Jacques Herbin – rue de la Verrerie - Bleu Verrerie (Couleurs de Paris collection)

[yazeh]

Jacques Herbin – rue de la Verrerie/ Bleu Verrerie (Couleurs de Paris collection)

 

Couleurs de Paris (Colours of Paris) is a 5-set ink inks by Jacques Herbin: 

Rue de la Verrerie - "Royal" blue

Moulin Rouge - orangish-red. 

Tour Eiffel/ Eiffel Tower - Sepia gold

Métropolitain -  Paris subway/underground mint green

Les Toits de Paris (Paris rooftops)- Blue grey

 

Here is a snap shot of the colours: 

They are also sold separately in 10 ml/30 ml J Herbin format /bottles, which is kind of surprising, but a clever marketing move, IMHO. I prefer the small 10 ml bottles.  

  

Of the 5 inks, 4 are Parisian icons/ landmarks. Rue de la Verrerie, one of the oldest streets in Paris (11^thcentury) is in this collection because it was Jacques Herbin’s address in 1810. (Many thanks to @Mercian for researching that). 

 

Goulet has marketed these inks differently. This one as Bleu Verrerie. 

 

The colour reminds me of the blue in the enamel street signs of Paris, but it might be inspired by the stain glass blue of Notre-Dame. In the 12^th century several Verreries or glass makers, resided in this street. 

 Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia. 

 

 

I decided to start with this ink as it seemed a very typical /boring royal blue, even though the chroma seemed promising:

 

It seems almost identical the top two swatches

 

 

But boy in writing these inks are so different When I started writing, I was in awe. I didn’t want to empty my pens and wanted to savour every single drop.  

  

It’s a very wet saturated royal blue. But it changes colour depending what paper /pen combination you use. This ink sings on Japanese Papers with dry pens and has maximum shading. It varies from pastel Royal blue, blurple up to navy. The wetter the pen, the darker the colour and the shading disappears. 

 

Very long dry times on Rhodia, so lefty over-writers, this ain’t for you.  

It has decent water resistance. Cleaning was easy but it needed a nice overnight soak. You can see the gorgeous chroma, on tissue paper, when I finally cleaned the pen.  ( for ink nerds  )

 

My experience with royal blues has been limited in the past years, but this one has been a very pleasant surprise  

 

 

 

Writing Samples:

 

Photo:

 

Water test:

Left side 10 seconds under running water. 

 

Art Work:

This ink and Tour Eiffel /or Eiffel Tower Brown are very complementary. So I had fun playing around, inventing stained glasses: 

My first attempts. (Note the blue grey in the top right has a bit of Lexington gray in the mix) 

Stained glass from the Cathédrale de Notre Chat et souris (cat & mouse) 😸

and finally both inks iwith maximum saturation: 

 

 

 

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

·      Writing experience: Inky heaven!

·      What I liked: Colour, shading, writing experience. 

·      What I did not like: Long dry times, wetness

·       What some might not like: Same as above

·      Shading: Subtle on Rhodia, amazing on Japanese paper. 

·      Ghosting: Depending paper, nib size, wetness, yes on cheap paper. 

·      Bleed through: Yes, with a wet pen. 

·      Flow Rate: Very wet

·      Lubrication: Excellent.

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Ok

·      Saturation:  Saturated.

·      Shading Potential: Great on Japanese paper. 

·      Sheen: No. 

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Depending pen, nib wetness, flexing etc. 

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

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: Not as easy as R&K royal blue. It needs a nice overnight soak.

·      Water resistance: Quite good. 

·      Availability: 10 ml, 30 ml bottles and a set of 5x 10 ml bottles. 

 

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

 

[LizEF]

Really great review, @yazeh!  Love the quilt-work preview.  Enjoyed the mini lesson about Paris.

 

Fascinating chroma!  Very saturated.  Too blue-blue for me, but still, quite nice for what it is.  Some great quotes in there - very appropriate for our day.

 

Love the water-test sketch!

 

And your stained glass is fabulous!  The middle one is my favorite! 

 

Thanks, Yazeh - you went above and beyond for this one.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Really great review, @yazeh!  Love the quilt-work preview.  Enjoyed the mini lesson about Paris.

Thanks!  

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Fascinating chroma!  Very saturated.  Too blue-blue for me, but still, quite nice for what it is. 

I have to admit, I was also sceptical because of the colour. But I've realized beyond the colour, there is another factor. The overall writing experience, and that was amazing. The ink changed so much on each paper and with different nibs, I had to double check and compare different papers. It was really exciting and fun. And that was humbling, if you know what I mean. It's not perfect, but it was fun

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Some great quotes in there - very appropriate for our day.

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Love the water-test sketch!

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

And your stained glass is fabulous!  The middle one is my favorite! 

 

Same here. I just wanted to show off different saturations

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, Yazeh - you went above and beyond for this one.

The first one in the series is the most nerve wracking. To find the right format and not to  over do it   

[LizEF]

7 hours ago, yazeh said:

I have to admit, I was also sceptical because of the colour. But I've realized beyond the colour, there is another factor. The overall writing experience, and that was amazing. The ink changed so much on each paper and with different nibs, I had to double check and compare different papers. It was really exciting and fun. And that was humbling, if you know what I mean. It's not perfect, but it was fun

It's always exciting to discover something new about a thing you thought you knew.  And yes, humbling can follow that, and be a happy thing - often leading to even more discovery and excitement.  I'm glad you had fun.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

It's always exciting to discover something new about a thing you thought you knew.  And yes, humbling can follow that, and be a happy thing - often leading to even more discovery and excitement.  I'm glad you had fun.

Me too

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Aaaahhh!  Quel chroma!  C'est fantastique!

 

I saw Toits demonstrated in a video and liked that one best, blue-gray being a favorite color, but this ink has excellent secrets you have managed to reveal.  

 

Malibu Blue, yup, have that.  I also prefer small bottles! 

 

Love the Mondrian Kitteh 'n' Mousie and Notre Chat and all the other artwork.  Now this ink has some water resistence and by that I mean you can still make out the Kitteh. 

 

@yazeh, thanks also for the history lesson.  Hmm, I may have to learn right-hand writing.  They tried forcing it on me in grade school but failed.  Love your ink-splorations.  💝 👍🏻 👏🏻

  

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Aaaahhh!  Quel chroma!  C'est fantastique!

Oh là là  

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I saw Toits demonstrated in a video and liked that one best, blue-gray being a favorite color, but this ink has excellent secrets you have managed to reveal.  

Les Toits is the last one I'll be posting the review. It'll take more time, as it's surprisingly Kyoto TAG dry lubrication wise. 'm doing a long term test to see, if it can redeem itself  

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Malibu Blue, yup, have that.  I also prefer small bottles! 

 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Love the Mondrian Kitteh 'n' Mousie and Notre Chat and all the other artwork.

🙏 

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

 Now this ink has some water resistence and by that I mean you can still make out the Kitteh. 

Yes it has

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

@yazeh, thanks also for the history lesson.

It's a very mini ones  

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 Hmm, I may have to learn right-hand writing.  They tried forcing it on me in grade school but failed.  Love your ink-splorations.  💝 👍🏻 👏🏻

Several years ago, I couldn't use my left hand for a few months. So, I was forced to train myself to write with my right hand. It was a very intriguing experience. My handwriting was somewhat different, more controlled and less relaxed.

 

[Baggins]

💯👌👏

I liiiike 

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Baggins said:

💯👌👏

I liiiike 

 🙏

[lgsoltek]

As collection concepts and colour choices go, this is not bad.

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, lgsoltek said:

As collection concepts and colour choices go, this is not bad.

Isn't it?  . Plus it's not those big fancy bottles, so it makes it even more attractive

 

[inkstainedruth]

I probably do NOT need another blue ink.  But the amount of water resistance (more than I would have expected for a "royal blue" ink) has certain piqued my interest.

Thanks for the review.  And well, maybe not.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: How does it compare to Eclat de Saphir (color and behavior-wise)?  Because that ink is, IIRC, is not REMOTELY water resistant -- but is the ink that I reach for when inking up one of the Parker 61s....

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I probably do NOT need another blue ink.  But the amount of water resistance (more than I would have expected for a "royal blue" ink) has certain piqued my interest.

Thanks for the review.  And well, maybe not.... 

Fortunately it comes in 10 ml bottles

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

ETA: How does it compare to Eclat de Saphir (color and behavior-wise)?  Because that ink is, IIRC, is not REMOTELY water resistant -- but is the ink that I reach for when inking up one of the Parker 61s....

Hope this helps Éclat de Saphir is muted Royal Blue. This is very dynamic Royal blue. WIth wet pens it turns navy, with dry pens, it shows character. If you want shading you need to use Japanese paper. 

 

[InesF]

Thank you, @yazeh, for showing a blue ink to us, that has some radiating seriousness and a nicely saturated colour in the written lines!  You didn't promise too much! Other Royal Blues look powerless compared to rue de la Verrerie.

It is interesting (to me) that the swatch colour does not but the written text does look that charming.

 

I love your stained glass works - with Cathédrale de Notre Chat et souris  as a highlight! 👍  

 

Finally, nice to see cat and mouse sharing the water test more often - a sign of true friendship!  

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for showing a blue ink to us, that has some radiating seriousness and a nicely saturated colour in the written lines!  

🙏

5 hours ago, InesF said:

You didn't promise too much! Other Royal Blues look powerless compared to rue de la Verrerie.

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

It is interesting (to me) that the swatch colour does not but the written text does look that charming.

That was my exact initial response. Ironically the ink, I thought had the most potential was the least exciting one

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

I love your stained glass works - with Cathédrale de Notre Chat et souris  as a highlight! 👍  

 

Glad you enjoyed it. It's a challenge to showcase the ink, while doing a meaningful drawing

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Finally, nice to see cat and mouse sharing the water test more often - a sign of true friendship!  

 

[inkstainedruth]

@yazeh Thanks for doing the extra comparisons.  I do think I like the color a bit better than Eclat de Saphir (which looks sort of "wispy" in your image) so rue la Verrerie is definitely becoming more of a "maybe" ink...).  

My husband of course will be just rolling his eyes....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@yazeh Thanks for doing the extra comparisons.

A pleasure!

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 I do think I like the color a bit better than Eclat de Saphir (which looks sort of "wispy" in your image) so rue la Verrerie is definitely becoming more of a "maybe" ink...).  

My husband of course will be just rolling his eyes....

You can always try a 10 ml bottle. I think this ink is best for Japanese paper. If you don't use Japanese Paper, then you can avoid it

 

[Arsouille]

Wonderful review, as ever. I use too much Rhodia / Clairefontaine paper to consider this one as a mainstay ink option (drying times...), but seems like a good match for Japanese F nibs, on Japanese paper, which is a combination I also practice. Those 10ml are a good option I suppose. 

 

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, Arsouille said:

Wonderful review, as ever

Thanks!

4 hours ago, Arsouille said:

. I use too much Rhodia / Clairefontaine paper to consider this one as a mainstay ink option (drying times...), but seems like a good match for Japanese F nibs, on Japanese paper, which is a combination I also practice. Those 10ml are a good option I suppose. 

The dry tomes should be longer on Japanese Paper. But I'm assuming writing with a F nib on that paper would mitigate that "problem". Alternatively you could always use a blotter