J. Herbin Bleu Azur: Another Sky

My friend just gave me a sample of this lovely ink, J. Herbin Bleu Azur.

I have a strange fondness for inks that are nearly invisible.  One favorite is Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same, a delicate, pencil-like gray ink.  I also like very light greens, like J. Herbin Vert Pré and Lamy’s recent Charged Green.  I don’t know if this stems from my childhood love of spy stories, or just an interest in things that are different.  An ink you can’t easily read? How different.  I like that!

I loaded Bleu Azur into a Kaweco Classic Sport because that’s a wet pen, and I can interchange the nibs.  The above photo shows it with a double-broad nib.  Bleu Azur is pretty legible with a wide nib and good ink flow.

I do like the color of Bleu Azur. It’s like another sky, which is from a beautiful poem Emily Dickinson wrote to her brother:

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!