L'artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Heure Dorée

[namrehsnoom]

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Heure Dorée

 

L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens.

 

Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling.

 

 

In this review I take apart Heure Dorée, by far the lightest ink in the Callifolio series. This ink takes its name from the famous “golden hour” – the period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky. This magic hour is perfect for photography, but unfortunately did not result in a perfect ink. Heure Dorée is way to light and unsaturated to be usable for normal writing. It might be tolerable with broad nibs in very wet pens – but I would choose an ink that’s a bit darker on its own like Cannelle or Inti. Like all Callifolio inks, it’s definitely suitable for ink drawings – but even then it’s on the light side.

 

Technically, the ink behaves acceptably. But for most people it will just be too light, with too little contrast with the paper. With broad nibs it looks a bit more saturated, with heavy shading… but still too light for my tastes.

 

 

On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Heure Dorée behaved acceptably. Water resistance is low. The yellow component of the ink washes away rather quikly, leaving a very faint brownish residue. Writing can be reconstructed, but only with some serious effort. Definitely not a water resistant ink.

 

 

I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you:

• An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip
• 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation
• An ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain pen
• The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib
• A small text sample, written with an M-nib
• Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)

Heure Dorée behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 10 second mark, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. The ink looks way too light, and writing is difficult to read due to the low contrast with the paper. The ink swab on Tomoe River looks good – but that’s because the ink pooled heavily on this smooth paper, resulting in a darker than normal ink swab. Writing remains light with low contrast.

 

I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is very prominent show-through and bleed-through. With the other papers, Heure Dorée behaved just fine. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

Heure Dorée is a light yellow-brown ink that’s just not made for writing. In my opinion, it’s too light and too low-contrast to make for an enjoyable writing experience. For drawing the ink works just fine, but remains on the light side. All in all, not an ink that I enjoyed using. I will still use it for drawing, but it will not find its way into my pens again.

 

 

Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

 

 

 

[Cyber6]

Excellent review of a lovely color that is not really meant for writing... .... Thanks so much ..

 

 

Love your sketches...

[lgsoltek]

Sigh... being in France I thought it'd be easy to order from them directly. I sent them a message via their site two months ago about Olivastre, no response. I sent them an email (address found on their site) two weeks ago, and the email got rejected saying the email address doesn't work anymore. Sent them another to the address figured on their Facebook page, still no reply. It seems they don't even bother to do business.

 

Back on topic: this colour is quite pretty and could make it into my shopping list.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Lgsoltek

[visvamitra]

It looks nice in your drawings but you're right it's not meant for writing. Sadly. This color has potential - if Didier worked a little bit on this ink making it more saturated and well lubricated it could be an interesting choice for all kinds of use.

 

@Lgsoltek - I've sent you Didier mail adress, maybe he'll answer this one?

 

Personally I find it sad they don't seem to have a lot of heart for Callifolio inks. The site isn't updated with new colors. I think that tchnically Callifolio inks are very well done - they act perfectly well even on crappiest papers. Where most other inks feather, Callifolio don't. Improving lubrication and increasing saturation could make them sell much more of these inks.

 

A pity. They have alot of potential. And Olivastre is great ink even without improvements.

[lgsoltek]

It looks nice in your drawings but you're right it's not meant for writing. Sadly. This color has potential - if Didier worked a little bit on this ink making it more saturated and well lubricated it could be an interesting choice for all kinds of use.

 

@Lgsoltek - I've sent you Didier mail adress, maybe he'll answer this one?

 

Personally I find it sad they don't seem to have a lot of heart for Callifolio inks. The site isn't updated with new colors. I think that tchnically Callifolio inks are very well done - they act perfectly well even on crappiest papers. Where most other inks feather, Callifolio don't. Improving lubrication and increasing saturation could make them sell much more of these inks.

 

A pity. They have alot of potential. And Olivastre is great ink even without improvements.

 

 

Thank you very much Vis. I might just phone them someday.

[Sakura FP Gallery]

Sigh... being in France I thought it'd be easy to order from them directly. I sent them a message via their site two months ago about Olivastre, no response. I sent them an email (address found on their site) two weeks ago, and the email got rejected saying the email address doesn't work anymore. Sent them another to the address figured on their Facebook page, still no reply. It seems they don't even bother to do business.

 

Back on topic: this colour is quite pretty and could make it into my shopping list.

 

Please do not judge L'Artisan Pastellier too harshly. Creating high quality inks and pastells is what they do with a lot of passion and dedication. L'artisan pastellier really is an "artisan". Not everyone has a commercial talent. I work with L'artisan pastellier and it goes very well.

[Sakura FP Gallery]

Super review !

[Davros]

Thanks for the extensive review.

 

I place orders with L'artisan directly, and yeah, they don't answer emails. But they do ship promptly! I am choosing to find this delightfully eccentric instead of irritating.

 

I really like Heure Doree. In terms of gold, I prefer the Classique Ocre Jaune usually, because it's more saturated and easier to read, but Heure Doree has its own charm.

[lgsoltek]

Thanks for the extensive review.

 

I place orders with L'artisan directly, and yeah, they don't answer emails. But they do ship promptly! I am choosing to find this delightfully eccentric instead of irritating.

 

I really like Heure Doree. In terms of gold, I prefer the Classique Ocre Jaune usually, because it's more saturated and easier to read, but Heure Doree has its own charm.

Did you order through their website? Since they don't reply to email I fear that they don't check their web orders either... If it does work I'll give it a try.

[Old_Inkyhand]

I love your reviews, namrehsnoom!

This Montblanc paper seems to be really awful. Yuck. My 2015/2016 calendar wasn't that bad.

[Davros]

Did you order through their website? Since they don't reply to email I fear that they don't check their web orders either... If it does work I'll give it a try.

Yep, Internet order. I have placed 3 or 4 now. Next time I'm going to order an extra pouch of something and ask in the order comments that it be switched to olivastre. Maybe I can get some that way.

[lgsoltek]

Yep, Internet order. I have placed 3 or 4 now. Next time I'm going to order an extra pouch of something and ask in the order comments that it be switched to olivastre. Maybe I can get some that way.

 

That's great to hear, Davros. Thank you! Now I can try to order some as well.

[migo984]

Did you order through their website? Since they don't reply to email I fear that they don't check their web orders either... If it does work I'll give it a try.

I've ordered directly from them before. I had one order go missing & had no answer to emails but I eventually somehow found a different email address, of one of the proprietors I think. That was answered promptly, and I receive the replacement order quickly. This was about 3 years ago & I've been trying to find the alternate email address for you, but no luck so far :-(

[lgsoltek]

I've ordered directly from them before. I had one order go missing & had no answer to emails but I eventually somehow found a different email address, of one of the proprietors I think. That was answered promptly, and I receive the replacement order quickly. This was about 3 years ago & I've been trying to find the alternate email address for you, but no luck so far :-(

Visvamitra gave me the email address of one of the owners, Didier Boinnard, but I haven't tried it yet. I should probably just phone them.

[migo984]

Visvamitra gave me the email address of one of the owners, Didier Boinnard, but I haven't tried it yet. I should probably just phone them.

Ah yes. That's the guy! I received a very quick response from him, so I don't think you should hesitate to contact him.

[lgsoltek]

Ah yes. That's the guy! I received a very quick response from him, so I don't think you should hesitate to contact him.

Great, thank you!

 

So sorry for hijacking namrehsnoom's post!

[lgsoltek]

I swear this is the last time I'm hijacking dear namrehsnoom's post! Just to update on my order on L'Artisan Pastellier's website. It went well. They sent out the inks the same day, and to order Olivastre which is not on their website, just order something else and leave a word at the comment section!

 

And I ordered Heure dorée as well! Thank you namrehsnoom for the review!