J. Herbin Larmes de Cassis Ink

I’m going to start by saying that I found this ink VERY wet, hence the drying times, but I think that’s because it would be more suited to a (fined nibbed probably) fountain pen.

I got this in the set of 4 mini inks I got from Bureau Direct. I have already reviewed the Diablo de Menthe and have 2 more to go.

Larmes de Cassis (unless I’m translating wrong) means “tears of blackcurrant”, which is kind of weird. I love all the names of J.Herbin inks, it’s like a little french lesson every time you try a new one.

I really like the colour, it’s a mid-pinky-purple and it has a nice amount of light and shade. But as I said before, it’s just too wet an ink to work with a dip pen. It comes out really quickly when you’ve just topped up, and then runs out really quickly. You can see how inconsistent my writing is when using it. You can also see above where it’s feathered on the page (which is quite rare with this paper – Clairfontaine Triomphe – which usually handles anything).

I’d really like to try it out in a fountain and see how it fares. I didn’t have any non-inked up pens at the time of doing this review so I’ll update this post once I’ve had a chance, because I do really like the colour and would like to find a use for this ink. If i was more artistic I think this would be a good drawing ink it as it blends and shades really well.

You can get hold of one of these sets from Bureau Direct for £14.95, they’re the perfect size for trying inks out before committing, or for getting unusual colours that you might not use every day.

For clarity, I was given this ink free of charge from Bureau Direct for the purpose of this post.