It’s that time of year again! In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we’ll be giving away free samples of the following greens and oranges:
• Orange Indien
• Vert Pré
• Vert Olive
• Vert Empire
To enter, leave a comment on this post before Tuesday, March 22. We’ll select the winners at random and follow up via email to get your first and second color choices.
Good luck!
Thanks to contest winner Annie for sending us a picture of this lovely handwritten note! A great description of Larmes de Cassis, too: “like the stain you would get if you dropped a piece of blueberry pie onto a white shirt.”
(And yes, I do know the color of that stain. Why do you ask?)
Click through to see the full-sized letter…
Last year, J. Herbin introduced a color called rouge hematite in honor of their 340th anniversary. It was created as a limited edition, and it did very well for us over the course of the year. Now that it’s 2011, we’re fielding questions about its continued availability.
If you’re a fan of rouge hematite, or you haven’t gotten the chance to try it yet, there’s good news: the ink will be in production at least through 2012. After that, we’re not sure. As you might have guessed given its name, the intention was originally to make, well, a limited edition. If people keep asking for it, though, we’ll definitely consider adding it to the permanent line-up.
What do you think? Should limited editions truly be limited?
So our traditional fall ink giveaway has become more of a winter affair (what can I say, we’ve been busy). I daresay that doesn’t mean you won’t still enjoy the colors… some of which are more wintery anyway:
• Gris Nuage
• Ambre De Birmanie
• Lie De The
• Cacao Du Brasil
• Cafe Des Iles
• Terre De Feu
• Poussiere De Lune
• Bouton D’Or
• Orange Indien
• Larmes De Cassis
You’ll find more info on them at the J. Herbin website.
To enter, leave a comment on this post before Thursday, December 16 at midnight EST. We’ll select the winners at random, and follow up via email to sort out mailing addresses and color preferences.
Good luck!
From calligraphy artist Lorna Mulligan comes word of a new exhibit in Montreal’s Ame-Art gallery called Fibres, poils, cailloux. Featuring pieces by Mulligan and other members of the Les Calmars group, it’s on display through June 20.
For those of you who can’t make it to the show, we’re lucky enough to have pictures of two pieces that are on display (both are by Lorna). The first, Beaudelaire, started with small landscape segments done in J. Herbin’s Lie de Thé and Bleu Myosotis. After that, Lorna added the text from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal in black ink with a pointed pen and brush.
The second piece includes an image transfer of an old map of Montreal that shows Lorna’s neighborhood beside the park. Beside this she created a moody background with a mix of earthy inks (Ambre de Birmanie, Lie de Thé, and Vert Olive). The words talk about different ways of walking: And so I must be going… sauntering, wandering, meandering, and so on.
See more of Lorna’s artwork on her website.
Image via Biffybeans
As I mentioned yesterday, the word “hematite” is derived from the Greek word for “blood,” which matches the earthy red tones of J. Herbin’s new anniversary ink.
It also points to some nautical associations: according to legend, sailors wrote with blood whenever ink was not available. I can’t seem to find any further information about this idea (the words “ink” and “blood” and “sailors” turn up a lot of stuff about tattoos; there’s also Sailor brand ink), but perhaps others have heard of it?
J. Herbin was a sailor — according to the Herbin website, he brought back new formulas for sealing wax from his many trips to India, and made ink for Louis XIV. The drawings that adorn the Rouge Hematite box were inspired by his life:
• The ship, anchor, and palm tree stand for navigation and discovery
• The crown is a reference to the red sealing wax that was used in correspondence with the royal courts in Europe
Interesting stuff, eh?
I had the privilege recently of asking Laurent Nusse, CEO of J. Herbin, a couple of questions via email about Rouge Hematite, the much-heralded red ink that was created to mark the company’s 340th anniversary.
Why red? Blue is the most common color, but Laurent said the company felt it was too conventional for an anniversary ink. They asked a few customers what colors would interest them, and a lot of people mentioned red; since Herbin’s original logo is red, the choice seemed obvious.
Why the name “hematite”? Hematite is a mineral that can be red, and the word is derived from the Greek word for “blood.” Since the ink has a dark red earth tone, Herbin felt that it matched the hematite association.
What’s up with the wax on the cap? It’s reminiscent of the way French grand crus are packaged, where sealing wax proves the authenticity and origin of the wine. Speaking of which, I should note that the company is apparently working on a new cap that’s sealed with stronger wax. (The 300 bottles we currently have in stock all have the old, fragile wax that’s been frustrating users and reviewers, unfortunately. UPDATE: The new bottles should be available in June.)
More lore and information to come…
Guest blogger Kate Marshall is back this morning with a good subject for the accident prone: waterproof ink.
So one time, I was transcribing notes and accidentally knocked over my glass of water. Yes, all over my notebook. Luckily, my notes were okay because I’d written them with a waterproof fountain-pen ink: Noodler’s Black.
Yes, such a thing exists. Recently, I did a quick and dirty test of three waterproof Noodler’s inks, a J. Herbin fountain pen ink, and two waterproof J. Herbin inks to see how well they hold up against liquid abuse.
The inks I tested were:
I. Noodler’s (recently purchased during the 2010 Philadelphia Pen Show)
1. Black
2. Bad Blue Heron (a new turquoise color)
3. Old Manhattan Black (exclusive to Fountain Pen Hospital)
II. J. Herbin (provided by Exaclair)
1. Perle Noire (not specifically labeled waterproof but more on that later)
2. Encre Authentique (“Lawyer’s ink”)
3. Encre Chine (“China ink.” Also can be known as “India ink”)
We just got a couple new images from Christian Skagen’s “Horizontal Fields” series, which we blogged about last week (with my apologies for having flubbed the title; sorry — it’s “Horizontal Fields,” not “Horizontal Lines” as I first wrote).
Anyway, click through to see some pieces Christian made with J. Herbin Rose Tendresse and Bleu Azur and a Pelikan M250 EF:
Karen recently struck up a conversation with Norwegian artist Christian Skagen, who shared some of the vibrant ink-and-hot-pressed-paper drawings he’s been making for a series entitled “Horizontal Fields.” Here, for example, is a drawing Christian made with a Sailor Sapporo EF, 300gsm Arches HP, and J. Herbin’s Rose Tendresse:
Here are close-ups of the three works that are framed at the top of this post (be sure to click the image to see a larger version and appreciate the full intricacy and texture of the lines):
