Ink Review: Papier Plume Garden District Azalea

Papier Plume Garden District Azalea

Garden District Azalea is the last of the three color I purchased from the New Orleans ink collection from Papier Plume. I laughed because earlier this week Sarah mentioned in the comments for the Streetcar Green that she specifically passed on the the “pink ink” and here I was thinking I was saving the “best for last”.There’s a color for everyone.

Alternately, there’s been a lot of other folks who have come around to appreciating pink inks, myself included. I think Callifolio Andrinople and the Sailor Pink Love helped to woo us over to the “pink love” for sure. But since this spring, I’ve been slowly adding new pink inks to my collection and coming to appreciate a few that have sat idle in my collection.

Papier Plume Garden District Azalea

The Papier Plume Azalea is a good pink addition. It shades nicely and is not too pinky-pink, leaning more towards a reddish pink than a candy watermelon pink. I didn’t notice any sheening in the color. I found the ink a little on the dry side so I think it might perform better in a wider nib pen than an extra fine. When painting the title, it did take a bit longer to dry and I got a bit impatient — especially considering I managed to misspell GARDEN. Doh! Overall, I like the ink and the price point cannot be beat.

Papier Plume Garden District Azalea

Compared to other pink inks in the Desk vault, Garden District Azalea is closest to J. Herbin Rouge Opera which is a very wet, runny ink and a touch more red. Andrinople is a tiny bit darker and moodier than Azalea and  Iroshizuku Tsutsuji is more magenta pink. Both Sailor Sakura-Mori and Iroshizuku Kosumusu are more peachy pink (watermelon-y) and the Kobe #41 is more purply-pink.

I hope that gives you a good idea where Garden District Azalea falls in the pink spectrum. Would bright up any black pen — would probably make the Black Pen Society guys weep so don’t tell them I said that.

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1 comment / Add your comment below

  1. Hi Ana, Thanks for a great comparison of pink inks that I’ve been thinking of getting.. Would you say the Sailor Jentle Sakura-Mori is very similar (or almost the same) as Iroshizuku Kosumosu?

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