Herbin Blues - 6 Blues Compared

[bstnnyc]

Have your feelings/reactions to 1670 Ocean Bleuchanged, with the new formulation that's out? I have been mulling over the Massdrop with two bottles of Ocean Bleu (plus 1 bottle of your choice, either Stormy Grey or Rouge Hematite). I have to admit that I am really drawn to the offer because the reformulated Ocean Bleu looks really intriguing to me. I know that some other folks on the thread devoted to discussing this reformulation aren't so sure, but of course taste differs. My only experience with J. Herbin so far has been with Bleu Myosotis, and it's been a very dependable blue. I have not had a chance to try out these fabulous 1670 inks, and if I did the Massdrop I'd end up with three bottles! A little nervous about that prospect but I feel as though a magnet is drawing me to the Ocean Bleu bottles on the screen... and perhaps that bottle of Stormy Grey....

 

Hi FPgal my thoughts have changed haha but it's more because I'm not a fan of the shimmering particles. When I first got Stormy Grey I thought the ink was different from anything I had tried and the particles had a certain wow factor, but after a couple of days with the ink I got tired of them.

 

I was using the ink for note-taking in class and for doodling at home and (although I love high sheening inks and cannot get enough of them, because I get lost in the pools of light and love the depth they add to the color) the shimmering particles were a little much for me, and I found them to be busy. I will still use the ink in a letter, thank you note, invite... but only in other similar situations of writing for someone else rather than for myself. I will say that my sister LOVES the particles and uses the ink at work, so everyone will react differently to them.

 

My other concern with the particles is that I don't feel 100% comfortable about using them in my favorite piston or telescopic piston fillers, because I found that when filling a converter with them I had to remove the converter from the pen to clean all of the residual shimmer at the bottom of the converter. However, I will say that I never had any issues with clogging or hard starts even when leaving the ink in my test pen unused for a month. I never tried keeping the converter in my test pen and filling with other inks to see if it would eventually empty completely over time (which it very well might), so my fear may very well be just that.

 

There is no doubt that the new formulas are fun inks, but at least for now they are not for me . Here is an example of the crazy shimmer I got with Stormy Grey in a very wet stubbish B nib:

 

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f99/emrys1221/StormyGrey_zpsbf6d420e.jpg

[bstnnyc]

I received my bottle of Bleu océan (with gold particles) yesterday. I never thought I'd love this colour but turns out I do! The shading is great, and it feels sooooooo smooth just as you described. I love smooth and wet inks...

haha that is one more thing we have in common At some point we will need to trade lists of our favorite smooth and wet inks!

[FPgal]

Bstnnyc, Thanks for your thoughts on the ink and how your pen and converter handled the ink. I went ahead and joined the Massdrop this morning, and thought that I might gift one of the Bleu bottles to a colleague who is also a fountain pen aficionado. I picked out the Rouge Hematite as my third bottle because the shimmering seemed to be a different quality in the samples I've seen, and perhaps that could provide a nice contrast to the Bleu Ocean shimmer. I am curious to see what I think of the shimmering ink, though I always think it looks nice in the samples posted online.