Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Three Inks: Terre de Feu, Cactus Fruit, Scabiosa

As I'm going through these Goulet Pens ink samples, I thought I'd toss out a few little mini-reviews! So here you go. My opinions only, and your mileage may vary.

1. J. Herbin Terre de Feu

I really, really wanted to like this ink. In a very wet writer, I think it'd be quite nice, and it does have interesting shading. However, like many J. Herbin inks, I find it too dry for my tastes, and not saturated enough. In a less than fire-hose-ish pen, it comes out a pale pinkish brownish orange, which just doesn't appeal to me.

Ruled out.

2. Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel

This is an ink I like more than I should probably admit. I mean, it is BRIGHT. Obnoxiously bright. It is not really a "grown up" color. But ooh, so cheery! It isn't a super duper match for more absorbent papers (the "eel" lubrication factor, which is supposed to make pistons work a bit better, seems to make ink spread and feather a bit more than standard), but it is a pleasure to write with.

This one goes on my wish list.

3. Rohrer and Klingner Scabiosa

Scabiosa sounds gross, no? But it actually just means honeysuckle. What a difference a language makes. This is another ink I wanted to like: it has an iron gall component, which makes it somewhat water and fade resistant, and in the right pen, it might be kind of nice. However, in my fairly dry-writing modern converter pens, it felt...like writing with a toothpick. *shudder* And the color ends up being a pale imitation of itself. I think. Reviews of this ink vary so much, I'm not completely sure what color it actually is--I expected a dusty purple, but it looks more...pinkish grey.

Ruled out.

4 comments:

Bill M said...

I'm so creative when it comes to ink; I change from blue to black or black to blue. I do like the Cactus Fruit Eel though. It looks great on my monitor. Being a guy though I do not know if I'd use it.

Your hand writing is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I love the last one!

Elizabeth H. said...

There's more red to Scabiosa than comes across in that photo, and I wish I'd captured it better, but it most definitely doesn't look purple to me. The reviews seem to vary a lot, maybe because of the iron gall? My writing doesn't match most of them at all! this review is probably closest. I think this ink is happiest in a pen that's a bit of a gusher.

Anonymous said...

Try Scabiosa 50:50 with Waterman Violet Tendresse, I find Scabiosa alone too ashy but that mix looks like Diamine's Damsel. Behaves better than Watermans ink - does not bleed through that badly either.