INK REVIEW: J Herbin Stormy Grey

Handwritten Review: J Herbin - Stormy Grey

There has been so much chatter in the fountain pen community about J Herbin's Stormy Grey ink. So much anticipation. It's all about that gold sheen, baby.

When Goulet Pens finally announced that they had it in stock, it was sold out in under an hour - and I missed it. Arrrrgh.

I hurried over to Amazon to see if I could find it there - score! It's the same price at both places -  $26 for 50 ml.

Above: Like the other J Herbin special editions, this bottle is extra special, sealed with wax, and quite lovely. Except that only the smallest pens could fit into the opening of the bottle. And my wax on the screw top is already cracked - whomp whomp.

Below: The sheeny bits came to a rest at the bottom of the bottle.  You'll want to shake well before using this ink.

Below: Sheen on the towel that I used to wipe my nib. Crazy, right?

All of that Stormy Grey sheen is just fine, but how does it write?

Quite wonderfully! 

The ink has terrific flow out of the pen (leans toward the wet side, but I like that). There's some great shading and I really like the darkness of the gray (grey?) color with or without the added fun of the sheen.

Something I noticed that could be a concern - in the bottle, the sheeny bits settled so quickly. I shook the bottle like mad and then quickly pulled the ink into a syringe to fill my pens. If the sheeny bits settle that quickly, what happens in the pen when filled? Will all of the sheeny bits fall to the writing end of the pen and you will get the most sheen from the first few pages - and no sheen at all for the last few? 

The only other downside I can see with this ink is that because of the sheen, it's not an ink that could be used in every situation. Thankfully, we live in a world that allows us some whimsy now and then.  ;)

Below: My scanned writing sample doesn't show much sheen, but it's definitely there in the right light.

Looking for the sheeniest sheeny picture of them all?  Check out my friend rubengamez's feed on Instagram. It's crazy good sheen!

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INK REVIEW: Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun

Oh. Goodness.

Gracious. Me.

Oh. My.

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun Swabs (3, 2, 1)

Have mercy.

Fuyu-syogun Shading

Not too light.

Not too dark.

Nothing but gray. No icky red or green undertones.

Gorgeous shading. 

Decent dry time.

Writes beautifully.

I'm in love.  In love. Head over heels.

If this ink isn't in your collection, it certainly should be. Certainly.

Have a look at my other grey/gray ink reviews and then run out and get this one.

Seriously, I have nothing negative to say about this ink.

INK REVIEW: Omas New Gray

It's been awhile since I've added any new gray/grey inks to my Fifty Shades of Grey collection!

New Gray from Omas is a lovely shade of gray with a bit of blue in it. It's probably too light to use in a business setting and definitely lighter than the other shades of gray that I've reviewed.

It writes great. No smearing. Maybe a little dry, but not bad. Some nice shading.

You'll have to believe me when I say that it handles highlighting very well.  (What is up with me and all of the failed highlighting tests?)

The water test is pretty amazing. Even on the original, I have to squint to see where I dragged the web cotton swab across my writing.

Overall, this is a gray I dig and I could see using it on a regular basis. That is, if I hadn't already fallen in love with another gray.  Stay tuned . . .

QUICK LOOK WEDNESDAY: Three Inks I Love

All so different and I'm in love with each!

 Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun A perfect gray. Lovely shading. Great color.

 Diamine Flamingo Boom-Boom Wow color!

 Diamine Majestic Blue True blue!

Which inks are you loving on lately?

INK REVIEW: De Atramentis Cement Gray

I like gray inks. Always looking for that perfect shade. It's been a long time since I've added an ink to my Fifty Shades of Grey line-up or talked about the spelling of gray -vs- grey. Too long if you ask me!

Unfortunately, I'm not wild about Cement Gray from De Atramentis. (Thank goodness it doesn't stink like cement, though!)

The problem seems to be that there's a lot of green in the ink.

Admittedly, it's difficult to see the green with my scans, but it's there. It's there so much that I pointed out to Mr. Pentulant that he might want to consider this ink as his dark-nearly-black-but-still-green choice. He tried it for a short while, but didn't love it.

The green is most apparent when looked at along side other inks...

As usual, I wrote with this ink for about a week after the review. It wrote fine - a little hard-starting at times even in a medium nib Lamy Safari.

The problem (for me) was the color.  What do you think? See the green? Like it? Hate it?

INK REVIEW: Montblanc Albert Einstein

Seems like gray inks are a love 'em or hate 'em kind of thing. Me? I find that I'm picky about my grays (or greys, if you prefer). I like either true gray - or perhaps a bit blue leaning like J Herbin's Gris Nuage or Pilot Iroshizuku's Fuyu syogun (Old Man Winter).

Before we dive into the review of Montblanc's Albert Einstein ink, you have seen the pen, yes?  It's the cap that does me in, makes me swoon, gives me heart palpitations. Love, love, love.

But it's this part that turns me off . . .

The metal. The sharp drop-off between the barrel and the grip. Bleh.

I had the opportunity to hold one of these at the Montblanc Boutique in San Francisco when they were first available. I just didn't love it. I mean, I'd take one if someone wanted to gift it to me (duh), but I'm not buying one for myself.

Anyway...the ink review..

Clicky here for the biggy big version of the review.

And a closer look . . .

I like it. It's ok. It's not amazingly wonderful. I have a couple of full bottles of it, but I'm not hurrying to fill all of my pens with it. I think Mr. P would like this more than I. It's a little dark with no special characteristics, but it gets the job done. It's a serious gray from a serious pen company - I imagine Montblanc is quite happy with it.

Bottom Line:  It's ok.

INK REVIEW: Noodler's Lexington Gray

A Wordless review of Noodler's Lexington Gray.

This is also the very last of my old ink reviews.  

Next ink review will be the new fancy pants edition!

Look out!

I dig it. I also dig Gris Nuage in the Compare Square. 

Oops..this was supposed to be wordless!

Ink Review: Diamine - Graphite

INK REVIEW: J Herbin - Gris Nuage

Here's a quickie review of one of my favorite inks to get us back into the groove this week. (More on Thanksgiving another time.)

The above swab was done with a q-tip and then the name of the ink written with a glass pen. In my experience, there's a lot of feathering with glass pens and this was no exception. (It also doesn't help things that it's written on a cheap-o index card.) (Again, I ask, are there are any nice index cards out there? Starting to think there aren't.)

Anyway....Gris Nuage (Gray Cloud - how pretty!) is one of my very most favorite gray (grey, if you insist) inks.

It's light - just like a cloud. It's prettttttty. Leans more toward blue than red, but is definitely one of those pure colors that I adore.  

And, holy crappoli (it's a word), it writes like a dream. Check it out....

Pretty, yes?  Some lovely shading going on there, too. And no smearing, no feathering, no ghosting, or bleeding. What more could a girl want in a gray ink?

Oh, yes, it does well with water!  Nice!!!  This is totally one of my gray inks. It makes me swoon!

OK..so see those black specks on the water test?  No, it's not Gris Nuage gone crazy - that's collateral damage from my Invincible Black spatter. Haha!

Do you have a favorite gray? Mr. Pentulant was using Montblanc Oyster Grey for awhile in his fancy new Boheme, but he wasn't loving it.

INK REVIEW: Private Reserve - Gray Flannel

First impression?  It's a little...green. We all know from other posts that I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to my ink colors. Not meaning that I only like blues and blacks - meaning that I like to look at a color and be able to say, "That's gray!" (or, "That's grey!" depending on from where you are in the world.) So..that's definitely a strike against Gray Flannel from Private Reserve for me. A big strike, but let's look at it more closely . . .

It passes the water test. I put a droplet of water where I've written "from" and that seems to have survived quite well. Where "Water Test" is written, I dragged a water-soaked Q-Tip. So. Yeah - not bad.

How does it write?

It's fine. It really is, but I cannot get past that color. Look at how it compares to the J Herbin Gris Nuage. Nuage is a bit on the blue side, but the side-by-side comparison really shows who green the Gray Flannel is.

But..I digress...it writes well. Great flow, no smearing. I've been loving broad nib pens lately, but this performed really well in my vintage Parker (not sure of the model) with a fine nib.

So...it's probably easy to see that I'm not all wound up excited about this ink. I'm not. With so many shades of green gray out there, I'm going to keep looking for the ones I swoon over.

I've asked before - but what are your thoughts about color? Purist like I am? Or mix-n-match is ok with you?

INK REVIEW: De Atramentis - Silver Grey

Really quick review for today...

Silver-Grey from DeAtramentis is one of my favorites from my Fifty Shades of Grey (Gray) post.

What I love...
..the name of the color matches the color of the ink!
..it's a true gray - I don't see any blue or red or green undertones
..no smear, no bleed, no nonsense

What I didn't love so much...
..it smells a little funky (not like mold funk, but a definitely chemical / petroleum (?) smell. Something.
..maybe a little too fast-drying

I wrote with a glass dip pen for this test and you can see that things are a bit thin. I don't think this is a necessarily a fair test of the ink for shading and ghosting.  I'll need to retest at some point.  Maybe I'll do a single post with all of the inks I've promised to retest at some point. It would be a doozy!

Have a great week, everyone!  xo

INK REVIEW: Diamine Grey

Click Images to Enlarge

A quick look at Diamine Grey..

This color is a true gray (grey, for those of you who insist).  Stately and professional as I said in my Fifty Shades of Grey post last month.

It's a bit darker than I like. If I'm going to get that close to black, I may as well go black.  

It smeared a bit on my Hammermill Premium paper, but it's tolerable. Some shading is nice. Tiny bit of feathering - even on the index cards below.

The water test is a fail - not so much from the Q-Tip across "Water Test," but more from the standing test in the word "from" below.  

But..it is a true gray (ok, grey!) and I do appreciate that.

I'm not going to buy a full bottle of this ink (testing was done from a sample as usual). There's just nothing that special about it.

Tyler Dahl LOVED this ink. A true sign that YMMV.

Have you tried it? What do you think? Wonderful or just meh?

UPDATE:  For some odd reason, this post received a whole big mess of spammy posts. I've closed comments on this post, but please contact me if you have something to add to the conversation! xo

INK REVIEW: Pilot Iroshizuku - Kiri Same

Kiri same from Pilot Iroshizuku is such a pleasing shade of gray.  I like my gray inks to look as much like pencil as possible - so that the reader may even wonder if I'd written in pencil. A simple fine line. Mmm. This one fits the bill, but when compared with other grays - it seems to have some red qualities to it. It's probably not enough red to notice when the ink is on its own, but the red is definitely there.

The above swab is on a cheap index card (really, are there any quality index cards out there these days?). The feathering on the index card had me concerned, but look below at the water test - no feathering, no smearing.  For the water test, I write, wait a few seconds, and then drag a moistened Q-Tip across the writing. I also place a water droplet on the card - in this case, it's on the L in "Pilot" - crazy, right?

Pricing is the same as the other Iroshizuku inks - $28 at most places. 

I like the hint of shading, too. Some feathering on my Hammermill Premium paper, but you have to get pretty close to see it. Definitely not something that would keep me from enjoying this ink.

This one is a temptation! I'm going to plan to try another sample. Perhaps on a variety of papers. And then I'll know. Is this my gray?  Which is your gray (or is it grey)? I answered that question last week.

Here's what other people are saying . . . 

Fountain Pen Network  (look at that shading!)

Seize the Dave (the essence of storm clouds in a bottle)

Grays are a favorite color for me. Love, hate, or indifferent - how do you feel about gray ink?