» What would you do with lighting bug ink?
Uh-oh, I guess I should add a disclaimer that the ink isn’t actually made out of lightning bugs….
Exaclair will be debuting this new J. Herbin Phosphorescente ink at the upcoming National Stationery Show in New York City, May 16th-19th at the Javits Center.
Karen told me that this ink is meant to “glow like a firefly’s belly” and that it does! It is not an ink for fountain pens, so break out the dip pens for this one. And I’m certain you can guess what I did with it the minute I got it, right? Glow-in-the-dark mandala? You betcha! Now I just have to figure out how to take a picture of the results!
Comments
Very cool! ;-)
As for photographing it, you should be able to put a blacklight bulb into a lamp and shine that on the mandala to get it to glow. Turn off all other lights, and set the camera’s timer on and the flash off: you’re going to want it to take a very long shot due to the low light, and you will need it to sit on something steadier than your hand while it’s taking.
If you aren’t able to work it out, just send a bottle of the ink along and I’ll demonstrate. ;-)
This sounds like a very interesting ink. But You didn’t give us much information about it! Is this an ink that has be be viewed with UV light or is visible to the naked eye. How is the flow, saturation, absorbancey on plain paper and Rhodia/Clairefontaine? Is it waterproof, light fast. . . I guess I’m asking – more, more information. Date available, where available, quantity and cost? When can I get a test sample?
Thanks, for the introduction.
Mike, I just might take you up on that!
GrannyKass – I am only able to give you little bits of information I currently have, as the ink isn’t confirmed to be imported by Exaclair yet. It will be debuted at this spring’s National Paper Show – and I’m assuming if there is enough interest, it will arrive at US retailers later this year.
Since it’s not suitable for fountain pen use, dip pens are the only option and my first testing used a glass pen to do a line drawing. It’s an ink heavy with particulate that requires a good deal of shaking. As dip pens tend not to be my friend, I may not have the opportunity to give a more thorough review of my own experiences with it. Additional details will be posted about this ink as news arrives from France….
Wow, what a fun idea! What would I do with it… hmmm, thinking back to my rather geeky youth (that has become confidently geeky adulthood :) ), this would have been THE coolest thing to fiddle with. Agatha Christie meets James Bond and Sherlock Holmes all in one bottle!
I would actually use it as a way to introduce certain kids who had the bent toward this sort of thing to the joy of using a dip pen. There are still those kids who find that fascinating while also zipping along with more modern tech.
when I was a kid, back in the 1960s, I collected phosphorescent toys and paints including the Green Ghost game, SuperBalls, and plastic stars. I had several bottles of a product from Kenner Toys called “Lightning Bug Glow Juice,” a gesso-like substance with suspended particles of glow-stuff. I painted tarot symbols and portraits of The Beatles on the ceilings of many friends’ bedrooms. I used my last bottle of Glow Juice in 1975 to paint lines on a stage so the crew could place set pieces in the dark.
Note the difference between “fluorescent” — UV active reflectance, and “phosphorescent” — self-energized light emission. Particles of phosph. material are quite large, relatively speaking. the bigger they are and the more of them , the brighter the effect and the longer it lasts.
If you shine an ultraviolet source on phosph. material it will light up intensely. In your case, your mandala inks may react to the UV by fluorescing in stunning and surprising colors. The pigments in some inks are remarkably UV-reactive.
david boise ID
I bet this would be LOTS of fun to write/draw on dark paper and then display the artwork under a blacklight! Is it out yet?
It is… there are several US retailers that have it, but they haven’t yet been listed on the Herbin site. You can request information about it here: http://www.jherbin.com/contact.php4
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