Herbin Ambre De Birmanie

[Iranna]

I love this colour, but I'm a bit confused as the hue is quite inconsistent. If I take a break in writing or drawing, say, a few minutes, when I continue, the colour has changed so that it's not golden anymore, but greenish. Does someone experience similar problems? Yes I've tried shaking it, but with no help.

 

My guess is that you actually have a bit of blue ink from a previous fill hiding in the fins of your feed. Try filling the pen with water, covering the nib with a paper towel, and firmly shaking out the water. Then, fill the pen with water and place it nib-down in a cup resting on a pad of paper towel. I've often found that even though I thought I'd gotten all of the ink out, some manages to hide in nooks and crannies.

 

Then again, that's just a guess.

 

Actually the ink seemed a little brownish (instead of golden or yellowish) already in the filler, so I'm not sure what caused the problem. When I filled the pen with this ink the second time, the colour didn't change. The greenish hue might well have been from a previous fill, but I'm not sure where the brown came from. Anyway, it was only that one fill, so no problems at all anymore.

[missnibs]

I recently bought this ink for a friend's birthday. When I had a look at some of the notes he made with it, it looked a lot like liquid gold, but in certain kinds of light (sunlight in particular) it almost looks like honey-yellow with a hint of brown in it. Gorgeous colour, though - I feel inclined to buy a bottle of Ambre de Birmanie myself someday...

[Ondina]

Excuses to all for the belated replies, I've been busy, traveling and my visits to the forum are scarce, lately.

jgrasty wrote:

 

"This color would normally not interest me, but because of your fabulous handwriting, I took a chance, bought a bottle, and... Wow! Now I have J. Herbin Cafe des Iles and Orange Indien, and I suspect, more will follow... "

 

Yes, Herbin inks do grow on one, don't they? I have been a diehard fan of Herbin inks for decades, and shall continue so. I am really glad to hear you have discovered them.

 

Have fun!

 

Jgrasty, as FrankB points quite accurately, is the quality of the Herbin inks that makes the final result so unique. I'm humbled by the praises, and thank in return, once more, the generous and wise forum members that have helped me with advice, samples and practical help. They are many ink brands out there, but some, excel. Glad the review led you to some of them.

 

Ondina,

 

Great review, gorgeous ink, nice pictures ... and above all: Thank you for your humble and kind demeanor to the FPN members. Any idea how it would compare to the Noodler's Golden Brown and the Diamine Golden Brown?

 

Gracias, Mauricio, for the kind comments. I can only compare to Diamine's Golden Brown, which is clearly browner, and a darker hue.

 

Pray tell, which is a more accurate portrayal of the actual color, the scan or the photos?

 

Thanks,

Dan

 

Dan, IMHO, the photos. Whatever I do, the scans never reflect the true color, much the less the radiance of the color/s.

 

How does this ink look from a pen with a medium no flex nib?

 

Penspouse, the photos of the ink on the Quo Vadis Journal are written with a regular M steel nib with no flex. Still beautiful shading. Try it.

 

I love this colour, but I'm a bit confused as the hue is quite inconsistent. If I take a break in writing or drawing, say, a few minutes, when I continue, the colour has changed so that it's not golden anymore, but greenish. Does someone experience similar problems? Yes I've tried shaking it, but with no help.

 

My guess is that you actually have a bit of blue ink from a previous fill hiding in the fins of your feed. Try filling the pen with water, covering the nib with a paper towel, and firmly shaking out the water. Then, fill the pen with water and place it nib-down in a cup resting on a pad of paper towel. I've often found that even though I thought I'd gotten all of the ink out, some manages to hide in nooks and crannies.

 

Then again, that's just a guess.

 

Ondina,

You got another person (me) to buy this ink with your wonderful review. I'm hoping that the photographs are the more accurate representation. Also, I hope that somehow my acquisition of this ink improves my penmanship to somewhere between where it is now and yours -- one can dream, eh?

Irana, I'm glad the very clever guidance of loweevan helped to get rid of the issue. Light colors in general need pristine clean pens. Nice you liked the ink.

Loweevan, now I don't know what to say but thank you (for the undeserved praises) and that yes, the pictures reflect the image the retina sees in real life much better. The high quality of the Quo Vadis Notor paper seems to be a perfectly respectful media for the clear color of Ambre de Birmanie, after half a year no change is noticeable.

 

I recently bought this ink for a friend's birthday. When I had a look at some of the notes he made with it, it looked a lot like liquid gold, but in certain kinds of light (sunlight in particular) it almost looks like honey-yellow with a hint of brown in it. Gorgeous colour, though - I feel inclined to buy a bottle of Ambre de Birmanie myself someday...

 

missnibs, liquid gold while humid, bright sunset hues when in good dailight, nicely worded description of the ink. Quite personal as well. Stands out beautifully among other colors in my notes. Thank you for the kind comments.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Ondina

[GouletPens]

Thank you for such a nice review!! I love the Herbin inks (though I'm biased b/c I sell them!!). I haven't yet had a chance to test all 30 colors, but I can say that this color is one that has been more popular among FPN members here. Now that I've seen it, I can see why. Some other popular ones have been Poussière de Lune, Cacao du Brésil, and Perle Noir. I personally am using Éclat de Sephir right now as I LOVE blues, but I may give Ambre a shot next;)

[Ghost Plane]

Do! The color is simply incredible

[kushbaby]

Do! The color is simply incredible

 

+1

 

This was my first Herbin, and remains my very favorite. Amazing.

[offbase]

+1. A very unique color. It matches my "amber" Visconti Voyager's color almost perfectly.

[laplume]

Brilliant review of one of the most amazing colors I've tried till now. The beautiful hand is the perfect match to this ink. Awesome. Thanks for the review. Keep them coming!

[georges zaslavsky]

very cool review and nice handwriting :clap1:

[BramvdB]

Also my first Herbin ink. Used it today to write a personal message in a book that I bought as a present. I must say I don't regret my choice there. It looked beautiful! (Besides I like writing a personal message in a book that I give to someone) :-)

[lovemy51]

maybe not my first JH ink, but definitely my next!! it's on the way!!! thanx again ondina for the nice review! :clap1:

[Ed Ronax]

Thanks for sharing, nice colour.

[6pound]

excellent review, thanks so much! an amazing color, wonderful properties as you've described and demonstrated

[Ondina]

After several months of using the ink, nothing but a great and inky pleasurable experience is to be reported. Reviewing the notes of a Notor daily Journal, this ink really stands out beautifully, holds up to expectations and would make anyone looking for a personal and warm color, very happy.

 

I'd like to thank you all once more for the very kind comments (I'm a bit embarrassed, is the ink that would make any hand and/or review look good, really.). Thank you as well for the idea of using it as ex libris ink, white/off white paper, a flexible nib and a wet pen show the very best of this unique ink.

 

J. Herbin offers Ambre de Birmaine in cartridges as well, for those of you who would like to use it only now and then.

[clar260]

Beautiful!

[John B]

Very descriptive review, and your handwriting is like Wowzers!!!

[sallywally]

I just ordered a bottle! I'm moving toward more Herbin inks. I already have Eclat de Saphir and Cafe des Iles and love them both. I appreciate all that has been said about Herbin inks and look forward to using more of them.

 

By the way, how does one get the symbol over the "e" in Cafe? :embarrassed_smile:

[laiki]

I just ordered a bottle! I'm moving toward more Herbin inks. I already have Eclat de Saphir and Cafe des Iles and love them both. I appreciate all that has been said about Herbin inks and look forward to using more of them.

 

By the way, how does one get the symbol over the "e" in Cafe? :embarrassed_smile:

 

To get the "é" you can press the ALT button on your keyboard along with the number 130 on your keypad (make sure num lock is on). Typing up French notes led me to using this method to insert accents .

 

I really enjoyed this review because up until now I assumed most yellows were similar to the bright highlighter colour so I was very wary of it. I have added this ink to my list of possibilities now...that shading won me over!

[fx101]

This ink looks exactly like the colour I was thinking of the other day! I checked this out today (Art Brown near Times Square) and loved it. Not pale like the light browns, and not overly orange like Noodler's Habañero. Yet it's not overly yellow or evokes a saturated "goldenrod" feel. Herbin definitely replicated the gradients of amber (maybe even gold). There's a bottle sitting and waiting for that new Graf Von Faber Castell pen in the mail (fingers crossed) to ink it up on tuesday.

Edited September 12, 2010 by fx101