Ink View: Garden District Azalea – A Homage To The Historic Neighborhood Of New Orleans

[Jackokun]

Ink View: Garden District Azalea – A homage to the historic neighborhood of New Orleans

 

Garden District Azalea (GDA) is the last installation of PP’s NOLA inspired limited edition inks. An ink evoking the colors of Azalea, commonly found on the Garden District, a Victorian style neighborhood in New Orleans and the subject of this view.

 

Once again a big thanks to Papier Plume for sending me this sample, this is a nice pink, and despite not being a pink fan, it has enough of the red (and I like reds), that is legible and pleasant to use in my personal view. But I’m getting ahead, lets look at this ink and its name more in detail

 

So what is this ink about?

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The Garden District and the Azalea

 

The Garden District(GD) is one of those neighborhoods in New Orleans that you would want to walk around, the old style Victorian homes, the well-kept garden and house are an appeal to both tourists and locals, and I know I sound like a travel agent now, but look at this picture!.

Taken from : https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjnyOLg55HPAhUM0GMKHb_XB_EQjB0IBg&url=https%3A%2F%2Frdvernon.wordpress.com%2Fcategory%2Fnew-orleans-garden-district%2F&psig=AFQjCNFhjgBIOoO7oGQn-RMVpxeF3ek54A&ust=1474043941157159

 

 

And if the houses don’t attract you there is also the lower garden district where you can get original art, antiques, vintage clothing, and jewelry

 

But GD was not originally part of New Orleans; in fact, it was part of the city of Lafayette until 1852 when it was incorporated to New Orleans. A neighborhood meant for wealthy Americans who didn’t want to mingle with the creole population that lived in the French quarter… ah history. Regardless the homes were built using Victorian and Greek revival style architecture, where the large houses in constant renovations and upgrades allowed the owners to host large parties and celebrations, especially during local festivities.

 

The houses’ generous lots allowed the cultivation of the gardens, for which the area is named after, and both the gardens could compete to see which one stands out the most, but the fact is that both are now staples of the area. Its residents are known for being proud of their homes and maintaining them in pristine shape (they are also 4^th/5^th generation New Orleanians )

 

The Azalea - a spring showoff! . I’m way over my head when it comes to gardening, there has not been a single plant that has survived under my care, and the ones I have alive are all because of my SO, so I’ll probably trample on this part and deepest apologies to those knowledgeable with the art of gardening.

 

Azaleas are a flower shrub, blooms on the spring and the flowers last several weeks, they are tolerant to shade and they prefer living near trees (Wikipedia). And that is all good, but what I found interesting (and NOT in wikipedia) is that the azaleas came to america from Orient two centuries ago, they can be found in seasons other than spring, they are known to bloom around March, that there are at least 5 types of azaleas in new Orleans and that there was a tour for the flower aficionado named after the city of Lafayette called Lafayette Azalea Trail (once lost, but it has now been resuscitated and modernized- see pic)

 

 

And did you knew they were toxic? In large amounts they can be dangerous, I may add, but in essence they are!

 

Now, I could not get the names of all the types of azaleas found in the New Orleans area, but I’m pretty sure that if you walk around the gardens, and you are knowledgeable enough, you would be able to spot them. I'm also positive that they will have multiples shades, but trying to be as fair as possible my take on the azalea pink will be: "middle of the road" i.e ‘George Lindley taber’ southern indica hybrid. - see bellow

 

‘George Lindley taber’ southern indica hybrid.

 

 

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The Garden District Azalea (The ink view)

As noted this is the last of release in the city of New Orleans line, following the previous inks of this line: Street Car Green , Calle Real, Sazerac and Mardi Gras Indians Purple. A pink ink that is pleasant to read, and an ink that in wet nibs shows reddish tones and a good amount of shading

 

Here is how the production bottles looks like

 

And here is the Swab

From a first glance, this ink has high shading properties, not too saturated and as all PP’s inks some wet/watery nature.

 

Let’s look at this more in depth

 

So how I looked at this view?

Pens:

I used three pens this time One EF (Twsbi ECO), One Medium ( MB 146) and One Broad (FC model 1901 BS)

 

Paper:

Tomoe River, Rhodia, Clairefountaine Thriomphe (CF), traditional copy paper , laid paper and Vellum

 

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 being poor, 5 being excellent)

 

Crossover Card

My way to see all the papers and how the ink behaves across.

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
• Saturation: Medium, it does allow more shading having a mid-range saturation IMO
• Sheen: None, Zip, Nada. – In general I have not found one PP ink with sheen properties
• Shade: There is lots of shading on this one . Again you would need a wet nib regardless of the width to really experience it. On dryer nibs it will just be a pale pink – not too pale but pale ink.
• Bleed-through: Only bleed I saw was on copy paper , using a medium wet nib.
• Show-through: There is some slight, very slight on most papers, I’ve circled the ones where this happened, more intense on the vellum, but that is expected. You would be able to write on both sides on most quality papers .
• Feathering: No visible feathering on the papers I tried it with
• 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 the tomoe river 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 has no water proof
• Alcohol Resistance: Very consistent across. You would be able to recover from this one – almost no effect. Where it shows that the ink has gone from the comparison is where the bleach spread to.
• Bleach Resistance: None, Zip , nada.
• Dry Times: This is a somehow wet ink when it goes on paper, and takes time to dry between 10-20 seconds. On copy paper it is almost immediate, same as my previous view I believe is because the ink is watery that goes through quickly between the fibers

 

One thing I had mentioned before it is how easy is to clean any of PP’s inks from the pens. I would attribute this to the fact that they are not meant to be waterproof, as well as that they are not viscose and not too saturated.

 

Ink Comparison

 

 

From the top and then left to right:

 

Ink Name

Maker

Overall Notes

Mashmallow Ink

De Atramentis

Light-neon pink, good if you want to consider highlighting - has sheen behaves well

Garden District Azalea

Papier Plume

Ink of this view

Tourmaline - Ink of the Year

Pelikan

Part of the Edelstein line - limited ink of the year 2012- more darker reddish tones hint of orange good shading

Bordeaux

Visconti

The darker of the bunch, after that you are entering the bordeaux range and moving away from the pink, good shading, good ink overall

 

And here is a (quick) sketch, I went first for the flower then for the houses

 

I'm not as happy with this sketch as I was with the other, I may have to work on it later on

 

 

Here is some Cursive and Block writing for reference.

 

Opinion

This is a pink that at first sight might look light and on fine/EF nibs it could be, but dries a little darker and on wet nibs will show great amounts of shading and more reddish tones. It is pleasant to read, and the flow is not too bad. You may find that there is more feeling of your nib hitting the paper and that is because of how watery the inks generally are - this is not bad - but is something that you should be aware of if you are looking on an ink is that super lubricated feeling.

 

There is no waterproof and in such place where there might be some you will note that after you clear out the water you will have a hard time to read due to the ink turning very pale, again the best attributes of this ink will be the shading.

 

As I say before I don't have that many pinks and this is one I can work with. While I wont say I'll use it on a daily basis, I'm sure there will be times where pink will be needed and this one will do the trick.

 

I’m very grateful that I got this sample, and happy to have this ink as part of the 2 other pinks I have . It is over all a great way to close off the Homage of New Orleans line. There are many many stories and places from the city where inspiration could be drawn from, but maybe we will see that if they (Papier Plume) decides to do Volume 2! - Lore stories anyone?

 

Availability

This ink will be up for sale today Friday the 16th

This will be the link when the ink goes live: https://www.papierpl...ict-azalea.html

Expect release at 11am CST - They will have a limited run 60 bottles to sell online and it is a limited production

Papier Plume notifies their ink availability through their newsletter first (link), then Instagram, then Facebook, and finally twitter (in that order).

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading until the end!

Edited September 16, 2016 by Jackokun

[visvamitra]

Stunning review Simply stunning. Informative, exhaustive. Thanks mate. The ink though doesn't do much for me

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. Very comprehensive. I'm with visvamitra on this one though -- not a pink for me. Reminds me too much of D'A Document Red (which wasn't red, any more than I consider PP Garden District Azalea to be "pink" -- salmon, more likely...). Now if the color was more like the photo of the blooms? That would be stellar....

It's too bad, because there are some really beautiful varieties of azaleas out there -- I planted a white variety called "Delaware Valley".

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[swanjun]

I got mine! But thanks to this review, I think I might need De Atramentis Marshmallow, also! I wonder how it compares to the standard line Opal Pink.

[Jackokun]

Stunning review Simply stunning. Informative, exhaustive. Thanks mate. The ink though doesn't do much for me

Much appreciated, still got lots to learn!

 

Thanks for the review. Very comprehensive. I'm with visvamitra on this one though -- not a pink for me. Reminds me too much of D'A Document Red (which wasn't red, any more than I consider PP Garden District Azalea to be "pink" -- salmon, more likely...). Now if the color was more like the photo of the blooms? That would be stellar....

It's too bad, because there are some really beautiful varieties of azaleas out there -- I planted a white variety called "Delaware Valley".

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Salmon is another good way to describe the color thanks!

 

I got mine! But thanks to this review, I think I might need De Atramentis Marshmallow, also! I wonder how it compares to the standard line Opal Pink.

I dont have that one, but if someone has a swab that can post it would be awesome !

[burf]

To my eyes, the sketch looks more beautiful than the actual house.

[namrehsnoom]

Wonderful and solid review of a nice looking ink. Great drawings too ! From the samples, this seems to be an ink more suited for drawing than writing.

[Carrau]

The George Tabor azalea the OP chose for his example of an azalea is a favorite in Charleston. There is another azalea, named Pride of Summerville, that I think is closer to the salmon color of the ink itself.. It's not my favorite azalea, a bit too much orange, and it doesn't mix well with other colors that are commonly found, like the orchid pinks, watermelon pinks, magentas.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Herrjaeger

[Jackokun]

The George Tabor azalea the OP chose for his example of an azalea is a favorite in Charleston. There is another azalea, named Pride of Summerville, that I think is closer to the salmon color of the ink itself.pride of summerville azalea - Google Search.pdf. It's not my favorite azalea, a bit too much orange, and it doesn't mix well with other colors that are commonly found, like the orchid pinks, watermelon pinks, magentas.

Interesting , many thanks for this!, it does look more to the color of the ink

[mmg122]

Excellent review, Jack! I'm hoping they consider another release of these beautiful LE inks...or, short of that, another LE series. The Papier Plume inks are among my favorites.

 

BTW...lovely drawings!

 

Mary

[Jackokun]

Excellent review, Jack! I'm hoping they consider another release of these beautiful LE inks...or, short of that, another LE series. The Papier Plume inks are among my favorites.

 

BTW...lovely drawings!

 

Mary

Much appreciated ! I have from a good source that they will. as for other LEs one can hope, but I know they are collecting ideas as we speak!

[Carrau]

The color looks a bit like watermelon to me-it's interesting I haven't come across any inks called "watermelon," though.

[ManofKent]

Great review. Not too 'sugary' a pink. Quite tempting if it comes back in stock.

[KKay]

Lovely color, but it is a little pale for me. I adore the reviews, you really go all out on them!