Ink Review - J. Herbin Ambre de Bermanie

This ink is a real odd one. I had a very hard time reviewing it, because I like it a lot, but at the same time, it has some undesirable qualities that I really don't like.

Like most J. H. inks, the name is increasingly difficult to pronounce. :) This ink has some beautiful shading, and I don't think I've seen many colors quite like it.

J. Herbin Ambre de Bermanie gets a good 80/100. So very close to being in the "great" category...

The good:

• Very high amount of shading
• Easy to clean out of your pen
• Good color - very unique

The bad:

• A lot of feathering on moderate to cheap papers
• A lot of bleed-through on moderate to cheap papers

The ugly:

• As I will continue to say - the J. H. bottles are horrible for filling from. :(
• The ink dries just a bit less pretty than it looks when first applied

Onto the details:

Ink review: J. Herbin Ambre de Bermanie.

Pen and nib: Noodler's Ahab flex pen - XF nib.

Color: Golden-brown/amber.

Dry time: About 7-9 seconds. A tad long, but my Ahab flex is extremely wet.

Smear when dry: NO.

Shading: Excellent!

Lubrication: None really - very watery, as most J. H. inks are.

Bleedthrough: A lot sadly...

Feathering: A very substantial amount...

Here's a comparison of the feathering for reference. (Check out that shading though!)

Written on Norcom Composition notebook:

Written on Basildon Bond paper:

Written on Clairefontiane paper:

This shows off both the feathering, and the shading. 

Conclusion:

J. Herbin Ambre de Bermanie is so close to being a great ink! The feathering and bleedthrough are a bit of a problem for me, but I love the color and shading characteristics. I was really torn on this review, not knowing what to give this ink in the way of a rating.

These problems are almost entirely due to how watery it is. This does have at least one advantage, being that it's very easy to clean out of your pen. But aside from that, a think a slightly higher viscosity would've been nice.

I don't think I'll be buying a full bottle of this, but I sure am enjoying writing with the sample I do have.

If you're a big fan of Clairefontaine paper, I highly recommend this ink. It will perform just fine for you, and the shading is really fun to play around with, especially in a flex nib! It plays particularly well with the Basildon Bond paper, showing even more shading than normal, and contrasting very well against the off-white page.

That's it for this review. Hope you enjoyed! Please leave me a comment if you will, and let me know what you think of this ink. Something you'd like to try? Or is the color not to your liking?

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