Papier Plume - Sazerac (New Orleans Collection)

[namrehsnoom]

Papier Plume - Sazerac (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 Sazerac, an orange delicacy with a unique personality. Fellow member Jackokun already did a great review of this ink, be sure to check it out !

 

 

Sazerac is an orange ink that really attracted me. For one – it is an intricate and beautifully complex colour, easy on the eye, with a great depth to it. 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 a well-executed 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 rather 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. The ink also suffers from subpar lubrication in finer nibs. Sazerac really needs 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, compared to the wet golden M-nib of my Lamy Dialog 3. It’s obvious that Sazerac looks best with wetter nibs.

 

 

The ink has a wonderfully dynamic colour span. To illustrate this, I did a swab where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink, pooling it on. This beautifully illustrates the dynamics of Sazerac. A wonderful orange indeed!

 

 

On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – this Papier Plume ink behaved reasonably well with only limited smearing. Water resistance however is totally non-existent. Even short exposure to water will obliterate your writing. This is also evident from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that the ink detaches easily from the paper. If you need a water-resistant ink, Sazerac is not a good choice.

 

 

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 a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen
• The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib
• A small text sample, written with an M-nib
• Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)

Sazerac behaved perfectly on most of the paper I used, only with Moleskine there was a tiny amount of feathering. Be aware that the ink does look quite unsaturated when used with dry nibs (like the Lamy Safari M used in the writing samples). Using broader and/or wetter nibs will alleviate this, and bring out the best from this ink. There are some papers where the ink looks extra nice, a.o. Fantasticpaper, Paperblanks & Leuchtturm 1917 paper. The ink also dries quickly with my M-nib – in the 5 to 10 second range.

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 paper types. Only with Moleskine and Graf von Faber Castell was there significant show-through and some bleed-through. Sazerac is a well-behaving ink.

Inkxperiment - orange tree

I’ve recently started to experiment with ink drawings, keeping things simple and more-or-less abstract. I find it to be a fun extension of the hobby, and have found single-ink drawings a nice challenge. It also gives you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this drawing I used 90 gsm sketch paper. I first painted the tree-trunk with a fine brush, using multiple layers of Sazerac. For the foliage I used water-diluted ink – once dry, I added some texture using a sponge dipped in pure ink. The end result gives you a good idea of the colour span that Sazerac is capable of. In my opinion, this orange ink is born for drawing… totally beautiful.

Conclusion

Sazerac from Papier Plume is a charming orange ink, that – in my book – is born for drawing. As a writing ink, it’s not well suited to my standard finer & drier writing instruments – I would have preferred a bit more saturation. But when used with wet pens and/or broad nibs, the ink is just beautiful – a lush orange with great character. This is not an ink for the office though, but one you’ll cherish for personal communication or journaling. Overall, I find it to be an excellent ink. Recommended!

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

Backside of writing samples on different paper types

[visvamitra]

I like what I see. A pity they're not easily available in Europe.

[lapis]

Excellent review. I love this ink. Good thing I bought a bottle of it. Your comparisons are super and above all your own paintings are magnificent!!

[crahptacular]

Thanks for reminding me to ink this up! I got some in my last order from Papier Plume, made swatch cards, and then promptly forgot about it. I like how it stands out by being less saturated than the usual vivid oranges (though I like those too).

[ENewton]

Very nice.

[Intensity]

Excellent review! I've been meaning to photograph my review of it too. I really like this ink. The orange of this ink is not really a clean orange--it's bright and saturated, but it has some almost light brown quality to it. I think of it as a very sophisticated "orange".

[NicolausPiscator]

Wonderful review! Sazerac reminds me of ROS Peach which I do like very much. (The other Papier Plume inks look interesting, too!). The ink looks better written with your Dialog but the shading with the Safari though somewhat pale is quit nice!