Lierre Sauvage, J. Herbin

Recently I heard the (British) term "green-ink letter", which is a letter to for instance a politician expressing eccentric views, often characterized by prolixity and written in longhand, but not necessarily in green ink. Somehow green ink is associated with lunatic and eccentric behavior and even though I rare use green ink, I wonder why.

There are some beautiful green inks out there and many of those are excellent for personal notes, personal correspondence or even short business notes.

One of those inks is Lierre Sauvage, by J. Herbin. Perfect for any personal use or note taking in an office environment. It is very bright/in your face, which might make it a good color for reviewing and adding suggestions as well.

It's a beautiful color, excellent shading and even though the ink (like many Herbin inks) is quite wet, it writes really well. I have tried this ink in Parker, Lamy and TSWBI pens with different nib sizes and the ink goes well with any of these pens and nibs. Drying time on vellum paper is long (50 seconds), so that is something to take into account.I have compared the ink with Vert Empire (a bit more dull, grey), Syo Ro (more blue) and Moss Green (darker).

N.B. writing on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper.

Orange!!

It's Spring, we just had King's day and the European Championships football are being held next month. More than enough reasons to fill up some pens with orange inks. I was surprised to see I had gathered eight inks in the past few years that qualify as orange. Some true bright orange, some leaning more towards red or brown. Which one is your favorite? Written on Tomoe river, 52g

Kikyou, Sailor Manyo

A few months ago this new ink series by Sailor was announced. Based on flowers, in a stylish 50ml bottle. What I see is not a flower, but an ink that is stormy blue with a hint of green. Teal? Maybe, but in my opinion it's darker than that, scans and monitors can be slightly deceiving. This ink can be a work horse. Very suitable for note taking, definitely works in the office, but also for personal notes and correspondence. The ink writes like a dream. It's not very wet, but smooth and extremely well-behaved in any pen. Just the combination crown mill vellum paper and a poster nib (as you can see), leads to some feathering of the ink. Drying times are simply fast, with just 12 seconds on this paper! Shading is low. Water resistance is low. Even after days it smears easily with just a tiny drop of water. I called this ink a work horse. It is, and an expensive one. Even though it's wonderful ink, it's simply not special enough to justify the price. Yonaga (Sailor)

Around the World in 80 Days, Montblanc

Visiting Paris last month, I couldn't resist visiting the Montblanc flagship store and pick up a bottle of ink. Around the World in 80 Days is a limited edition ink, part of the recent collection about Jules Verne's description of Phileas Fogg's adventure. Nicely packed and in the well-known beautiful bottle. The ink is someone between blue and green, increasingly green in a wetter, broader nib. As such it is suitable for both the office as well as personal notes and correspondence. Personally, I like the ink best in finer nibs. It seems more dark and blue that way. I have tried the ink on both Tomoe River and Rhodia paper. The ink behaved flawlessly and feels a little bit on the dry side. Drying time is neither slow nor fast, 40 secs on Tomoe River. On Rhodia paper On Tomoe River (52g) The ink doesn't handle water very well, even after a few days the ink smears easily when some water drops are applied. Careful! The full characteristics: F

Fountain pen inks reviews and comparisons

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