Papier Plume - Red Beans And Rice (New Orleans Collection)

[namrehsnoom]

Papier Plume - Red Beans and Rice (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 Red Beans and Rice, a soft pastel-like grey-red ink with quite a unique personality.

 

 

One thing needs to be said right at the start: Red Beans and Rice has a colour that quite literally changes its appearance with the colour temperature of the light. On a scan it looks a bit too purple, while in soft yellow light it looks almost rose-red. An elusive colour indeed. For the title image, I used a daylight photo, which most approaches the hue that I see in real life.

 

 

Red Beans and Rice is of the brown-red family, with strong grey undertones - as is shown clearly in the chromatography. The grey undertones soften the ink's colour, giving it a pastel-like appearance. I quite like it, but if you're into vibrant colours, this will probably not be your piece of cake. The ink shades nicely and quite strongly, even in finer nibs. Definitely an ink with character.

 

 

The ink itself writes quite wet, but lacks lubrication especially when used with a dry pen like the Lamy Safari that I use for my reviews (I also noticed this lack of lubrication with other Papier Plume inks I tested). Saturation is quite good though, even in finer nibs. When used with wetter pens, lubrication improves significantly, resulting in a much more pleasant writing experience. For this ink, it certainly is recommended to pair it with wet pens.

The ink has a broad 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 Red Beans and Rice. The range moves from a very light rose-red to a deep dark grey-red colour.

On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved quite well . There is some smearing, but the text remains perfectly readable. Water resistance is also acceptable. The ink quickly loses all the red dyes, but a grey residue remains, resulting in a ghost image of your writing that is still easily readable. Not what I would call water-resistant, but the ink is more or less accident-proof. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that the grey components of the ink remain on the paper.

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
• The source of the quote, written with a wet Parker Sonnet (F-nib)
• Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)

Red Beans and Rice behaved perfectly with most papers in my test set. Only with the notoriously bad Moleskine paper did I notice a tiny amount of feathering. I quite like the ink's appearance on Paperblanks journal paper, which happens to be my journal of choice. The ink is also quite subdued, leaning towards a pastel-like appearance. I happen to like subdued colours, but if you're into vibrant inks, this one might not be for you.

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.

 

 

Inkxperiment – Fiery Flowers

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. This time, I was inspired by Red Beans and Rice's chromatography, which showed the water-soluble character of its red dyes. I used a very absorbent paper (Graf von Faber-Castell 100 gsm), that I totally soaked in water. I then applied drops of ink to the paper, letting them bleed out. This results in the fiery red halo surrounding the flowers. Once partly dry, I applied a bit of bleach to the heart of each flower. And after some more drying, I again added a tiny bit of Red Beans and Rice to the center of the bleached region. With the paper completely dry, I painted in the flower stems and petals. The end result gives you a good idea of the way Red Beans and Rice can express itself when used for drawing.

Conclusion

Red Beans and Rice from Papier Plume is a grey-red-brown ink with an almost pastel-like character, that is at home with both writing and drawing. The ink works well with most paper types, shades nicely, and shows some measure of water resistance. The colour is probably not for everybody. Myself, I like its pastel-like appearance, but if your preference goes to vibrant colours, Red Beans and Rice is not for you. For drawing however, I'm sure anybody can appreciate the expressive power hidden within this ink.

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

Backside of writing samples on different paper types

[lapis]

Excellent review of a good ink that sure has a lot to show. Such a good ink really shows off a lot more than one simple colour. As if that weren't enough, your drawings make even more out of it! "Pastel" is a good word to describe this ink, too.

[Intensity]

Super review, 10/10! Thank you!!

[MsRedpen]

Great review, as always!!!

I might need to add this one ...

Who in EU carries Papier Plume inks?

[lgsoltek]

Not enamoured of the ink, but your Fiery Flowers drawing is amazing!

[namrehsnoom]

... Who in EU carries Papier Plume inks?

No EU suppliers that I know off. I searched for one myself, but ended up ordering directly from their web shop.

[MsRedpen]

namrehsnoom, thank you for info!

M

[GardenWeasel]

That is a wonderfully comprehensive review. I really enjoyed it! Thank you!