J Herbin Perle Noire

[yazeh]

J Herbin Perle Noire (Black Pearl)

 

My go to black inks for sketching and writing are Platinum Carbon Black and Sailor Kiwaguro. But I wanted to do some artwork and got this on a whim. I had forgotten how wonderful sometimes a shiny black ink can be (much like Japanese Sumi ink, or lamp black inks) and this one delivers.

 

The chroma is unexciting, but there seems to be hint of yellow....

But this was the first ink that tamed the Ef Kakuna steel nib pleasurable. I also enjoyed using it with the Osmiroid with Copperplate nib but paradoxically less in Lamy Safari or the Jinhao with fude nib. Still I managed to use half of the 10 ml bottle. 

Writing samples:

I used quotes by Josephine Baker, inspired by Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a tribute to her.

Note the yellow in the smudging:

 

It doesn't like Hammermill very much..

Ghosting and bleed through....

 

 

What was surprising was how easy it was to clean, despite being a very respectable water-resistant ink.

Watertest:

Comparaison 

 

And now a bit of artwork.

The orange ink is Noodler's Apache Sunset. 

What is interesting is that it turns into gold when in contact with bleach. 

You can see the bleach/ gold reaction in this piece inspired by @LizEF Adventures of Quin & Makhabesh. (And a huge thanks for giving me permission to do so)

The lower part of the page is all done with Herbin Perle Noir. The female Egyptian cat (Noodletitti  ) , the little kitten and the lower background (diluted). The gold was created by a glass nib dipped in bleach. 

(other inks  red: Organics Studio, Oscar's Copper, Dark Brown of the staff, and purple sphinx aka Makhabesh PIlot Yamaguri, Background dark brown (right) is Gutenberg Urkundentinte G10, and left is home made pomegranate ink)

 

 

 

 

· Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B), Osmiroid Copperplate, Jinhao 450 fude

· What I liked: Delicious black, reminds me of sumi ink, great for art, amazing lubrication.

· What I did not like: You might have Startup issues if the pen is left uncapped.

· What some might not like: It doesn’t like cheap papers.

· Shading: No

· Ghosting: On cheap paper

· Bleed through: Same as above. 

· Flow Rate: Wet

· Lubrication: Excellent

· Nib Dry-out: None

· Start-up: None

· Saturation: Beautiful shiny black

· Shading Potential: Why would you want a black ink to shade?

· Sheen: None

· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No

· Nib Creep / “Crud”: No.

· Staining (pen): No

· Clogging: No

· Cleaning: Very easy

· Water resistance: Very good

· Availability: 10/30/500 ml bottles, cartridges.  

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

 

 

 

 

[LizEF]

22 minutes ago, yazeh said:

But this was the first ink that tamed the Ef Kakuna steel nib pleasurable. I also enjoyed using it with the Osmiroid with Copperplate nib but paradoxically less in Lamy Safari or the Jinhao with fude nib. 

It's better lubricated than average, but according to An Ink Guy on YouTube it's also a bit drier than average.  That unusual combination might explain these results.

 

Thank you for this review, @yazeh!   Very nice to see the artwork in context.  If I liked black inks, I'd like this one. Since I don't use black inks, I recommend it to others who do.  Scrolling through the swatches, my thought was, "Wow, that's quite black." And then I hit Heart of Darkness... 

 

Meanwhile, Klaw says he would like an introduction to Noodletitti.

[Sailor Kenshin]

@yazeh: This is all kinds of creative!  Love the artwork.

 

I have Perle Noire but can't remember if it's a sample or whole bottle.  I thought it was a wet, gushy ink, very black, never noticed any gold, but then I wasn't looking for it.  

 

I might even try the bleach thing—- with a toothpick.  😸

 

Thanks!

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

It's better lubricated than average, but according to An Ink Guy on YouTube it's also a bit drier than average.  That unusual combination might explain these results.

That makes absolute sense 👍

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Thank you for this review, @yazeh!  

🙏

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

Very nice to see the artwork in context.

🙏

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

  If I liked black inks, I'd like this one. Since I don't use black inks, I recommend it to others who do.  Scrolling through the swatches, my thought was, "Wow, that's quite black." And then I hit Heart of Darkness... 

 

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Meanwhile, Klaw says he would like an introduction to Noodletitti.

That's your department!

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh: This is all kinds of creative!  Love the artwork.

🙏

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

I have Perle Noire but can't remember if it's a sample or whole bottle.  I thought it was a wet, gushy ink, very black, never noticed any gold, but then I wasn't looking for it.  

 

I might even try the bleach thing—- with a toothpick.  😸

Or a glass nib

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks!

A pleasure!

[lapis]

Nice review, especially your most meritorious artwork (no surprise to me!). For me, as re "colour", I'm not all that hot about it (the ink), simply because for me it's neither a "pure" black nor a black with enough off-black tinge for somebody else to say "what's that  in it, over and above the black?". Still, it remains (I think) -- next to Aurora's -- one of our all-time blacks.

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, lapis said:

Nice review, especially your most meritorious artwork (no surprise to me!).

🙏

2 hours ago, lapis said:

 

For me, as re "colour", I'm not all that hot about it (the ink), simply because for me it's neither a "pure" black nor a black with enough off-black tinge for somebody else to say "what's that  in it, over and above the black?". Still, it remains (I think) -- next to Aurora's -- one of our all-time blacks.

I like it especially for it's small bottle and lovely lubrication!

 

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

I like it especially for it's small bottle and lovely lubrication!

 

I like my, hmmm, mid-size 500ml bottle too! 🤪

[yazeh]

22 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

I like my, hmmm, mid-size 500ml bottle too! 🤪

Haha!

 

[USG]

Is it the same as this?  I may have purchased it sometime in the 90s.  I Still have half a bottle so +1 for the Bottle and cap, it didn't evaporate completely, (but mostly because I never used it much).  It wasn't dark enough, or black enough (ymmv).... I ended up with Aurora Black as my go to black ink.  But that was a long time ago when my work pens were a Pelikan M800 F and an Aurora Mare F.  And in those days it was mostly the Pelikan with Aurora Blue ink. 😀

 

[yazeh]

@USG it could be:

https://www.jherbin.com/fountain_pen_inks_colors.html

 

Perle noire (Black Pearl): the black ink was the first created by Herbin, with an exceptional quality. He gave it the name “Perle Noire” for its preciousness.

[txomsy]

I have a 500ml bottle of J. Herbin Perle Noire. Still unopened. I got it to substitute Noodler's X-Feather, which is my go-to black ink without any doubt but which is difficult to get at a reasonable price out of the US. My reasoning was that for the cost (30€, which was similar to  or less than what one bottle of X-Feather would cost me) it was well worth the expense.

 

I'll try to compare both on different papers once I empty on of the pens and can load it.

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, txomsy said:

I have a 500ml bottle of J. Herbin Perle Noire. Still unopened. I got it to substitute Noodler's X-Feather, which is my go-to black ink without any doubt but which is difficult to get at a reasonable price out of the US. My reasoning was that for the cost (30€, which was similar to  or less than what one bottle of X-Feather would cost me) it was well worth the expense.

It makes sense. It all depends if you want the ink to be waterproof or water-resistant. Personally, I would be overwhelmed by 500 ml bottle, but that's me

 

3 hours ago, txomsy said:

I'll try to compare both on different papers once I empty on of the pens and can load it.

Looking forward to it

 

[txomsy]

I understand, but I'm using Kuretake brush pens for quick sketching, and those can lay down ink very quickly, which is why I wanted an ink that was relatively water resistant and unexpensive.

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, txomsy said:

I understand, but I'm using Kuretake brush pens for quick sketching, and those can lay down ink very quickly, which is why I wanted an ink that was relatively water resistant and unexpensive.

I got you! That makes absolute sense! I'm not familiar with brush pens. Is it the Zig ones that use fountain pen cartridges?

[txomsy]

Most likely so, I seem to remember that Kuretake is a sub-brand of Zig. Not sure if they always were so.

 

These are nice brass pens lacquered (the info says urushi, but for the price I assume it must be machine-made urushi, although some -the million years line- are really nice) using Platinum cartridges and converter. Cool in that they seal very well, and they can take permanent inks even better than non-permanent (at least the ones with natural hair).

 

 

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, txomsy said:

Most likely so, I seem to remember that Kuretake is a sub-brand of Zig. Not sure if they always were so.

 

These are nice brass pens lacquered (the info says urushi, but for the price I assume it must be machine-made urushi, although some -the million years line- are really nice) using Platinum cartridges and converter. Cool in that they seal very well, and they can take permanent inks even better than non-permanent (at least the ones with natural hair).

 

 

Thanks! Much appreciated!