That said, let me know how Midnight Blue performs; it looks lovely… I’m going to have to take another trip to Art Brown sometime and play around with some additional colors. I’ve stuck to J. Herbin thus far since Karen’s been so generous in sending me samples, but there are obviously other brands that are worth experimenting with.

I find the Herbin inks are well behaved in B nib pens, as they seem less prone to soak through the paper than the more super-saturated inks.

For an intense shading experience that isn’t dark, Private Reserve’s Shoreline Gold will fade from a yellow-ish orange shade into a reddish color. It feels a little “dry” on the page, but doesn’t drag the way the Noodler’s version of this color, Apache Sunset, does.

PR Tanzanite is an incredible blue/purple shade, but makes your pen run wet. Fiesta Red is a deep blood red and a new favorite. I just got a bottle of Midnight Blue, but haven’t tried it yet, as I was on a quest for blue-black as well.

Thanks for answering my question about folding the cover back. I’m starting to learn that’s an important issue for those times I’m working on a lap board rather than a desk. Or in the car.

Beth, the cover definitely folds back on itself, and since the book itself has a sewn binding, it would, too.

As for the nibs, I haven’t actually tried my FP with a truly dark ink yet, though of course the Pilot Varsity comes with a deep, saturated black. Do you have a favorite dark ink? I’ve heard good things about J. Herbin Perle Noir and Noodler’s Bulletproof… I would love to find a really dark blue-black, too.

Also, you describe the texture of the cover, but not whether it folds back on itself.

I’m glad to see the pencil leads are poking or tearing through.