Jacques Herbin Shogun by Kenzo Takada

[A Smug Dill]

https://www.jacquesherbin.com/en/shogun-by-kenzo-takada-k3-flacon-50ml.html

Colour: Always presented as dark brown in the marketing images, and the manufacturer calls it “twilight-coloured”, but while the ink goes down brown-black, once it dries on Rhodia DotPad 80g/m² paper, it's nothing but charcoal and black, without any hint of brown that I can see.

 

Flow: Rather wet (and you probably know I don't say that of inks very often)

 

 

Shading: Limited to when the ink is laid down rather dry on Rhodia DotPad paper, and given that it's a wet ink, for ‘normal’ applications I don't think you'll see much shading manifest in handwriting.

 

Sheen: None observed, even when laid down so heavily it starts to bleed through the paper.

 

 

Shimmer: Quite a lot. Herbin says it's “fine red and gold glitter”, although I see red and cyan in the reflected light. Some of the red particles are really fine; after I left the bottle undisturbed for hours, when I dipped the Pilot steel nib carefully so as not to cause any movement, I could still see a few tiny flecks of red in the ink that gets picked up by nib. Once I turned the bottle over, the shimmer particles that had settled on the base of the bottle immediately started falling away; no clumping whatsoever, and shaking wasn't really required to get the particles to move away from the glass.

 

Feathering: Not observed on Rhodia DotPad paper.

 

Show-through: Between minimal and nil on Rhodia DotPad paper.

 

Bleed-through: Only when I shaded and filled a square completely twice over, and probably damaged the paper's sizing/coating in the process (and the difference in the degree of bleed-through in the two squares, which I filled using different facets of the nib's tipping, attests to it).

 

 

Drying time: Within 15 seconds, including where pen strokes intersected, except for heavy application of ink in for dot in the minuscule ‘j’ (and so probably ‘i’, and the full stop as well), where even after 45 seconds I can see the slightest hint of black being smeared.

 

Water resistance: In terms of the black ink marks not being eradicated or eroded by water, resistance is high. However, when a water brush is applied, the run-off can make a complete mess of the area and render the written text difficult to read.

 

[A Smug Dill]

OK, I can see the ‘twilight’ brown-black colour in dried writing now, having written with the ink on Milligram 80gsm maple paper and looked at it under a bright light. And, oh boy, the amount of shimmer in this ink is astounding.

 

Edit:

Nope, I was wrong. It was only because I was looking at it under a yellowish light, and the gold shimmer against the dark grey ink was making the marks look somewhat brown.

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by A Smug Dill

[InesF]

Thank you @A Smug Dill for introducing this exotic ink!

Never before have I seen a black or almost-black ink with shimmer - it sounds counter-logic to absorb all light (black) and hope for shimmer reflections. However, J Herbin somehow managed to do that. Great!

 

Speaking to myself: I have too many inks, I have way too many inks! OK, I put it on the wish list ...🙄

[A Smug Dill]

41 minutes ago, InesF said:

Never before have I seen a black or almost-black ink with shimmer

 

How about Diamine Sparkling Shadows or Night Sky?

[LizEF]

Thanks for this review, @A Smug Dill - neither shimmer nor black particularly appeal to me, but I still like seeing it from afar - your angled shots to capture the shimmer are lovely.

[Audrey T]

Although I already have and really like this ink, as usual I gained a whole new level of appreciation from your review, @A Smug Dill. Lovely.

[amberleadavis]

Hmm.... it is not what I expected and it reminds me of the 1670 Stormy Grey.  OH, yes, it does look like Diamine Sparkling Shadows which is what I have inked up now.

[mizgeorge]

Great review @A Smug Dill - thank you so much.

 

I've been on the fence about this one, and I think you've convinced me that I don't need it. I was definitely hoping for a more interesting base colour, and red shimmer's probably the proverbial nail.

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

I think this ink would be a good match visually for my Sailor Koshu-inden Sayagata, but because in my experience that pen models doesn't seal quite as effectively as the Profit or Pro Gear models when capped and unused, I'm a bit wary about filling it with any ink containing insoluble matter (i.e. pigment and shimmer particles) suspended in the liquid.

 

[yazeh]

@A Smug DillNice review. Is it me or the ink looks (charcoal) grey, rather than brown?

[A Smug Dill]

@yazeh Thanks. The base colour is charcoal, and the ink marks only look brown because of the fine gold glitter catching the light. I haven't looked at it closely under a bright light with a loupe, but I suspect (some of) the gold shimmer particles are smaller in size, and spread more readily and evenly, than the red ones, thus making the marks present as brown where the ink was laid down wet; and, as I observed, this ink tends towards wetter flow.

 

Scanning tends not to pick up off-at-an-angle reflections from shimmer particles, and so even with writing that is rich with shimmer, the marks still show up as largely charcoal in the image.

 

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

@A Smug DillNice review. Is it me or the ink looks (charcoal) grey, rather than brown?

I was thinking the same thing.  I had been curious about this ink (I have liked about half of the 1670 and 1798 lines, due to the base color as much as anything).  And not really seeing it as "brown" on my screen.

This is one I'm going to have to think about, and probably try a sample before springing for a full bottle (I don't have a lot of pens I feel comfortable putting shimmer inks into, even though I have some, including a bottle of the original formula of 1670 Rouge Hematite, with the big gold flakes -- that ink's use is limited to a cheap Chinese fude pen, because of the flakes, but does alright in it).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[namrehsnoom]

Great review. The ink first intrigued me, but now I can safely let it pass. Not at all what I expected. 

[yazeh]

 @A Smug Dill 🙏

 

[essayfaire]

On 2/2/2022 at 5:29 PM, namrehsnoom said:

Great review. The ink first intrigued me, but now I can safely let it pass. Not at all what I expected. 

Exactly.  I was thinking it might be a nice, dark brown with shimmer that reportedly is finer than that in Caroube de Chypre, yet a deeper brown than Diamine Cocoa Shimmer.  This very thorough review has made it clear that this ink would be too close to Gris d' Orage for what I'm looking for, even if the shimmer is more shimmery!  Thanks so much for this.