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Perle Noir, Herbin

Perle Noir is one of the most recommended and well reviewed black inks out there. When I bought this ink a few years ago, I was disappointed. It is not the blackest, not the smoothest, not the fastest drying ink, not an archival ink, not the cheapest.  I decided to give it a second chance so I eyedropped a Preppy with it and filled a Lamy All-star. Over the past few days I have written many pages of work notes with the ink. Perle Noir is a well behaving black ink that is sold at a reasonable price, but it doesn't excel in anything. Below some writing samples, followed by drying times and test in water resistance. Drying times are about average to slow, 45 secs with a broad nib on Tomoe River 52g paper. The ink is certainly not water resistant, but it can handle an accidental drop.   The full characteristics: Feathering none Shading hardly any Show through negligible 

Honey burst, by Diamine



By special request of a dear friend, I was looking for a honey colored or gold colored ink and I ended up buying Diamine's Honey Burst, from their guitar series. More honey than gold, but yes, more or less the color I was looking for. Not something I'd use in the workspace, but it does work for personal correspondence and notes. Be careful though, long letters in this color are quite the strain to both the writer and the reader's eyes.

Behavior of the ink is good, not great. No feathering, negligible show-through, nice shading, and not too wet. Drying times around average. The ink wasn't as smooth as I expected (or hoped). Writing with a TWSBI (stub nib) on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper felt a bit crude at times.

Compared to other inks Herbin's Ambre de Birmaine comes pretty close. Desert burst from the same guitar series is more diaper brown, Herbin's Café des Iles is way more brown.

All in all it's a nice fun color that certainly has its use for greeting cards and short personal) notes. Diamine ink is cheap enoug to have this ink at the side.


Written on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper





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