Jacques Herbin Shogun

The new Jacques Herbin Shogun has arrived, the newest in the Jacques Herbin line from J. Herbin, in their square bottles with luxurious colours and shimmer.

The arrival was a bit of a surprise, having ordered it some months ago with only a vague timeline on the future, but very welcome in this cold stretch of the first week of February. How else are we to get through another wintry quarantine season but with beautiful inks to keep our journals sparkling?

This one is a lovely charcoal black, with shimmer. The wetter your pen, the better the flow, which is helpful for inks with the sparkle particulate that makes this ink so magical.

Here are some writing samples, done with my Parket Sonnet Cisele with a medium nib, a perennial favourite, and also a classic. Its only fault is not being transparent or translucent, so I can’t see the ink and its shimmer in the barrel, but I suppose I’ll forgive it. Or maybe I won’t, who knows. I am but a fickle stationer.

The swab is done with a cotton swab. The paper is the standard Rhodia paper.

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I had to break open a new Rhodia pad for this event, trying out a new ink, among other essential stationery tasks such as to-do lists and scribbling. There is something very satisfying about a brand new pad of paper, perforated for more dramatically perfect tearing when needed, maybe more so a white one, because it’s only going to stay white for so long. Ah, the exceptional notes I will write upon this pad: “Ask Jon to look behind couch for ice cream spoon I dropped”; “why doesn’t Loblaws carry Haagen Dazs Mint Chip anymore?”

In any case, we continue onwards, on Rhodia pads in various states of depletion. It seems as though ink shippers are already making lovely and encouraging plans about spring ink ordering. Optimism: There will be a spring, they insist. And ink.

Hobonichi seems to have plans for a spring shipment for its retailers, which is another bright spot. Along with the usual restocks and special editions, spring will bring with it lots of relief and excitement and we are happy to be looking ahead, while also embracing this quiet and cold season to be at home with our babies and cats, everyone getting boosted, windows open in classrooms without kids having to wear their hats and mitts.

Currently reading: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Currently snacking on: very expensive yet very tasty salted egg chips

Also snacking on: the kids’ Vitamin D gummies

Currently overcome by: all the long strands of thread coming out of all of our furniture

Currently on the breaking point of: buying a scratching post