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March 25, 2024

Ink 16: J Herbin Lie De Thé

By Chas Wallace

I'm not sure why I love this color as much as I do. It is just as the name would suggest the color of a nice tea, say Earl Grey, that may have accidentally spilled from your cup onto a piece of paper. I'm looking at it now in the evening light of my living room and it is a pale brown. If I draw a pen and ink with it I can layer the lines and get a passably dark shade. I will take it with me tomorrow and use it as my every day pen. That will be a final test of this ink. What I can say now though is that it really appeals to me. Perhaps this is because it seems like a sepia which harkens back to old photos you and I have seen from a century or more ago. Perhaps it was because years ago brown used to be my favorite color. This brings to mind the thought that perhaps there is something more to ones affection for an ink than the shade, saturation, and flow qualities. I don't know. If you're looking for a color other than the standard blue or black that will still stand up to every day work and not raise too many eyebrows, this is not a bad choice.

My report from the following day is that this ink really is a bit light in shade. I think I would prefer something just a bit darker, though that is a minor point. I still like this ink. It looks very nice on cream colored stationary and would therefore be perfect for writing a note to a friend. Interestingly, I am most enamored of this color for sketching in the margins of my journals, as I am wont to do. I'm not keen on carrying around two fountain pens but I confess this makes me want to.

This ink is from J Herbin so the quality is of course excellent. The bottle holds 30ml so at the $12 price tag it is close to average for a quality ink. Noodlers is a much better value but as I alluded to above, sometimes you are looking for something other than value.

Article © Chas Wallace. All rights reserved.
Published on 2010-05-03
1 Reader Comments
Alan
01/16/2012
03:24:11 PM
I disagree. If you live in the US, it may be possible you consider Noodler's better value, but if you live in Europe ( or Asia, or Africa...) Herbin is better value and an ink that certainly deserves it reputation of being excelent and working right our of the box without any issues. I love Lie de Thé.
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