EFNIR: Herbin Violette Pensée

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Herbin Violette Pensée

This is review #289 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink is much more red-leaning when wet, but loses a noticeable portion of the red as it dries. The microscope smear was yawnedy yawn yawn yawn. Given how wet the ink is, the shading will depend on the pen - a drier pen may give better shading, or longer strokes than would normally be made with an EF nib. Dry time was a bit over 1 minute on the front side of Rhodia. Cleaning was easy with plain water, but the ink is quite concentrated, so expect a few extra flushes. A distinctly pinkish color was visible during cleaning, but none of it clung to the pen.

Zoomed in photo (One monitor is too blue, the other too red, but it's not too far off.)

Screenshot (Too blue or too red, depending on the screen...)

Scan of Completed Review (This seems closest to me.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Also too blue or too red, but not too far off... :))

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 308µm. With 289 inks measured, the average line width is 296µm.)

Previous Review: Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

Thanks for such fun review @LizEF  now that we have the magical version of mild-meld

Violette pensée was one of my first inks, and I believe the colour was mandatory in the French school system up to the 70s. 

 

I had a big laugh of the user manual quote  

You always manage to tie things somehow, 👏

Thanks for making Tuesdays so much fun 🙏🙏🙏

[LizEF]

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for such fun review @LizEF  

You're very welcome!

 

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

now that we have the magical version of mild-meld

  More telepathic communication, but yeah.

 

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

Violette pensée was one of my first inks, and I believe the colour was mandatory in the French school system up to the 70s. 

Wow, that's interesting.  I would have expected blue to be mandatory, not purple.

 

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

I had a big laugh of the user manual quote  

You always manage to tie things somehow, 👏 

   You'd think there would be plenty of good quotes about connections, but apparently not.  Meanwhile, it would be really funny if the magical instructions for making these enchantments included such comments.  (The details would probably require physics and calculus to calculate the connection strength based on distance from the Source, distance between the two enchanted beings, and interference caused by Objects of Power. )

 

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for making Tuesdays so much fun 🙏🙏🙏

  You're most welcome!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Ur ink, I haz its.  🎉

 

But mine is pale, pale, watery violet.  And it's one of my first inks, and I refuse to calculate how long ago I got it, which would make me feel older than I really am.

 

Is your bottle/sample newish?  Maybe it is a color that fades.  But I use VP in a Pelikano Jr. with a yellow body and a cap matching the ink color.  
 

@yazeh, I do think of this as French Schoolchildren's ink! 
 

@LizEF: Thanks so much for making Tuesdays (especially those with demonic voices emanating from my desktop) interesting and fun! 

[LizEF]

40 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Ur ink, I haz its.  🎉

Thief!

 

40 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

But mine is pale, pale, watery violet.  And it's one of my first inks, and I refuse to calculate how long ago I got it, which would make me feel older than I really am.

Well, mine may be too, and we just perceive it differently.  Or maybe the formula's changed...

 

41 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Is your bottle/sample newish?  Maybe it is a color that fades.  But I use VP in a Pelikano Jr. with a yellow body and a cap matching the ink color.  

I have no idea.  My sample was a gift from @Lithium466. (Thanks, Lith!)

 

41 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@LizEF: Thanks so much for making Tuesdays (especially those with demonic voices emanating from my desktop) interesting and fun! 

You're most welcome!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

  More telepathic communication, but yeah.

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Wow, that's interesting.  I would have expected blue to be mandatory, not purple.

I don't know why. That's what I heard. Internet is not very helpful  

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

   You'd think there would be plenty of good quotes about connections, but apparently not.  Meanwhile, it would be really funny if the magical instructions for making these enchantments included such comments.  (The details would probably require physics and calculus to calculate the connection strength based on distance from the Source, distance between the two enchanted beings, and interference caused by Objects of Power. )

 

Oh my that would not be practical with Makhabesh's fidgety style and Essri dashing all over the place  

 

[LizEF]

35 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Internet is not very helpful  

I'm shocked!  Shocked, I say!

 

35 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Oh my that would not be practical with Makhabesh's fidgety style and Essri dashing all over the place  

  Only the really, really nerdy wizards ponder these things, I'm sure.

[DilettanteG]

Another great ink review. Thanks for putting the time in and posting it! 

[Mercian]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Meanwhile, it would be really funny if the magical instructions for making these enchantments included such comments.  (The details would probably require physics and calculus to calculate the connection strength based on distance from the Source, distance between the two enchanted beings, and interference caused by Objects of Power. )

One would also need to factor-in the presence, location, size, and severity of any Miasmas and/or areas subject to Eldritch enchantments in the intervening spaces.

 

13 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Only the really, really nerdy wizards ponder these things, I'm sure.

Being (and/or having companions who are) fidgety and/or wont to dash around hither and yon, may not exactly be considered ‘best practice’ when considering/composing/casting the more-complicated of Spells. In practice, confusion can complicate one’s calculations as well as interrupting one’s concentration.
This, of course, is why academic Wizards deem it to be Unseemly - the disapproval is intended to discourage young Mages from dallying with behaviours that may incur unnecessary danger.

But the more-skilful practitioners can still pull-it-off (as long as they make very sure that they have crossed all their Eths, left none of their runes unfinished, or incantations incomplete).

 

What?
I’ll have you know that this isn’t nerdy…
 

…it’s merely a matter of the paying of appropriate attention to the nuances of the Spell, and the doing of one’s due diligence when considering the objects, artefacts, and Entities that have any Influences on the areas of aether with which once is dealing!

[LizEF]

49 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Another great ink review.

Thanks!

 

49 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Thanks for putting the time in and posting it! 

You're very welcome!

[LizEF]

48 minutes ago, Mercian said:

One would also need to factor-in the presence, location, size, and severity of any Miasmas and/or areas subject to Eldritch enchantments in the intervening spaces.

 

55 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Being (and/or having companions who are) fidgety and/or wont to dash around hither and yon, may not exactly be considered ‘best practice’ when considering/composing/casting the more-complicated of Spells. In practice, confusion can complicate one’s calculations as well as interrupting one’s concentration.
This, of course, is why academic Wizards deem it to be Unseemly - the disapproval is intended to discourage young Mages from dallying with behaviours that may incur unnecessary danger.

But the more-skilful practitioners can still pull-it-off (as long as they make very sure that they have crossed all their Eths, left none of their runes unfinished, or incantations incomplete).

 

What?
I’ll have you know that this isn’t nerdy…
 

…it’s merely a matter of the paying of appropriate attention to the nuances of the Spell, and the doing of one’s due diligence when considering the objects, artefacts, and Entities that have any Influences on the areas of aether with which once is dealing!

Thank you, Professor, for expounding on the nuances of enchanting and casting spells!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

I'm shocked!  Shocked, I say!

Well, it's most me. I don't have the patience to go beyond the first few pages, anymore  

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

  Only the really, really nerdy wizards ponder these things, I'm sure.

Or nerdy inklovers, who read tech manuals to put the cats to sleep (sorry couldn't help it  )

[LizEF]

7 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Well, it's most me. I don't have the patience to go beyond the first few pages, anymore  

I was being sarcastic - you're exactly right, the internet gets less helpful every day.

 

8 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Or nerdy inklovers, who read tech manuals to put the cats to sleep (sorry couldn't help it  )

There is no getting a cat to sleep unless it's when you don't want it to sleep. I was up until 01:15 this morning (despite going to bed at 10:30pm) in no small part because my boys wanted to thunder around the house in the dark...

[Mercian]

11 minutes ago, LizEF said:

There is no getting a cat to sleep unless it's when you don't want it to sleep.

⬆️ Here be Truth!

[yazeh]

7 hours ago, LizEF said:

There is no getting a cat to sleep unless it's when you don't want it to sleep. I was up until 01:15 this morning (despite going to bed at 10:30pm) in no small part because my boys wanted to thunder around the house in the dark...

So sorry to hear that! In summertime, the sound of the air conditioner often masks a noisy cat 🙀

[InesF]

Thank you, @LizEF, for the ink review and for connecting all of us to our magical heroes!  From my side, subjectively, the connection with the (Dungeon-)party may withstand more than 49N ... in any direction! 🙄 🤫 😃

 

While I love the purple as it appears in your scan and photo, I have my subjective problems with this ink. I owned a bottle many years ago and was unable to use it with one of my two fountain pens at that time (yeah, the glory past) - it was way too wet. I poured it into the sink and never ever considered it again. I think, my connection with Violette Pensée was not strong enough.  

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I was up until 01:15 this morning (despite going to bed at 10:30pm) in no small part because my boys wanted to thunder around the house in the dark...

Congratulations! Seems like Kitty-boys have adopted you and feel at home! Welcome to the club!

 

At this point I also like to thank the other participants of this thread - I feel highly entertained by all the contributions!  

[Lithium466]

20 hours ago, yazeh said:

Violette pensée was one of my first inks, and I believe the colour was mandatory in the French school system up to the 70s. 

That's a topic that always left me puzzling... Why was purple/violet mandatory ? Or was it, and not because it was the cheapest at this time? (Reading "Les gens de bureau" by Emile Gaboriau, I wouldn't be surprised)

I also read that the Herbin was the official one, but was it really? I can't see something that pale being used with dip pens, I remember seeing something much much darker, almost black, that needed a blotter not to smudge everywhere. I also vaguely remember seeing some powdered ink "Chanta", that the teacher would prepare for the class... 

 

And then it changed to erasable/washable blue...but I don't know why. Improvement in ink technology, to be able to "erase"?

 

15 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Well, mine may be too, and we just perceive it differently.  Or maybe the formula's changed...

 

I have no idea.  My sample was a gift from @Lithium466. (Thanks, Lith!)

It comes from a bottle I bought approximately a year ago. Maybe Herbin took advantage of one of the reformulations to increase the saturation a bit? (I think that ink could use another reformulation or two  )

 

As always, thank you @LizEF for the review, and for making Tuesdays the highlight of the week!

 

 

Edit: I'm now reading that methyl violet dye was the cheapest and had antiseptic/fongic properties.

[Sailor Kenshin]

13 hours ago, LizEF said:

I was being sarcastic - you're exactly right, the internet gets less helpful every day.

 

There is no getting a cat to sleep unless it's when you don't want it to sleep. I was up until 01:15 this morning (despite going to bed at 10:30pm) in no small part because my boys wanted to thunder around the house in the dark...

 

Yup. Cat rodeo.

[LizEF]

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

So sorry to hear that! In summertime, the sound of the air conditioner often masks a noisy cat 🙀

Usually they don't bother me, but sometimes Smoke decides to get himself in trouble.  There are days when I think it would have been better to put up with Klaw's constant "Meowmy, I'm bored!" cries.  But then I see them cuddling or playing and am glad I got Smoke, even if he is much more naughty than Klaw ever dreamed of being...

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for the ink review and for connecting all of us to our magical heroes! 

You're very welcome!

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

From my side, subjectively, the connection with the (Dungeon-)party may withstand more than 49N ... in any direction! 🙄 🤫 😃

  Indeed, our band of adventurers are strongly bonded.

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

While I love the purple as it appears in your scan and photo, I have my subjective problems with this ink. I owned a bottle many years ago and was unable to use it with one of my two fountain pens at that time (yeah, the glory past) - it was way too wet. I poured it into the sink and never ever considered it again. I think, my connection with Violette Pensée was not strong enough.  

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Congratulations! Seems like Kitty-boys have adopted you and feel at home! Welcome to the club!

Thank you.  Yes, indeed, our own mini felion pride here.

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

At this point I also like to thank the other participants of this thread - I feel highly entertained by all the contributions!  

Indeed, a good thread!