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J Herbin Rouge Opera Many thanks to @Lithium466 for the sample. This is a more of a burgundy than a red. I’m assuming the colour was inspired after the plush seats of Paris Opera. It’s a wet ink, not suitable for copy paper, lubrication below average. I would say, if you’re an opera lover this might be the ink for you, if not prends garde à toi 🌹 (sorry, opera quotes will abound. The line is from Carmen's Habanera aria, which translate as Beware!) Chroma: Writing Samples: Photo: Comparison: Water test: Art Work: Queen of the Night This little fountain pen sketch was inspired by my cat, who sometimes "sings" in early mornings, to be let out. Her yowling reminds me of from Mozart's The Magic Flute: Other inks used: Graf von Faber-Castell Stone Grey Rohrer & Klingner Helianthus · Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy (EF/F/M/B, BB), Nib Creaper semi-flex · What I liked: Nice colour. · What I did not like: It’s a pinkish red. Maybe I'm not much into reds · What some might not like: Very wet, low lubrication, longish dry times. · Shading: Subtle. · Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper, unless you write with Japanese Ef. · Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper. · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Slightly below average · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Ok · Saturation: Pastel · Shading Potential: Subtle · Sheen: No. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. · Staining (pen): Did not notice. · Clogging: Did not notice. · Cleaning: Ultimately, it’s a dark pink ink. So, the more it stays, the more time it’ll take to clean. · Water resistance: Meh! · Availability: 10 ml, 30 ml and cartridges. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

I have decided to review some of my inks. These aren't necessarily in any particular order. This one is J Herbin Rouge Opera Sorry I forgot to do the water test on this form, but this isn't a waterproof inkBearing in mind the paper I use is very smooth, this ink took 16-18 secs to dry.It flows reasonably wet and lubricates the nib quite well.It is currently available in packs of 4 x 10ml small glass bottles and 30ml glass bottles.It's available from many B&M shops and online retailers worldwide.

J HERBIN’S ROUGE OPERA J Herbin’s Rouge Opera. Bottled ink. 30 ml. 695 Rs. Bought from Pen’s Avenue, a good resource for imported inks in India. Bottle - As usual, simple design, stable square bottom, functional. COLOR As with all J herbin’s inks, here also a theme is there - a Red fan ( or is it so?) So, what’s the connection between this ink and a fan? Indicates fast drying property of the ink? Or my imagination going very wild? Any way I have to say this as the very impotant property of the ink, compared to other J Herbin’s products. See that color, some thing in between real Red and Rose, with no trace of Yellow involved. What lacks here is that brightness or sheen. Though color is not very impressive, there are also no “ hate fators” involved here. COLOR ON A GUAZE COLOR ANALYSIS SWAB TO ANALYZE… The component colors are more Red, least Green and Blue in between. More and more Red.. See the color wheel, it’s in between Pink and Red, but more towards Red. I think I would like this color more if that darkness involved is little lesser and brightness is little more. FROM RIGHT TO LEFT- DILUTED IN WATER WITH INCREASING CONCENTRATIONS. ONE BASIC LINE WITH TWO PASSES. Can you see a trend here? The color of the ink does not change as expected with number of passes increases. See the diluted samples also. The last two samples though differ in concentrations, have more or less the same color. It seems that the dye used in this ink exhibits a phenomenon called as “Ceiling effect”, that is after some particular concentration, the color of the dye do not change dramatically. ONE MORE “PASSES” SAMPLE. ( Regarding dyes, some dyes have the property of showing up different shades of colors or different colors at different concentrations. For example, the die used for making Turquoise blue exhibits Greenish Blue Black color at higher concentrations. Some dyes do not show up even another shade of same color) See that this property is certainly not desirable for artists who want to get different shade having more depth, by drawing over and over. For Writers, this does n’t matter. COLOR ON PAPER WITH FINE NIB WITH MEDIUM NIB WIH BROAD NIB PROPERTIES IN PEN WITH CAMLIN TRINITY FINE NIB WITH LAMY MEDIUM NIB WITH KIM CI NIB COMPARED TO TWO OTHER WELL FLOWING INKS, CHELPARK CRIMSON VIOLET AND BRIL TURQUOISE BLUE. Same pens with fine nib, same paper. No noticeable difference in flow was found. The thickness of lines got are comparable. Same inks again compared, same paper. But this time Medium stub nib used. See that rouge Opera writes thinner when compared to other well flowing inks. DIRECTLY COMPARED TO THE MOST WELL FLOWING INK, BRIL TURQOIUSE BLUE. The ink have a reasonable flow in most of the pens, and the dry nature may get un noticed, till one tries a pen with a drier flow. I was comfortable with this ink, till I started using a Wing sung, which had comparatively lesser flow- But I was using Wingsung with many inks earlier. I would like to see some more flow to this ink, instead of trying to increase the flow of pen. So I consider this as a moderatly flowing ink, having Medium saturation( There is no point in increasing saturation), and lubrication also on moderate side- especially in drier pens, when flow reduces nib shows its tooth out. SEE THAT FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES THIS IS NOT A DRY WRITING INK. INFERANCE The ink is well behaved in almost all pens , except when flow is low. It can be attributed as problem of pen also. Otherwise there are no compatibility problems in a variety of eye droppers, piston fillers and c/c used. Also no ink staining, no nib creeps. Nothing to complain. PROPERTIES ON PAPER What’s Bad on pen is Good on paper. Drying Probably a very important property of this ink. Dries in less than 5 seconds in most of the papers and probably in 1 or 2 seconds in some papers. Very impressive. A SMOOTH SMUDGABILITY ( Am I using the word correct) will be well appreciated by Artists. FEATHERING This is another good point about this ink. NO FEATHERING IN ALMOST ALL PAPER S- Even lowest quality papers! BLEEDING This is a very very cheap paper- even in this paper only a little ghosting only seen. Not a problem with average quality papers. SHADING There is no shading. WATER RESISTANCE Shown under flowing water for 10 seconds in 1 hr after writing. Sample just wetted with water. There is NO WATER RESISTANCE. Thanks SK