My foray into the world of glass dip nib pens has surprised me as much as anyone. Turns out, they are fun and functional stationery items, good for quick ink testing or longer letter-writing sessions. I have one J. Herbin Round Glass Dip Pen to give away this week, in the Turquoise colorway, so read the rules below and enter away!
Posts filed under J. Herbin
J. Herbin Blotting Paper Giveaway
This giveaway serves to accomplish two things:
- To share with you one of my favorite products.
- To see if this giveaway can set the record for fewest entries.
I know what you are saying. “Really, Brad. Blotting paper?” Yes, blotting paper. A 10-pack of Pink J. Herbin Blotting Paper, to be specific. If there is one stationery item I use ever day, it is blotting paper. I keep it under my hand as I write to keep hand oils off the page. Oils affect how the ink attaches to the paper, causing lines to skip and be inconsistent.
Could I use a scrap piece of paper instead? Absolutely. But this blotting paper has a specific job that I use it for, and the pink color stands out inside my notebooks and on my desk. It may be the single most-used stationery item I own.
I have one 10-pack of Pink J. Herbin Blotting Paper to give away to the most lucky winner of all of the giveaways ever to be given away on The Pen Addict. Read the rules below and get to entering!
J. Herbin Kyanite du Népal Ink: A Review
(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
A new limited edition shimmer ink is on its way as part of J. Herbin’s 1798 Anniversary Ink Collection. It is due to be released on June 21, 2019.
Kyanite du Népal is named after a mineral mined in Nepal. It is a deep blue color which J. Herbin has captured well in this ink.
Parent Géry (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Kyanite du Népal is a saturated blue ink that is more turquoise than purple on the color spectrum. The ink contains silver shimmer that complements the blue nicely.
In my testing on Maruman Septcouleur paper, the ink demonstrated good flow, shading, and shimmer in both fine and broad nibs. It dried fairly quickly, but the ink did not seem dry in any of the nibs I used. It is not colorfast.
The chromatography test doesn’t show much in terms of color variation. There’s a faint line of silver shimmer at the bottom, and the color ranges from light blue to turquoise to darker blue.
Obviously, shimmer inks show up best in wide nibs and splatters. That’s definitely true of Kyanite as you can see in the following examples. The shimmer is quite stunning.
Because the ink contains shimmer, the particles settle to the bottom of the bottle or within the barrel of your pen. It’s always necessary to shake the bottle or pen (capped, of course) before using the ink. I relegate shimmer inks to my less expensive pens, such as my TWSBI Eco, simply because I don’t want shimmer particles possibly clogging up my expensive pens. This is probably just paranoia on my part, since I’ve yet to experience clogging in my less expensive pens.
Kyanite du Népal is a gorgeous shade of blue with burgundy sheen and silver shimmer. It’s a bit darker than Diamine Blue Lightning (which also has silver shimmer), and Kyanite contains sheen in addition to silver shimmer which gives it more character than the Diamine, in my opinion.
You’ll be able to purchase Kyanite du Népal on June 21 from your favorite retailers. A 50ml bottle is $26.00.
(This ink was provided to Pen Addict for review at no cost by Exaclair.)
