J. Herbin Lie de Thé

[vagabond]

Wow, I think Lie de Thé is one of the loveliest old fashioned inks that I have seen.

[rbbrock]

I just got a bottle of this ink too, and after just jotting a bit with it I am decidedly on the fence. It goes on a nice, slightly greenish, brown. It dries to a, well, dry-looking green. It reminds me of the color of the dried grass clippings that accumulate inside a lawn mower or weed-eater. It's greener than I expected based on the pictures I've seen, but it appears that I am not alone in that perception. I guess I'll just have to use it for a while and see if it grows on me or if I need to get rid of it.

[Jared]

I bought a bottle of this ink based on this wonderful review. Thanks!

[Silvermink]

This review makes me sad that no one local seems to carry J. Herbin anymore.

[Ondina]

This review makes me sad that no one local seems to carry J. Herbin anymore.

 

Silvermink, a fellow member, Caligula, sells Herbin in the States, maybe he will ship to you. Ont he other hand, you can order from France from www.pendandco.com and they will ship worldwide very reasonably.

[Silvermink]

Silvermink, a fellow member, Caligula, sells Herbin in the States, maybe he will ship to you. Ont he other hand, you can order from France from www.pendandco.com and they will ship worldwide very reasonably.

 

Might check those out. Never really been a fan of ordering ink online when there's so much available locally, though - the shipping always seems to be such a big chunk when it's something relatively-inexpensive to begin with, unless I order a whole ton of ink.

[PatientType]

Hana,

Your handwriting reveals that you've both refined your writing skills beyond the vast majority of us here in the peanut gallery and you've identified a very effective writing instrument to demonstrate your skills. VERY impressive. I'm still back in the pack trying to figure out how to get a little variation in my lines. I do wish I could write with the beauty of your hand. Maybe someday...

 

On the ink... I use and like Lie de The. It seems to be a soft brown but there are times when soft brown just fits the bill. When I write with it, it also shades nicely. I will be trying out some other browns as i prefer brown to any other ink color for social writing. (Black or blue are my standards for business items.)

[PatientType]

Silvermink, a fellow member, Caligula, sells Herbin in the States, maybe he will ship to you. Ont he other hand, you can order from France from www.pendandco.com and they will ship worldwide very reasonably.

 

Might check those out. Never really been a fan of ordering ink online when there's so much available locally, though - the shipping always seems to be such a big chunk when it's something relatively-inexpensive to begin with, unless I order a whole ton of ink.

 

 

Silvermink, if you lived in California you would buy on the Internet whenever possible because sales taxes have gotten so high that they usually exceed shipping costs. I think the San Francisco Bay Area is up to 9.75%! But that brings me to suggest a way to reduce the cost of shipping. Most times, when I buy a pen or accessory via the Internet, I also look through that vendor's ink offerings. Almost 1/2 of the time I end up adding several bottles of ink to the order and that has (so far) made it possible to purchase tax free and shipping free ink.

[Neill78]

Beautiful writing, and a nice review.

 

Lie de The is my favorite brown. It's not red like most, and not super brown. Looks like a Chinese or Japanese tea colour, or leaves before they are immersed in hot water.

 

I'd be happy to take bottles off the hands of those that don't like it!

 

Neill

[Jason Oliver]

Silvermink, a fellow member, Caligula, sells Herbin in the States, maybe he will ship to you. Ont he other hand, you can order from France from www.pendandco.com and they will ship worldwide very reasonably.

 

Might check those out. Never really been a fan of ordering ink online when there's so much available locally, though - the shipping always seems to be such a big chunk when it's something relatively-inexpensive to begin with, unless I order a whole ton of ink.

 

 

Silvermink, if you lived in California you would buy on the Internet whenever possible because sales taxes have gotten so high that they usually exceed shipping costs. I think the San Francisco Bay Area is up to 9.75%! But that brings me to suggest a way to reduce the cost of shipping. Most times, when I buy a pen or accessory via the Internet, I also look through that vendor's ink offerings. Almost 1/2 of the time I end up adding several bottles of ink to the order and that has (so far) made it possible to purchase tax free and shipping free ink.

 

 

There are a couple of cities in the LA basin that around above 10.5% ....ouch

Edited July 22, 2009 by Jason Oliver

[sumgaikid]

A friend of mine wrote me a letter with Lie de The' and I fell in love

with the color immediately! I like colors that are muted...........

 

John

 

[sallywally]

I had such high hopes for this ink, based on swatches I'd seen online, as well as the name (I love tea!) But when my sample arrived from Pear Tree Pens, I have to agree, I was disappointed by how green it was! At first I thought that my pen hadn't been flushed properly, but I tried dipping a few others and they all came out a light greenish brown... I was hoping for more of a reddish brown, the colour of an actual cup of black tea! The colour itself isn't horrible, but it wasn't what I wanted Interestingly though, when I was rinsing out the pen later, the rinse water was exactly the colour that I wanted, as if my rinse cup was filled with tea...

I had a sample from Pear Tree as well, and when I first wrote with it, it was a "regular"-seeming brown, with perhaps a little red in it, but later it seemed to become greenish (same pen, within a day). I flushed it and haven't refilled the pen yet. Not sure what to think.

 

 

[lefty928]

I had such high hopes for this ink, based on swatches I'd seen online, as well as the name (I love tea!) But when my sample arrived from Pear Tree Pens, I have to agree, I was disappointed by how green it was! At first I thought that my pen hadn't been flushed properly, but I tried dipping a few others and they all came out a light greenish brown... I was hoping for more of a reddish brown, the colour of an actual cup of black tea! The colour itself isn't horrible, but it wasn't what I wanted Interestingly though, when I was rinsing out the pen later, the rinse water was exactly the colour that I wanted, as if my rinse cup was filled with tea...

I had a sample from Pear Tree as well, and when I first wrote with it, it was a "regular"-seeming brown, with perhaps a little red in it, but later it seemed to become greenish (same pen, within a day). I flushed it and haven't refilled the pen yet. Not sure what to think.

 

My Pear Tree Pens sample was green also, no brown at all (on the Alt-Goldgruen side of things). Disappointing ... and my Cafe des Iles sample was purple (like Caran d'Ache Storm or possibly R&K Scabiosa). I have and like off-greens and muted purples, but I was expecting the shades I'd seen in the swatches. So sad.

[liapuyat]

My first brown was Waterman Havana Brown - very saturated and reddish. I loved it, but was looking for a more vintage-feel brown. So I got Diamine Saddle Brown, which is a nice medium brown. Then I saw this review, and HAD to have Lie de The. It's not available in my country, but when I wrote Karen Doherty of Exaclair about wanting to review the ink, she sent me a bottle recently. It's EXACTLY like the one in your scan, so I'm so very pleased. Now I have three very different browns, all of which I love, but I especially appreciate how Lie de The shades.

[Ghost Plane]

My first brown was Waterman Havana Brown - very saturated and reddish. I loved it, but was looking for a more vintage-feel brown. So I got Diamine Saddle Brown, which is a nice medium brown. Then I saw this review, and HAD to have Lie de The. It's not available in my country, but when I wrote Karen Doherty of Exaclair about wanting to review the ink, she sent me a bottle recently. It's EXACTLY like the one in your scan, so I'm so very pleased. Now I have three very different browns, all of which I love, but I especially appreciate how Lie de The shades.

At least one US company that carries Herbin ships overseas and there may be more. Check out Goulet Pens, which I KNOW ships overseas, as well as Pear Tree Pens and Writers Bloc to see if they will as well. I don't know how much the shipping is, but hope this helps.

[drifting]

liapuyat, thanks for bringing this thread back up - I never tire of looking at Hana's beautiful handwriting!

 

This review makes me sad that no one local seems to carry J. Herbin anymore.

 

Silvermink, Charals in the Sinclair Centre on West Hastings had a handful of Herbin colours when I dropped by in August.

 

Oh! Paper-Ya! on Granville Island has the whole line, I think. I was only in there once, but I was really impressed - tons of FP friendly paper and notebooks! They also have some Rubinato inks I meant to try, but I never got back before we moved.

 

Ryan.

[liapuyat]

My first brown was Waterman Havana Brown - very saturated and reddish. I loved it, but was looking for a more vintage-feel brown. So I got Diamine Saddle Brown, which is a nice medium brown. Then I saw this review, and HAD to have Lie de The. It's not available in my country, but when I wrote Karen Doherty of Exaclair about wanting to review the ink, she sent me a bottle recently. It's EXACTLY like the one in your scan, so I'm so very pleased. Now I have three very different browns, all of which I love, but I especially appreciate how Lie de The shades.

At least one US company that carries Herbin ships overseas and there may be more. Check out Goulet Pens, which I KNOW ships overseas, as well as Pear Tree Pens and Writers Bloc to see if they will as well. I don't know how much the shipping is, but hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on Goulet Pens! Recently a local B&M store here in the Philippines started selling J. Herbin inks, glass pens and other products, but inexplicably Lie de The and Poussiere de Lune were not available. I've gotten most of my inks through overseas shipping, and that really takes some planning. Thanks to the FPN database of reviews and scans, however, I got a lot of satisfaction from the inks I eventually bought.

[GouletPens]

Lie de Thé is among the more popular inks I sell, second to Cacao du Brésil for a brown color. My #1 seller still is Poussière de Lune, which I currently have inked and use daily (along with Ambre de Birmanie, too). Shipping overseas has been mentioned, and I'm happy to do that. I've shipped so far to Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, the UK, and the Philippines. I'll ship anywhere the US Postal Service will send a flat-rate envelope or box, which is pretty darned near anywhere!

[Iranna]

I've tried several brown inks but they all had too much red in them. Lie de Thé is not red at all, and it's probably my favourite ink. It's a nice, dark, true brown with looots of shading, and has a vintage feel to it. Very elegant.

 

Nothing's as beautiful as Lie de Thé in a wet pen!

[Ed Ronax]

Nice review, thanks.