Jacques Herbin – Tour Eiffel/ Brun Eiffel (Couleurs de Paris)

[yazeh]

Jacques Herbin – Tour Eiffel/ Brun Eiffel (Couleurs de Paris)

This is the 3^rd review of the new Jacques Herbin set, Colors of Paris, in J. Herbin packaging. You can find the previous two reviews here:

Jacques Herbin - rue de la Verrerie

Jacques Herbin - Moulin Rouge

 

Ink is sold as Brun (Brown) Eiffel but I don't see any mention of it as such on the Herbin website.

According to the Stylo.ca website, "The yellow-brown refers to the Eiffel Tower, repainted from 2019 to 2022 in its original color (1907 - 1953)" 

The tour (=Tower in French) was built for the Exposition Universelle of 1889 to o celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French revolution. It was planned to be dismantled in 1909 but thankfully it wasn't it

 

Photo: Courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Ink is a golden sepia, lovely, especially on Japanese Paper, with beautiful shading. 

It really doesn’t like copy paper. It’s wet and not surprisingly low in lubrication, with very long dry times on Rhodia, so not suitable for lefty over writers. 

 

In my initial water test, with an Ef nib, most of the test washed away. When I redid the test, with a glass nib the result was the contrary. I'm concluding the more ink you lay on the paper, the better the water resistance. I wonder what our professor @InesF 

thoughts, hypothesis are about it

 

It was slightly a pain to clean, which truly surprised me. I had to resort to a short soaking in cleaning solution  

All in all it’s a lovely colour, for those who want to have a memento of La Dame de fer (Iron Lady) as its nicknamed in France. 

 

Chroma:

 

 

Writing Samples:

 

Photo:

 

Comparison:

Water test:

I lost my first water test. So I did a new one with a glass dip pen, which lays way more ink. In my first test, most of the ink disappeared, hence my surprise for the cleaning difficulty. In my second test ink is water resistant, so now I get it why it was difficult to clean. Left side 10 seconds under running water. The water test was done 12 hours after writing. I left the pad under the fan  

Art Work:

Liberté

Jacques Herbin Tour Eiffel /Moulin Rouge, rue de la Verrerie 

Noodler's Polar Brown (The cat) 

Sailor Kiwa-guro 

 

 

·      Pens used: Lamy (Reverse Ef/ EF/F/M/B), Kanwrite with an Ahab nib. 

·      What I liked: Shading, colour, drawing with. 

·      What I did not like: The colour isn’t that of the Eiffel Tower, cleaning

·       What some might not like: Low lubrication, needs a soft smooth nib, cleaning

·      Shading: Lovely. 

·      Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper. 

·      Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.

·      Flow Rate: Wet

·      Lubrication: Below average.

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Ok

·      Saturation:  Pastel

·      Shading Potential: Great.

·      Sheen: No. 

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Yes on copy paper. 

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

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: I needed to soak it for 15 minutes in cleaning solution.  

·      Water resistance: The wetter the pen, the better the water resistance. 

·      Availability: 10/30 ml J Herbin bottles or a set of 5 x10 ml bottles. 

 

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

 

 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oh, good, another one in the JH Paris series!  
 

A surprising amount of yellow in this Eiffel Tower ink's chroma, and browns can be tough to clean out of a pen.  But I like brown inks. I think I have Diamine Sepia.  Maybe!

 

O lal la!  Ze Chat is tres French here.  Love the artwork as always.
 

This one does have some water resistance, in that the drawing doesn't quite wash away.

 

Thanks also for the southpaw warning.  Le sigh.  
 

@yazeh, as always I look forward to each of your illustrated reviews.  Vive le chat et la souris! 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

@yazeh Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

Hmmm.  This is a "maybe" ink for me.  I like that there's clearly some water resistance, but the slow dry time might be an issue.  I'd also be interested in how it compares to Lie de The, which I apparently did like when I tried *it* a number years ago.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

"planned to be dismantled"... I'm thinking the work crew looked up and said, "Nope, ain't gonna happen." (In French, of course.) And the management crew looked at the cost of paying the work crew and said, "Let's go buy wine and cheese, instead." 

 

I have this suspicion that yellow dyes are actually hard to clean (and can stain).  Perhaps it's only some yellow dyes (or even only one of them).  I don't have enough experience to be sure, but perhaps the yellow is why you had to soak the pen...

 

Meanwhile, I think I like the color.  The extreme shading is rather nice (though even my eyes are rebelling a little at it ).  Hmm.  Yellow paper makes it too yellow.  This is one for white paper (or at least paper that's not yellow).  Oh!  Shocking news!!  You won't believe it!!!  I think it looks gorgeous on Iroful!

 

Erm, pretty sure you need to add three letters to turn Paris into Paradise (that one is a repeat doesn't negate the fact that you needed three....).  Some fun quotes though - love the one on Iroful - ouch, said all the artists!

 

Hmm.  The ink looks like a cross between the previous two swatches - Diamine Sepia and Kakimori Torori.  Meanwhile, I'm smiling while trying to figure out that swatch kitty - I see the mandatory baguette, is that a glass of wine in the other paw?  Looks like it.  And he appears to be wearing a beret and carrying the Eiffel tower in his teeth... Hmm  Godzilla-kitty!

 

Love the symmetry, sans mouse, of the water test sketch.   But really love our parachuting duo!  Brave kitty and mouse!

 

Thanks, @yazeh, for a fun continuation of this ink set!

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Oh, good, another one in the JH Paris series!  

 🍷 🧀

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

A surprising amount of yellow in this Eiffel Tower ink's chroma, and browns can be tough to clean out of a pen.  But I like brown inks. I think I have Diamine Sepia.  Maybe!

So that's the culprit  

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

O lal la!  Ze Chat is tres French here.  Love the artwork as always.

Merci  

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

This one does have some water resistance, in that the drawing doesn't quite wash away.

No, but as I said in my original water test with Ef nib, it washed away completely

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Thanks also for the southpaw warning.  Le sigh.  

Désolé   

2 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh, as always I look forward to each of your illustrated reviews.  Vive le chat et la souris! 

et vive la république  

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@yazeh Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

A pleasure

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Hmmm.  This is a "maybe" ink for me.  I like that there's clearly some water resistance, but the slow dry time might be an issue.  I'd also be interested in how it compares to Lie de The, which I apparently did like when I tried *it* a number years ago.

I have yet to try Lie de Thé. If you want I can scan both swatches side by side  It's an interesting colour on some papers. And if I hadn't lost my other water test, it would have been labelled as no water resistance  

[yazeh]

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

"planned to be dismantled"... I'm thinking the work crew looked up and said, "Nope, ain't gonna happen." (In French, of course.) And the management crew looked at the cost of paying the work crew and said, "Let's go buy wine and cheese, instead." 

Probable  No ironically, it was a radio telegram hub and it was used during WW I to intercept German communication

 

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

I have this suspicion that yellow dyes are actually hard to clean (and can stain).  Perhaps it's only some yellow dyes (or even only one of them).  I don't have enough experience to be sure, but perhaps the yellow is why you had to soak the pen...

I didn't know that. The few yellow inks I tested, Helianthus and Bouton d'or didn't seem to be difficult to clean  

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Meanwhile, I think I like the color.  The extreme shading is rather nice (though even my eyes are rebelling a little at it ).  Hmm.  Yellow paper makes it too yellow.  This is one for white paper (or at least paper that's not yellow).  Oh!  Shocking news!!  You won't believe it!!!  I think it looks gorgeous on Iroful!

I knew you would love that  

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Erm, pretty sure you need to add three letters to turn Paris into Paradise (that one is a repeat doesn't negate the fact that you needed three....).  Some fun quotes though - love the one on Iroful - ouch, said all the artists!

It's because it's translated from French. In French paradise is Paradis  

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Hmm.  The ink looks like a cross between the previous two swatches - Diamine Sepia and Kakimori Torori.  Meanwhile, I'm smiling while trying to figure out that swatch kitty - I see the mandatory baguette, is that a glass of wine in the other paw?  Looks like it.  And he appears to be wearing a beret and carrying the Eiffel tower in his teeth... Hmm  Godzilla-kitty!

Exactly! You've got an eagle eye 

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Love the symmetry, sans mouse, of the water test sketch.   But really love our parachuting duo!  Brave kitty and mouse!

Zé mouse is there (sounds like a French snek)  

48 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, @yazeh, for a fun continuation of this ink set!

Boy this has been a very long marathon  

[LizEF]

8 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The few yellow inks I tested, Helianthus and Bouton d'or didn't seem to be difficult to clean  

Yeah, definitely not all of them.  Maybe it's just pigmented ones (the De Atramentis Document Yellow stains worse than any of the other DAD inks I've tried).  It's not like it's the most popular FP ink color...

 

9 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It's because it's translated from French. In French paradise is Paradis  

Aaaah!  Now it makes sense!  Thank you!

 

10 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Zé mouse is there (sounds like a French snek)  

I meant that the mouse is only on one side.  Everything else matches from one side to the other.

 

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Boy this has been a very long marathon  

No doubt.  Take your time - we'll still be here.

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Yeah, definitely not all of them.  Maybe it's just pigmented ones (the De Atramentis Document Yellow stains worse than any of the other DAD inks I've tried).  It's not like it's the most popular FP ink color...

Oh boy that's way at the end of my list. The color is just too yellow. A colour which I can enjoy but in small dose and definitely not in ink  

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Aaaah!  Now it makes sense!  Thank you!

Yeah, some translations have added 3, but then it's not the exact translation  

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

I meant that the mouse is only on one side.  Everything else matches from one side to the other.

Got it

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

No doubt.  Take your time - we'll still be here.

 

[Baggins]

7 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 I'd also be interested in how it compares to Lie de The, which I apparently did like when I tried *it* a number years ago.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

This 👆 Also you are rély a Mastêrre de zy INKÊS. Verry naice! 😵‍💫

[Misfit]

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, Baggins said:

This 👆 Also you are rély a Mastêrre de zy INKÊS. Verry naice! 😵‍💫

Merci  Just to let you know, there was a reason I didn't scan Lie de Thé, as it's dark golden brown. My swatch card writing with a glass nib is dark brown. I would say burn Eiffel is between Ambre de Birmanine and Lie de Thé.

I'll see if I can do a scan tomorrow

[yazeh]

40 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Ah @Misfit thanks for all your kind comments.  🙏  Your sample writing is a perfect fit for this review. I truly appreciate it 🙏

[Misfit]

I happened to have a Lie de The cartridge in a Jinhao Shark pen with a F nib. 
 

[InesF]

"I think, there is some yellow inside all our pens that likes to stay there"

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for reviewing this Herbin ink! Well done in quotes, drawings and with investigating the background story. 

Cat on the parachute is great! I'm sure cat has taken mouse in one of the pockets to enjoy the Liberté together!  👍

 

20 hours ago, yazeh said:

I'm concluding the more ink you lay on the paper, the better the water resistance. I wonder what our professor @InesF 

thoughts, hypothesis are about it

Professor Eeenesss' thoughts rotate .... 🤫 But no, there is no easy explanation. All I can come out is: if there is a wetter line on the paper, the ink has more time to suck deeper into the fibre structure and will need also more time to diffuse out when rinsed with water. From the water test drawing (which tells us, mouse was a bit better prepared for what inevitably happened  ) we can see that the rinsed part lost some dye, as expected from a non-waterproof ink.

However, I have no hard-fact proof of this hypothesis.

 

 

20 hours ago, yazeh said:

It was slightly a pain to clean, which truly surprised me. I had to resort to a short soaking in cleaning solution  

 

14 hours ago, LizEF said:

I have this suspicion that yellow dyes are actually hard to clean (and can stain).  Perhaps it's only some yellow dyes (or even only one of them).  I don't have enough experience to be sure, but perhaps the yellow is why you had to soak the pen...

I cleaned my MB M yesterday. It had MB Irish Green in the cartridge. The cartridge plastic is now stained bright yellow! 🙄

 

 

@yazeh, I'm looking forward to the next ink-trip to Paris!  

 

[yazeh]

@Misfit many thanks for doing this. 🙏🙏🙏

@inkstainedruth & @Baggins

Here is a comparison with Lie de Thé and Ambre de Birmanie. Note: The text is written with a glass dip pen

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I cleaned my MB M yesterday. It had MB Irish Green in the cartridge. The cartridge plastic is now stained bright yellow! 🙄

 

The Pilot Mixable Colour Blue cartridge from my review is also stained yellow - yet there was no hint of green leaning to the ink....   I don't know if it was a yellow dye or if it somehow reacted with or aged the plastic...  (If it bothered me enough, I'd fill it with hydrogen peroxide, put it in a small container of hydrogen peroxide (just to be sure) and then stick it out in the sun for a day... Might be interesting to see if that removed the yellow...)

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

@Misfit many thanks for doing this. 🙏🙏🙏

@inkstainedruth & @Baggins

Here is a comparison with Lie de Thé and Ambre de Birmanie. Note: The text is written with a glass dip pen

...

Thanks, @yazeh, that makes this ink look quite pale - it's not like Lie de Thé is that dark...

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, @yazeh, that makes this ink look quite pale - it's not like Lie de Thé is that dark...

It's quite legible. It's just the contrast compared to Lie de the. It's a bit in the same range as KWZ Eldorado etc.

 

[LizEF]

Just now, yazeh said:

It's quite legible. It's just the contrast compared to Lie de the. It's a bit in the same range as KWZ Eldorado etc.