Papier Plume - Streetcar Green (New Orleans Collection)

June 4, 2017

Papier Plume - Streetcar Green (New Orleans Collection)

Papier Plume is a stationary shop in New Orleans, that’s been getting some attention lately on this forum with their "New Orleans Inks", that celebrate the rich colours and history of the city. One of their inks in this series is Streetcar Green, a grey-green with a unique personality. Fellow member ManofKent was so kind to send me a sample to play around with – thank you Richard! Be sure to check out his excellent review, and also the reviews of visvamitra and Jackokun. Highly recommended!

Streetcar Green is a grey-green ink that really attracted me. For one - it is a subtle and understated colour, easy on the eye, with a dusty old feeling. For another - it is an ink that shades really well, in an aesthetically pleasing way. The shading is really noticeable, but it works great with not too much of a contrast between the light and darker parts. Personally I find this ink's appearance really attractive. Nicely executed!

I do find the ink to be a bit undersaturated - this is clearly visible in swabs, which turn out to be very light on most papers. It's also apparent in finer nibs, where I find that the contrast with the paper is not strong enough. This is an ink that loves broad or wet nibs, that result in a more saturated line, bringing out the best in this ink. Below you'll find a writing sample with my drier Safari M and B nib, and the wet golden M-nib of a Pelikan M400. It's obvious that Streetcar Green prefers the broad & wet nibs.

On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - this Papier Plume ink behaved perfectly with no apparent smearing. Water resistance is also remarkably good! A 15-minute droplet test left almost all the ink in place. And even with running tap water an easily legible residue of the text remains. The ink's water resistance is demonstrated clearly in the chromatography, which shows that the ink's grey components remain in place when coming into contact with water. If you need a water-resistant ink, Streetcar Green won't disappoint.

I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you:

An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip
1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation
An ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain pen
The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib
A small text sample, written with an M-nib
Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)

Streetcar Green behaved perfectly on most of the papers I used, only with Moleskine there was a tiny amount of feathering. Be aware that the ink doesn't look too good on yellowish paper (green ink on yellow paper is not a good combination in my opinion). There are also some papers where the ink looks extra nice, a.o. OCM cotton paper, Paperblanks & Tomoe River paper. The ink dries quickly - in the 5 to 10 second range - making it a good ink to use at the office.

At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on most papers. Only with Moleskine and Graf von Faber Castell, significant show-through and some bleed-through were present. Streetcar Green is a well-behaving ink.

Conclusion

Streetcar Green from Papier Plume is a charming green-grey ink - dusty and understated, with a vintage feel to it. For me, the colour is right up my alley, although I would have preferred a bit more saturation. Be sure to use a broad or wet nib to bring out the personality of this ink. Being water-resistant and fast-drying, Streetcar Green is also well placed for use in an office environment. Overall, I find it to be an excellent ink, that scores well on both looks and performance. Recommended!

Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib