Review: J. Herbin Bouton D' Or

[biffybeans]

Click for full review with pictures

 

From the J Herbin website:

 

"J. Herbin is the oldest name in pen inks in the world. M. Herbin created “The Jewel of Inks” in his shop on the Rue des Fosses Saint-Germain in Paris in 1700."

 

"Each bottle of 30 ml has an integrated pen rest. They are known as “D bottle pen inks. The “D” refers to the old French unit of measure “la Demi Courtine”.

 

* 30 beautiful colors!

* Non toxic and pH neutral

* Lightfast

* Water based

* Flows smoothly and is fast drying

* All natural dyes

 

J. Herbin's Bouton D'Or is a yellow burst of sunshine. It's free flowing in my medium nibbed Sailor Sapporo - which tends to run a bit wet.

 

I'm not exactly sure how anyone would use this ink, except maybe for highlighting. I tried a bit in the above photo, but noticed that this book's paper was a bit rough to write on with a fountain pen. It just wasn't the most pleasurable experience of pen to paper. If used on a shinier paper, I bet it would be great.

 

I'm going to guess that some people are going to question whether or not you can use this ink to mix with other colors, and I have to admit that I have not tried it. Herbin inks do note (on the side of the box) to NOT mix their inks. I suppose if you try, you will have to do so at your own risk.

[dandelion]

Beautiful yellow ink! A happy ink for both writing and highlighting. I like the pics.

[Philosopher]

Beautiful yellow ink! A happy ink for both writing and highlighting. I like the pics.

 

Yellow is a powerful color. I think of ancient solar gods like Apollo and of the human aura where a yellow aura signals high, even spiritual, intelligence. Greek gods and goddesses aside, it also has to jump off the page enough to be read! Based on your review I may just get a bottle. Right now I highlight with Caran d'Ache Saffron--beauty and grace.

[biffybeans]

Thank you - I was pretty happy with this last batch of pics as well.

 

Beautiful yellow ink! A happy ink for both writing and highlighting. I like the pics.

 

[Ondina]

This is nicest, well behaved yellow ink I've found. Great color. And saturated enough to be used as correspondence ink on a dark greenish batch of A5 paper. Thanks for the review.

[FrankB]

This ink does have to be used on darker colored paper. I was half way considering mixing it with some brown, but Herbin came out with Ambre de Brimanie which seems to be what I had in mind and is a far better color than I could have concocted. Meanwhile, I use Bouton D'Or much as you did - in big, bright signatures with a message like "Happy Easter" or "Happy Spring."

[ThyPenMaker]

All this time and no one has tried to mix it?