Review: Rhodia & Clairefontaine Journals, and J. Herbin Inks

In the last month or two I've looked at journals made in the U.S. (Field Notes), Spain (Miquelrius), and Italy (Stifflexible). Now we'll look at some products from France. Exaclair is the U.S. distributor of Rhodia and Clairefontaine journals as well as J. Herbin fountain pen inks and other products.

Late last week I was happy to find that the package I had been expecting arrived, full of Rhodia, Clairefontaine, and J. Herbin products!





The J. Herbin products were their four newest fountain pen ink colors (descriptions courtesy of Sam at Pendemonium): Larmes de Cassis (a burgundy with purple tones) Rouge Bourgogne (a red with slightly pink undertones), Rouille D'Ancre (a brown with pink undertones), and Vert Empire (a beautiful dark green with just a hint of blue tones). I think the best place to look at the colors accurately is right at the J. Herbin site. They also sell scented inks and sealing waxes, great stuff. Sam from Pendemonium also provided a small swatch of each color.

As you can see from the pics, both Clairefontaine and Rhodia offer journals in various sizes with various binding choices, some glued some spiral bound (some of the Rhodia products are bound at the top like the Moleskine Reporter's journal). With these products I think I prefer the spiral bound versions as they are much better at lying flat. Both brands offer paper choices of blank, lined, and graph.

The Clairefontaine products come in all kinds of colors while the Rhodia journals seem to stick with their familiar black and orange scheme.





Since I also came into possession of the four new inks, I figured I could kill two birds w/ one stone and use the inks to test the paper. I used a few of the pens (and one mechanical pencil) I had on hand. In short, I found the paper in both the Clairefontaine and Rhodia journals to be pretty solid, even with fountain pen ink.

Here is the Rhodia sample, click on the pics to see full-size. The following pic shows the reverse of the page, negligible bleed-thru, but I can see the impressions through the paper.








Here is the Clairefiontaine sample, click on the pics to see full-size. The following pic shows the reverse of the page, no bleed-thru. I think the Clairefontaine paper wins in this regard.








On to the four new J. Herbin inks for a moment ...

The new green is definitely my favorite of the group. I can see using it for regular use, the others are a bit to out of the ordinary to use in my pen at work. No real surprises with the red and blue/violet inks. They work as expected. But the Rouille D'Ancre is unique. I would probably describe it as salmon-colored on the box. But after writing with it you can see touches of brown and pink depending on the paper, the pen, and how well the ink has dried at any given moment.

In the end I'm glad I took the time to check out these new inks; I already love the J. Herbin brand, particularly the colors Bleu Pervenche and Eclat de Saphir. I'm adding Vert Empire to the rotation. The brand has been around since 1670 and makes fantastic inks that work in any pen I've tried them in. They don't stain pens and rinse well.

I'm also happy with the Rhodia and Clairefontaine products. I think I like the Clairefontaine paper and Rhodia bindings, but both seem solid. And are particularly affordable when compared to most Moleskine products, which are somewhat controversial among fountain pen users due to some ink bleed-thru issues.

One of my favorite items is the Rhodia 'Mouse-Pad.' It looks like a mouse-pad but is actually paper, a writing pad.



I love these things, I'll have to pick up some more. I already have my eye on Bleu Nuit.

Misc. Links ...
J. Herbin at Pendemonium
J. Herbin ink colors as a PDF
So who uses Clairefontaine?
Who is Claire Fontaine?
The Rhodia Brand Story
More about Rhodia