Ink Snippet: Papier Plume New Orleans Collection — Calle Real, Garden District Azalea, Mardi Gras Indians, Sazerac, Streetcar Green

This is a re-release: the inks in the New Orleans Collection debuted as a limited edition in 2016, so there are reviews elsewhere on the web. But this is my first chance to try them. If you like them, you can find them for sale on the Papier Plume website here.

Papier Plume makes these special edition inks in very small batches. Just like their two recent Chicago Pen Show inks, I don’t think the New Orleans Collection inks will last very long. So as soon as they arrived yesterday, I put them into pens — four Pelikans and an Edison — to get a better look.

And my verdict is: I like all of them. Not much help for those on a budget, I know, but they are only $8 each for 30 ml.

That’s Tomoe River paper in my Hobonichi Techo. All five inks performed very well on both Tomoe River paper and Rhodia.

Here are writing samples on Rhodia. First is Garden District Azalea in a Pelikan with broad nib, then Sazerac in a Pelikan with medium nib.

These are the lightest inks, so I’m glad I put them in wider nibs. Both are lovely colors, with attractive shading. Garden District Azalea is a pretty pale pink. Sazerac is a yellow-orange that looks happy and cheerful, without searing your retina.

Though it’s hard to judge in one pen, both seem to have moderate flow, with Sazerac a little wetter. But dry time was quick. Both behave well on these fountain-pen friendly papers, and resist feathering well on regular paper.

Here is Streetcar Green on Rhodia, bracketed by Sazerac and Calle Real.

Streetcar Green is exactly the kind of green I love: grayed down, attractive and eye-catching in a subtle way. It looks very natural. The shading is beautiful.

I have it in an Edison with medium nib, which is a wet-writing pen, but I think Streetcar Green seems wetter than either Garden District Azalea or Sazerac. On the lowest-quality paper, I got a bit of feathering, but still found it perfectly useable.

Here are Calle Real and Mardi Gras Indians.

I’m a blue fan, and I adore Calle Real. It’s a cheerful and bright blue, but not an “oh my eyes” bright. It’s easy to read from this Pelikan with extra-fine nib. It’s slightly on the wetter side, I think. Calle Real feathered only a tiny bit on the lowest-quality paper — perfectly useable to me.

Mardi Gras Indians Purple is — believe it or not — a purple ink that I actually like. A lot. I’ve inked this in a Pelikan with fine nib, and I think it looks great. It’s probably the wettest ink of the five, though not a gusher by any means. Nice shading and an attractive dark-purple color. On the worst paper (like Field Notes) this feathered a bit, but was still usable for me, however.

So there you go. I like them all. It’s a veritable rainbow of excellent colors. If you are interested in any of them, I’d snap up a bottle or two.