Search the Community

Miami bound next week! Going to another great Miami Pen Show! Join us July 12-14 at the Miami Airport Marriott! 4 tables of Pens, Inks, Paper, Refills, Cases and Accessories! Exclusive Product Brands include- Girologio Cases, Colorverse Inks, Robert Oster Inks, Endless Recorder Journals, Stifflexible Notebooks, Laban, Constellations88, OPUS88, and Magna Carta Pens! We are donating a Laban Pen for the Lee Ely Memorial Raffle (Lee was a frequent customer of mine.. Founding member of South Florida Pen Club) More Info Here- http://www.miamipenshow.com Regards, Frank

Ink View: Papier Plume’s Red Beans and Rice - "Now serving for your fountain pen taste buds". Some time back I had the chance of going to New Orleans and in my exploration of the city ( and obvious google search for stationery stores), I stumbled upon Papier Plume, and what transpired out of that moment was the chance to try out one of the then upcoming inks. I had been very fortunate that they have been kind enough to send me samples of the new releases after that and helped me try and hone this world of ink (re)view which can be as wide and large as you want to take it. NOLA is famous in a wide range of things and one is that of food. So I’m not sure if this ink will be the first on a food themed release or just one more example of what NOLA has to offer. So now let’s, as they say, spill the beans! RB&R fair warning: I have shamefully stolen this next photo, its so nice and I'm sure PP wont mind http://i.imgur.com/fyHS7wN.jpg Red Beans and Rice The Dish A traditional creole food of Louisiana, normally served on Mondays. Now to why on Mondays, that is mainly because Mondays was a traditional wash day. Back in the day, and while the women of the house where doing laundry and attending the house, they will slow cook red beans (or kidney beans as per their resemblance in shape and in color to a kidney) with leftovers from the previous day (Sunday à family day à family dinner à family leftovers), normally ham as it was customary. As with any slow cooked dish, you can go about your day and don’t pay too much attention while it is being prepared. Nowadays you can find this dish in both homes and restaurants, the later as Monday specials. Apparently, Louis Armstrong really liked red beans and rice. He would often sign his letters "Red Beans and Ricely Yours, Louis Armstrong" So when I looked at the ink, I was looking forward to a shading reddish brown ink. Lets see! Red Beans with Rice – The ink Food Here is a shot of the bottles: http://i.imgur.com/C20yMTF.jpg This (ink) is part of the First addition to the New Orleans Collection since 2016 (would there be more ? ) and comes after the Chicago Pen show LE inks (which very pretty nice). As with all their NOLA inks Papier Plume ink’s hues are inspired on what they are looking to pay tribute to, in this case one of their traditional dishes and, as you would see later, the ink will vary from a light red/brown to a more blood dark red and brown as it goes down on the paper. So, to those that would be wondering, no this is NOT a scented or flavored ink , although I have yet to see/taste a flavored ink, I have to wonder who will dare to be the first and what would that be. Let’s see the swab in the Col-o-ring card (ran out of Mnemosyne) : http://i.imgur.com/T1Ipofh.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/iXSXUVp.jpg This is definitely a burgundy ink, for some it would look very shiraz or a very full body wine, the red and brown tones are evident regardless of the saturation with which the ink goes on to the paper. It is as some had pointed out, “more saturated” that their normal inks. And it comes with its strengths and drawbacks, it does not shade as much as other but it still shades, and you would likely see longer drying times specially on wet nibs. So on to the tools: Pens: Visconti Joon 25th Anniversary LE 18K Medium nib (semi flex <-- I swear), Pelikan Burnt Orange IB 18k Nib, Kaweco Luxe EF semi flex nib 14K. Paper: Tomoe River, Rhodia, Rhodia R, Clairefountaine Thriomphe (CF), traditional copy paper, laid paper and Oxford paper. Tests: Flow, saturation, shading, sheen, bleed-through, see-through/show-through, feathering and pooling. With other tests such as water, bleach and alcohol and dry times. Sometimes it will be a yes/no answer, sometimes 1-5 (1 nothing of that property, 5 a lot of that property) CrossOver Card This is a way for me to see all the types of paper and how the ink behaves across . http://i.imgur.com/1YoOMwp.jpg?1 You can see that each column is representative of the paper used. Thoughts on the ink-paper behavior · Flow: Flow is good, very fluid, consistent across all papers and pens used most of their inks are good on flow · Saturation: Medium/Heavy, sometimes it looked more saturated depending on the paper, because of this doesn’t do much on but it was within my expectations if I was looking for good shading. · Sheen: None, Zip, Nada, sadly no PP ink that I have tried has Sheen · Shade: Despite the saturation this ink does shade, not as dramatic as other but I would say it has low to medium shading and the paper will play a big part. · Bleed-through: Seen only on Copy paper, all other papers tested, no bleeding was noted. · Show-through: with the exception of the oxford all other papers showed show through, with more light showthrough in Rhodia and Clairefountaine. · Feathering: Now I did experience some tiny (and I’m being picky) feathering using a very wet nib, on all papers but tomoe. Now to be fair this was a very wet nib that I was using to see how far I could take it. Please take note that you the paper you are using is sensitive to the oils of your hand this ink will feather where the oils mix with the paper. · Pooling: (This is not the shading but more on the pooling on the edges of the letters, I enjoy when the inks provide this). Only on Tomoe River, but it is expected of this paper. · Water Resistance: The tests shown on the card were done using an eyedropper, leaving it a few seconds then using a tissue paper to retrieve the excess. But offline I did a more smear/spread test. Tests show that the ink had a level of waterproofness that will wash away some of the red leaving a dark but faded residue, completely legible , and this was consistent across all papers, this will let you recover what you write . · Alcohol Resistance: Very consistent across. You would be able to recover from this one – almost no effect. · Bleach Resistance: None, Zip , nada. · Dry Times: As noted this is a saturated but also wet ink and the drying times could be long most on the 20sec mark and on some papers longer than that. Cleaning: Fairly quick and no issues, couple of flushes and my pens very ready to go. Here are some other inks for comparison,http://i.imgur.com/sA0nOnd.jpg?1 From the top and then left to right: Ink NameMakerNotes in comparison RengaMazuren Athenamild shading, lots of sheen and more red tones , hint of yellowUluru RedBlackstone inkdarkish red, more pink on the light side and small hints of the brown , very good sheen when heavy on the paperRed Beans and RicePapier Plumen/aCassis RedPlatinumThe most similar in Color to RBnR, however this one has IG properties and you do have to wait a couple of days for the color to really set inCarnivalDiaminered/dark red with layed down heavy on the paper good shading small hint of sheenWilliam ShakespeareMontblanc a more red ink , less brown tones to it and mild shading OxbloodDiaminea very dark red with more brown tones Maroon 1789Robert OsterFull body red, some purble and brown, good pooling, some sheen And here is a quick sketch and writing samples http://i.imgur.com/xWJh1vT.jpg Cursive and Block writing for reference. http://i.imgur.com/w8dHOF0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/17tklQR.jpg some flexi http://i.imgur.com/1yAvxpj.jpg Opinion This is an interesting ink, it is one that I would be happy to carry on a day to day basis and it is sober enough to use in a work environment. It surprisingly very similar to Cassis black minus the IG properties and if you are a person that is worried about IG I would recommend to try this ink instead. It is also a red similar to full body wine without being too brown to look bloodlike. The use of this on flex nibs will highlight the different shades that definitely are there and will enrich that type of writing. On top of this, the ink will not completely wash away and any writing could be easily recovered. On very cheap paper this ink will feather, so a word of caution. I’m very happy I got to try this ink, and you can bet I have already put a bottle on hold for me J. Availability This will be released at the Miami pen show and online at the same time, so it will be great for those, like me, who cannot attend the show. This ink is, as noted before, part of the NOLA collection, I would not call this LE per se but once the batch rans out, my understanding is that, it will take them a long time to bring out another batch. However they are making a fair number of bottles. The ink is sold in 1 Oz / 30ml bottles. Looking into the story behind the ink’s name, made me wonder on what dishes I used to have growing up which main component was leftovers, and there was a few, all very heavy In substance, and perfect as pick me ups after a long night or like this case to set you up for the week or for some to end your day and straight to be. I’m sure everyone had some sort of leftover dish full of good memories. as always Papier Plume will announce their ink availability and other news through their newsletter first, then Instagram, then Facebook, and finally twitter (in that order). BUT for those that made it this far, this will be the direct link https://www.papierplume.com/product-catalogue/inks/inks-bottled/papier-plume-new-orleans-collection-fountain-pen-ink-red-beans-and-rice.html Live tomorrow (july 14th,2017) after 11:00 am CST Now I'm Hungry! Hope you enjoyed this View.

I've got a list of pens and pen-related items that I hope to find at the Miami Pen Show this weekend. This will be my 5th year to attend and it's always a pleasure. I hope to see some familiar faces. Who is planning on coming to the show?