J Herbin Terre De Feu Ink is one of the many unique French named ink colors produced by J Herbin. There are over 30 color variations of J Herbin inks, not to mention the increasing number of the high sought after 1670 Anniversary Inks. Terre De Feu, which means Earth (or soil) of Fire, or what many will consider “land of fire”, is the name for the group of islands located at the far south of the continent of South America. It is a soft appealing brown fountain pen ink, with definite red tones. The wettest lines will produce browner, dark colors, while the dryer lines will show more of the red tones of this ink.
Pen Chalet carries most of the 33 J Herbin inks in stock including all of the J Herbin 1760 Anniversary Ink colors.
J Herbin Terre De Feu ink produced the following characteristics while we used this ink:
Testing Factors
We used a J Herbin glass dip pen on Rhodia Bloc N. 18 graph paper. Both the pen and ink are French made and imported to the United States.
Bottle Sizes
The J Herbin ink bottles come in various sizes: (i) a 30 ml. glass bottle, (ii) a 10 ml. plastic sample size bottle and (iii) a large 100 ml. plastic economy bottle. These inks are very economical and having a 10 ml. sample size allows pen lovers to purchase many colors for a good price, enabling a user to sample and eventually pick his or her favorite colors. We love the larger 30 ml glass bottles as it has a unique square shape, with an indented pen rest on the top of each bottle.
Cost
J Herbin inks, which are imported from France, retail as follows: 10 ml. bottle retails for $6.00; 30 ml. bottles retails for $10.00 and the large 100 ml. plastic bottles retails for $26.00. Great value for a imported French ink!
Dry Time
While using J Herbin Terre De Feu ink we experienced a dry time of approximately 7-10 seconds, which was reasonable, but not super quick. Using a larger sized nib will produce an even longer dry time that we experienced.
Bleed Through
There was a slight bleeding with the Rhodia paper while the dip pen was at its wettest. The vast majority of the writing sample produced no bleeding.
Feathering
Using the Rhodia paper and the glass dip pen produced no feathering.
Water Test
After letting our ink sample dry for approximately 3 minutes we ran a soaked cotton swab over the writing, which produced a slight color smear, but very little to no feathering. Although this is not a water proof ink, it held up pretty well in the water test.
Shading
This J Herbin ink produced some nice shading, with the brown and slight red color variations. Using a wetter pen and a large nib, will produce even more shading than we experienced.
Conclusion about the J Herbin Terre De Feu Ink
We love J Herbin inks, they are a great value, have unique wonderful names, a wide variety of colors, sizes, price points and good fountain pen usage characteristic. We highly recommend J Herbin inks. Therefore, its just a matter of choosing your favorite colors and either purchase a sample size, economy size, or the standard 30 ml. glass bottle size. No matter what size you purchase you will not be disappointed with this French imported ink.