J Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs

[yazeh]

J Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs (Ocean Depths Blue)

Many thanks @Lithium466 for the sample. 

 

This is a very dark Royal blue /blurple. I realized that when cleaning my pen.  

 

If I was doing a blind test, I would’ve thought it a Diamine/ Pilot ink. It's not your usual watery Herbin ink. It has body, it’s juicy, wet and very pleasant to write with. It’s a great ink for dry pens. On the downside, it’s too wet and the colour turns into almost black. 

 

It’s one of the best Herbin inks for copy paper, ghosting and bleed through are minimal with copy paper. The colour also changes on absorbent paper into a nice “blue black”. 

 

Let's start with the gorgeous chroma:

 

Writing Samples:

 

 

 

 

 

Don't be fooled by the scan. Ghosting and bleedthrough is more than acceptable

 

Photo:

 

Comparison:

 

Water test:

@InesF Kitty wore protective gear  

 

Artwork:

The name Bleu des profondeurs (Ocean depths blue) conjured the squid scene in 1954 movie with Kirk Douglas and James Mason, which I saw as a child. Here is an attempt to recreate that scene:

Other inks used: Platinum Carbon Black / Sailor Kiwa-guro and De Atramentis Document orange. 

 

 

·      Pens used: Pilot F3A (Ef /Semi-flex) Lamy (EF/F/M/B, BB) 

·      What I liked: The writing experience, the chroma  

·      What I did not like: It’s almost too wet. Color. 

·       What some might not like: Not for leftie overwriters. 

·      Shading: From M onwards. Also depends on how wet your pen is. 

·      Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper. 

·      Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.

·      Flow Rate: Wet

·      Lubrication: Excellent. 

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Great

·      Saturation:  Saturated. 

·      Shading Potential: Depending on pen and paper. 

·      Sheen: Did not notice. 

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. 

·      Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: Alright. 

·      Water resistance: Quite good. 

·      Availability: 10 /30 ml bottles / cartridges. 

 

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

[LizEF]

Great review, @yazeh!  I love this ink.  It's what I recommend whenever someone needs serious lubrication for their nib - this ink will make any nib smooth as can be - or if they have a dry pen that nothing else works in.  Good thing I didn't know about the purple before I bought it, or I wouldn't have.  Thankfully, it doesn't look blurple when writing - at least, not to me.

 

Fabulous chroma, gorgeous writing samples, fun artwork!  Is that an air tube for our poor water-test kitty and mouse?  And I love the squid scene - oh no, giant squid attack, what will we do!?   Someone get me a harpoon!

 

Thanks for another fun review!

[yazeh]

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Great review, @yazeh

🙏

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

!  I love this ink.  It's what I recommend whenever someone needs serious lubrication for their nib - this ink will make any nib smooth as can be - or if they have a dry pen that nothing else works in. 

Yep, I checked your review. It made me nostalgic. This was one of your earliest reviews  

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Good thing I didn't know about the purple before I bought it, or I wouldn't have.  Thankfully, it doesn't look blurple when writing - at least, not to me.

No, only when cleaning the pen, you see the Royal blue thingy. Only ink nerds will see that  

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Fabulous chroma, gorgeous writing samples, fun artwork!

Thanks from me and Mr. Herbin  

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 Is that an air tube for our poor water-test kitty and mouse? 

Yep. Mine are a one shot thingy. It better work 😛 

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

And I love the squid scene - oh no, giant squid attack, what will we do!?   Someone get me a harpoon!

 As kid I was really frightened of the squid scene. For a long time I was afraid of swimming pools  

18 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Thanks for another fun review!

A pleasure 🙏

[Sailor Kenshin]

Wow, that IS some chroma!  I can see the black in your Jules Verne quotes.

 

Though I don't have this JH Bleu, of your test inks, I do have its weak younger sister, Bleu Nuit.
 

 I remember that movie; love the illustration.  And Chat des Profondeurs, who'd be right at home as a hero.

 

Thanks, @yazeh, for another thoroughly entertaining review.  I look forward to your next one!

[yazeh]

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Wow, that IS some chroma!  

 

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I can see the black in your Jules Verne quotes.

Eagle eyes

 

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Though I don't have this JH Bleu, of your test inks, I do have its weak younger sister, Bleu Nuit.

It's much weaker, especially in washes

 

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 I remember that movie; love the illustration.

Thanks. The recent titles you've been watching probably triggered the movie in my mind

 

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 And Chat des Profondeurs, who'd be right at home as a hero.

 

32 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Thanks, @yazeh, for another thoroughly entertaining review.  I look forward to your next one!

A pleasure! Next one will be your favourite colour again

 

[InesF]

19 hours ago, yazeh said:

@InesF Kitty wore protective gear  

Thank you! (also in the name of kitty!  ) I'm loving it! With all the schlieren when looking deep through the water, it looks like cat is wearing a diving suit, is it?  

In the other picture, the "under-water camera" provides us a glimpse at what cat is doing as profession - looks like track laying a pipeline (or a cable) at the bottom of the ocean. With this information it becomes much easier to understand why cat doesn't fear water as expected (cliché).

 

And, thank you for this so comprehensive ink review! 👍  

I once tried to love Bleu des Profondeurs ... but failed.

 

Looking forward to learn more about cat's and mouses connection to ink reviews!   

[yazeh]

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

Thank you! (also in the name of kitty!  )

 

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

 

I'm loving it! With all the schlieren when looking deep through the water, it looks like cat is wearing a diving suit, is it?  

Exactly I was going for something like this, but as it's my habit, I didn't check the image first  

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

In the other picture, the "under-water camera" provides us a glimpse at what cat is doing as profession - looks like track laying a pipeline (or a cable) at the bottom of the ocean. With this information it becomes much easier to understand why cat doesn't fear water as expected (cliché).

The pipeline is inspired by the giant squid scene in 20000 leagues under the sea the movie done after the Jules Vernes book. I was too tired and lazy to reds the drawing  

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

 

And, thank you for this so comprehensive ink review! 👍  

 

A pleasure! 

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

 

I once tried to love Bleu des Profondeurs ... but failed.

I can understand the colour is meh! But you can always try writing with your eyes closed  

32 minutes ago, InesF said:

Looking forward to learn more about cat's and mouses connection to ink reviews!   

Ah our inner cat & mouse  

[Lithium466]

Thank you @yazeh for your once again excellent review

Most days I dislike blue black inks, and BdP is the exception. I get into endless arguments with my better half by describing some inks as green or green leaning, while she only sees blue. BdP puts everybody in agreement! 
 

[yazeh]

28 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Thank you @yazeh for your once again excellent review

🙏

28 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Most days I dislike blue black inks, and BdP is the exception.

 

28 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

 

I get into endless arguments with my better half by describing some inks as green or green leaning, while she only sees blue. BdP puts everybody in agreement! 

It must be fun when you decide to paint the house.  Unless you use BdP as a guideline 😛

 

[TSherbs]

I like *some* of the lines above, *some* of the ways that this comes out of pens onto paper.

 

And then this jumped into my head...

 

I like no chalky inks

Like des Profondeur's Bleu

I like no inks of sea or sky

except for when I do

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, TSherbs said:

I like *some* of the lines above, *some* of the ways that this comes out of pens onto paper.

 

1 hour ago, TSherbs said:

 

And then this jumped into my head...

 

I like no chalky inks

Like des Profondeur's Bleu

I like no inks of sea or sky

except for when I do

Inky poem. Love it  

[Todor]

Bleu des profondeurs is one of my favourite inks, it has a generous saturation and great flow in any nib. And I enjoy the French craftsmanship in ink production for more than 350 years. 
To quote a friend of mine:

„This is like a piece of dark rich velvet coming out of your nib!“

😊

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, Todor said:

Bleu des profondeurs is one of my favourite inks, it has a generous saturation and great flow in any nib. And I enjoy the French craftsmanship in ink production for more than 350 years. 
To quote a friend of mine:

„This is like a piece of dark rich velvet coming out of your nib!“

😊

 

[Arsouille]

I love Bleu des profondeurs! Have pumped out a good 20ml of it in the last 3 months (and it's one in a wide rotation). 

 

I like the combination of depth and quietness of the color. The shading gives a great range, from very strong / saturation to much dustier. It feels very true to the ocean depths it's meant to represent. 

 

As far as the wetness, I think it flies under the radar (in the depths? I will see myself out) as an alternative to putting something like kon-peki in a dry pen. I find the shade of Bleu des profondeurs more attractive than some of the usual suspects of wet inks. 

[yazeh]

On 5/30/2024 at 9:10 PM, Arsouille said:

I love Bleu des profondeurs! Have pumped out a good 20ml of it in the last 3 months (and it's one in a wide rotation). 

 

On 5/30/2024 at 9:10 PM, Arsouille said:

 

I like the combination of depth and quietness of the color. The shading gives a great range, from very strong / saturation to much dustier. It feels very true to the ocean depths it's meant to represent. 

So true  

On 5/30/2024 at 9:10 PM, Arsouille said:

 

As far as the wetness, I think it flies under the radar (in the depths? I will see myself out) as an alternative to putting something like kon-peki in a dry pen. I find the shade of Bleu des profondeurs more attractive than some of the usual suspects of wet inks. 

Thanks for sharing your experience 🙏

[chromantic]

Great review, yazeh. I bought a 10ml bottle a while back on the strength of LizEF's review.Great color and I don't recall as much bleedthrough as I'd experienced with some of the other colors. Didn't try it out very long, however, usual story, too many similar colors already in use.

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, chromantic said:

Great review, yazeh.

🙏

2 hours ago, chromantic said:

I bought a 10ml bottle a while back on the strength of LizEF's review.Great color and I don't recall as much bleedthrough as I'd experienced with some of the other colors.

Yep @LizEF reviewing sort of stayed with me. Same here, minimal bleed-through in my experience, despite what the scan might show.   this is one the best Herbin inks  

2 hours ago, chromantic said:

Didn't try it out very long, however, usual story, too many similar colors already in use.