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J Herbin Perle Noire (Black Pearl) My go to black inks for sketching and writing are Platinum Carbon Black and Sailor Kiwaguro. But I wanted to do some artwork and got this on a whim. I had forgotten how wonderful sometimes a shiny black ink can be (much like Japanese Sumi ink, or lamp black inks) and this one delivers. The chroma is unexciting, but there seems to be hint of yellow.... But this was the first ink that tamed the Ef Kakuna steel nib pleasurable. I also enjoyed using it with the Osmiroid with Copperplate nib but paradoxically less in Lamy Safari or the Jinhao with fude nib. Still I managed to use half of the 10 ml bottle. Writing samples: I used quotes by Josephine Baker, inspired by Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a tribute to her. Note the yellow in the smudging: It doesn't like Hammermill very much.. Ghosting and bleed through.... What was surprising was how easy it was to clean, despite being a very respectable water-resistant ink. Watertest: Comparaison And now a bit of artwork. The orange ink is Noodler's Apache Sunset. What is interesting is that it turns into gold when in contact with bleach. You can see the bleach/ gold reaction in this piece inspired by @LizEF Adventures of Quin & Makhabesh. (And a huge thanks for giving me permission to do so) The lower part of the page is all done with Herbin Perle Noir. The female Egyptian cat (Noodletitti ) , the little kitten and the lower background (diluted). The gold was created by a glass nib dipped in bleach. (other inks red: Organics Studio, Oscar's Copper, Dark Brown of the staff, and purple sphinx aka Makhabesh PIlot Yamaguri, Background dark brown (right) is Gutenberg Urkundentinte G10, and left is home made pomegranate ink) · Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B), Osmiroid Copperplate, Jinhao 450 fude · What I liked: Delicious black, reminds me of sumi ink, great for art, amazing lubrication. · What I did not like: You might have Startup issues if the pen is left uncapped. · What some might not like: It doesn’t like cheap papers. · Shading: No · Ghosting: On cheap paper · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Excellent · Nib Dry-out: None · Start-up: None · Saturation: Beautiful shiny black · Shading Potential: Why would you want a black ink to shade? · Sheen: None · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No · Nib Creep / “Crud”: No. · Staining (pen): No · Clogging: No · Cleaning: Very easy · Water resistance: Very good · Availability: 10/30/500 ml bottles, cartridges. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Amazon.com.au just dropped the price on 500ml bottles of Herbin Perle Noire ink, sold and shipped by Amazon UK, to $45.92. Includes free delivery to Australia to Prime members here. OK, that isn't cheaper than I could have scored from La Couronne du Comte before it went out of business, with stacked discounts, no GST paid, and (as part of a large enough order) free international shipping; but it comes pretty close. With LCdC now gone, I don't think I can do much better in the near term ordering from any other retailer.