN PEN On seeing the color, first I remembered about PR Shell Pink, which have given me a tough time with flow with a pen. But, here no concerns, it’s flowing well without hiccups. In a variety of pens, Convertor, Piston fill, Direct fill with a variety of nibs, ink have performed well. No nib creeps. Ink staining… Very happy here. PROPERTIES ON PAPER Welll, my predominant writing involves cheap quality papers… ball pen quality and ball point friendly papers. Sorry, Larmes De Cassis, You have go through a rough time. I have to say that this ink was well behaved in almost all papers except the cheeeapest news print like papers, where only it shows feathering and bleeding. BLEEDING Cheapest paper A4 paper. FEATHERING Feathering, Cheapest paper. Feathering, A4 paper. FOR THESE FEATHERING, I CAN BLAME ONLY THE PAPERS AND NOT THE INK. DRYING. Theoretically it takes around 10 seconds to dry. But there are no practical issues here. While writing I considered this as a fast drying item, but was surprised with the test. I was expecting this to dry in 5 sec or so. WASH RESISTANCE This in the area were this ink shows its weakness. Can be fully washed out! See the under lying blue dye, the red component washed out entirely- The ink is made of atleast two dye components. Thanks SK.