QUIZ: Three taupe (grey brown) inks

[PithyProlix]

Three 'taupe' (grey brown) fountain pen inks, two French, one German:

• J. Herbin La Perle des Encres Cacao du Bresil
• L'Artisan Pastellier Classique Brun Ours
• Rohrer & Klingner Schreibtinte Sepia

 

These three colors are very close. Two of them are nearly indistinguishable, at least to me, but there are differences.

I'm tentatively planning a combined review of these three similarly-colored inks but, in the meantime, here's a teaser quiz: three writing samples with my normal, quick note-taking hand, all using the same type of pen - 3 different Pilot 78Gs with 'B' nibs, a dry pen with a fairly crisp italic nib that I enjoy a lot - Rhodia paper from a pad, and each writing sample uses a different one of the above three inks. The photos were taken in the same light at nearly the same time (late afternoon indirect sun).

The goal of this quiz is to match the ink - Cacao du Bresil, Brun Ours, & Sepia - used with each writing sample: A, B, & C. 

 

After you have had a few days to take a guess I will try to post chromatography photos.

 

And your impressions of the inks are welcome and encouraged, of course!

 

 

 

[yazeh]

I don't know these inks.. But B and C seem most similar...

[PithyProlix]

  On 4/26/2021 at 1:03 PM, yazeh said:

I don't know these inks.. But B and C seem most similar...

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Definitely! 👍

[nibtip]

my guess is 1 Cacao

                     2 ours

                     3 sepia

 

This is fun. Thanks.

[mizgeorge]

  On 4/26/2021 at 4:34 PM, nibtip said:

my guess is 1 Cacao

                     2 ours

                     3 sepia

 

This is fun. Thanks.

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+1

[OleJuul]

1. Brun Ours

2. Sepia

3. Cacao

 

[amberleadavis]

Wow, these are close enough for the Doppelganger thread.

[PithyProlix]

Some more photos, this time using a cheapo #2 dip pen nib on Chinese-made Kokuyo paper and lighting is a LED lamp, color temperature set to 6000K. (Not sure why but the white balance in #3 is a little different from #1 & #2 ...). I think there is much more difference between the inks in this sample.

 

Add your guess ... change your guess ... or not! 

 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Of the three, I've only used Cacao du Brazil, and didn't particularly like it (it seemed sort of gritty).  So I'm not even attempting to guess which ink is which.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Carrau]

1.  Brun Ours

2.  Cacao

3.  Sepia

[MsRedpen]

Sepia

Cacao

Ours

?

 

Cacao is one of my favourite inks. On the dry side, shades wonderfully with Pelikans.

From the similar colour range I have Stone road of Gion and Monteverde Moonstone (not Brun Ours and Sepia...)

Curious to see finals - and thanks.

[PithyProlix]

  On 4/28/2021 at 6:10 PM, MsRedpen said:

From the similar colour range I have Stone road of Gion and Monteverde Moonstone (not Brun Ours and Sepia...)

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What are your impressions of Stone Road of Gion and Moonstone, please? I have been resisting those Kyoto TAG inks - but just barely - due to cost. 

[Carrau]

  On 4/29/2021 at 4:04 AM, PithyProlix said:

What are your impressions of Stone Road of Gion and Moonstone, please? I have been resisting those Kyoto TAG inks - but just barely - due to cost. 

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For me, I’ve found them to be fairly similar inks, the Moonstone being a bit more saturated than Stone Road.  I asked FPN member Visvamitra to comment on the two in his review of Monteverde Moonstone, and he compares several inks including these two  (see link below).  I like them both from the color standpoint, but can’t justify the cost of the Stone Road, given their similarity.  The comparison is about the 10th post in the thread.  He also does a nice review of Stone Road.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/324567-moonstone-monteverde-gemstone-collection/ 

[PithyProlix]

  On 4/29/2021 at 1:04 PM, Carrau said:

For me, I’ve found them to be fairly similar inks, the Moonstone being a bit more saturated than Stone Road.  I asked FPN member Visvamitra to comment on the two in his review of Monteverde Moonstone, and he compares several inks including these two  (see link below).  I like them both from the color standpoint, but can’t justify the cost of the Stone Road, given their similarity.  The comparison is about the 10th post in the thread.  He also does a nice review of Stone Road.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/324567-moonstone-monteverde-gemstone-collection/ 

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Thanks for the link - it is helpful. In that comparison, as well as other pics of the inks online, Moonstone seems very close to R&K Sepia to my eye, enough so that I don't think I could justify buying it since the R&K is such a good performer and at a lower price. But Stone Road of Gion goes much more towards ochre to my eye and seems significantly different from the others - it will stay on my want list. 

[PithyProlix]

  On 4/28/2021 at 5:13 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Of the three, I've only used Cacao du Brazil, and didn't particularly like it (it seemed sort of gritty).  So I'm not even attempting to guess which ink is which.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

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Do you mean it seemed gritty visually or in the physical texture of the ink itself?

 

[Carrau]

  On 4/29/2021 at 2:59 PM, PithyProlix said:

Thanks for the link - it is helpful. In that comparison, as well as other pics of the inks online, Moonstone seems very close to R&K Sepia to my eye, enough so that I don't think I could justify buying it since the R&K is such a good performer and at a lower price. But Stone Road of Gion goes much more towards ochre to my eye and seems significantly different from the others - it will stay on my want list. 

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I have Monteverde Moonstone, Stone Road (sample)and R&K Sepia.  To my eye in person, Stone Road is much closer to Moonstone than R&K Sepia, and to my eye, the Sepia is more yellow than those two.  YMMV. There is a bewildering number of shades in this range.

[PithyProlix]

Well, sorry, folks, but the various types of paper I have here didn't work well for chromatography so maybe a future thing. So, instead of keeping y'all hanging any longer, here's the reveal.

 

The answers are:

A. L'Artisan Pastellier Classique Brun Ours

B. J. Herbin La Perle des Encres Cacao du Bresil

C. Rohrer & Klingner Schreibtinte Sepia

 

Of the five folks that bravely offered us their guesses @Carrau was the only one to get all three.  

 

To my eyes Brun Ours is the 'browniest', even a little chocolatey, and the least grey, though still with a strong grey component. It actually is a bit reminiscent of the Brown/Grizzly bear species it is named for. Cacao du Bresil and Sepia are quite close but Cacao has a slight purple undertone and Sepia a slight green, at least to my eye. Sepia is the most wet (though perhaps close to normal wetness for inks generally - though I prefer inks on the dry side so I might be biased) so I guess it isn't surprising that it appears darkest on paper.

The overall impression of a written page is that they all have an organic, smoke & cigars, masculine-type feel, if you know what I mean. The first set of pictures were captured from pages on which I copied excerpts from the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Yuri Kazakov, involving dreary scenes of low grey clouds covering frosty woods, a hotel room reeking of tobacco, a dingy town with factory smoke hanging over it and locomotives hauling loads of peat, and a cold, gloomy, musty room on an old steam ship which is lurching through a windy, bleary night. (You know - happy stuff. ) That's the kind of mood I felt matched these inks.

All three inks really resonate with most of the visual qualities I most like to see in inks and I'm really glad to have bought bottles of each (though the small 10ml bottle for the Herbin). Given their similar look and feel, I probably won't ink my pens with more than one of these at a time. That said, this type of color has quickly become one of my foundational ink colors for writing so I will surely have one always inked and in use.

If I work up the courage and time I will do a detailed comparison of the three.

[ENewton]

  On 4/30/2021 at 9:57 AM, PithyProlix said:

 

Cacao du Bresil and Sepia are quite close but Cacao has a slight purple undertone and Sepia a slight green, at least to my eye. 
...
If I work up the courage and time I will do a detailed comparison of the three.

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To my eye too.  That is exactly why I finally gave away my bottle of Sepia and replaced it with a bottle of Cacao.

 

I look forward to your detailed comparison.

[yazeh]

I appreciated your cigar and manliness description. I truly got a feel of ink that normally I wouldn't,t gravitate towards.... thanks a lot..

Looking forward to seeing your comparisons...

[MsRedpen]

I managed a quick comparison to see what will come out (not a proper chroma, jut watered square than quick line of ink on the top.. perhaps too much water for Cacao?). Names with glass dip pen. Paper is Canson 300 g watercolor.

Anyways.... Moonstone and Stone road of Gion are different exactly as @Carrau described (and congrats on 100% correct answer!).

Kyo-iro is definitely the driest and best performer in wet pens. Moonstone is much less picky on pens. Both shade beautifully and look great on cream paper. 

Would I buy a back-up bottle of Stone road? Probably not. Time to finally try R&K Sepia.