• Blog
  • About
    • My Inks (on Fountain Pen Companion)
    • My Pens
  • Archive
  • Contact
Menu

Macchiato Man

  • Blog
  • About
  • My Collection ☟
    • My Inks (on Fountain Pen Companion)
    • My Pens
  • Archive
  • Contact
The @madebyendless Cotton Wallet arrived the other day! I’m a sucker for these sorts of practical inserts for notebooks. The cotton fabric suites the simple style of the Explorer. 
⠀
While I love these and always get them whenever I can I never
First test of the Regalia paper in the Endless Explorer than I was sent by @madebyendless. Really impressed by the paper. Very smooth, nice sheen and nice shading! Finger prints or hand oil seem to affect the writing a little but nothing out of the o
New Pen Review: Esterbrook Camden (Premium Edition) - 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚒𝚘!

I’ve been eager to try the Camden for a while now. I love my flat end pens and the overall shape of this one is subtly unique. While there are some differences between
New friend from @esterbrook_official! Camden Manitoba Blue. 
⠀
Love flat end pens so looking forward to digging into this (so review incoming).
 
Flat or round ends?✑
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fountainp
New Ink Review: @birminghampens Antique Sepia (link in bio)
⠀
In line with the recent trend of soft pastel dichromatic inks but Birmingham’s version is an interesting dust grey version with low saturation that I find quite interesting don&rsquo
New Ink Day! Haven’t had one of these for a while but I received these from a friend at the last Perth Pen Meet. 
⠀
All sailor and the first tall bottle in a while (bringing the number of those to 86). 
⠀
Didn’t realise it at the time but
New Ink Review: La Couronne du Comte Vert Sapin (link in bio)
⠀
The final of LCdC’s initial set of four exclusive inks from Diamine. A lovely rich sheeny green-teal.
✑
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fo
I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this before but my city has a set of five dip nibs as an artwork. 

They are called “Memory Markers” by Anne Neil and represent early-ish colonial stories of the gardens where they are.

We als
⚠️Update: Why I have been so radio silent! 📻🤫 A lot of large personal changes, essentially (read on for details)!

There have been three main reasons for why I haven’t been able to do much here or on my blog. 

1) 🎓 I had to finish of my Mas
Ink Ink Comparison: Discontinued Iroshizuku and New Iroshizuku! Thanks to @penclassics for allowing this to happen. See link in bio!
⠀
The old: Tsuyu-kusa, Tsukushi, and Ina-ho.
The New: Sui-gyoku, Hana-ikada, and Hotaru-bi.
⠀
This is a long review b
NPD: @esterbrook_official LE Estie “Candy” in Oversize with a Kirk Speer Needlepoint nib!
⠀
Thanks to Esterbrook for sending this through to me for review. I’ve reviewed a couple of Esties now and two of the custom nibs (which are a
Out with the old in with the new?

I just received the new Pilot Iroshizuku Inks in the little bottle ink pack from @penclassics for review. I plan on doing an overview review of the three new and the three old ones!

I feel like Ina Ho was quite a u
New Pen Review (see link in bio): Platinum Curidas courtesy of @penclassics (check them out!)
⠀
This is certainly a curiously designed pen with it's quirks but it has bee a delight to write with and a great pen to through in a pocket. I've been using
New Ink Review! @wearingeul_global Kyonghui! See link in bio!

Kyonghui is a vibrant earthy orange from Wearingeul's series on Korean Female Modern Writers. It is also a great performing ink!

Wearingeul's global push is fairly new; has anyone tried
It has been a little while since I posted here so I thought I'd give a little update!

Firstly I think I just needed a little break at the end of the year! It has been a busy year for me. I have been taking my photography more seriously and I also ha

Subscribe

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates.

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.

Thank you!
Blog RSS

☛ Twitter feed

✉ Email Subscription

☞ Fountain Pens Australia (Facebook Group)

☛ Sailor Pens & Inks (Facebook Group)


Sponsors

10% off code: MACCHIATOMAN


Click here for sponsorship information


Featured Posts:

Featured
Ink Review: Pennonia Pokoltuz (Pokoltűz)
Aug 1, 2019
Ink Review: Pennonia Pokoltuz (Pokoltűz)
Aug 1, 2019
Aug 1, 2019
Notebook Review: Pebble Stationery Pocket Tomoe River Notebook
Nov 10, 2018
Notebook Review: Pebble Stationery Pocket Tomoe River Notebook
Nov 10, 2018
Nov 10, 2018
Ink Review: Krishna Brown Pink
Jan 20, 2018
Ink Review: Krishna Brown Pink
Jan 20, 2018
Jan 20, 2018


Archive
  • November 2024
  • October 2023
  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016

Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Co. Eroded Bronze

June 28, 2022 in Ink Review

Duotone, dichromatic, or whatever you want to call it. Inks that present on the paper with different colours have been very popular in recent years. The first of these inks that really took off were from Sailor’s Ink Studio set of inks but since then there are many from Sailor, from Troublemaker, Vinta and of course Birmingham Pen Company. Many of the dichromatic inks are based around a pink dye that separated from a blue teal or green dye. That is fundamentally the same combination there! The ink is green with a pink that separates when the ink pools and dries.

The small two-brother run Birmingham Pen Co. have quite a few inks (which certainly made it difficult to pick which I wanted) and they add new inks to the lineup all the time and I believe they retire inks as well. If you see something you really want, it is probably best to jump on it early. As a very general theme, Birmingham inks tend to be lower in saturation and dusty, dirty, or muddy coloured. This ties them all together and also makes them stand out which is a difficult thing to do with the amount of inks we have available to us now. The inks are handmade in Pennsylvania in the US. Birmingham Pen Co. divided their inks into different categories and sub-categories when I bought this ink:

Traditional Ink

  • Crisp Formula: “Formulated to perform well with a variety of premium, mid range, and discount papers.”

  • Swift Formula: “Designed to start quickly, write wet, and operate easily within a wide variety of fountain pens.”

  • Rich Formula: “Built with a unique vehicle and dye combination to produce vibrant color and intermittent sheen.”

  • Wishy-Washy Formula: “Washable from most fabrics and cleans easily from most surfaces.”

Specialty Ink

  • Everlasting Formula: “Permanent and highly water resistant.”

  • Twinkle Formula: “A unique blend of proprietary fountain pen ink formulas and iridescent pigment carefully calibrated for optimal luster and performance.”

But now they are divided into four categories:

  • Keystone Formula inks are engineered using water-soluble dyes to produce a broad spectrum of colors with a variety of unique and desirable writing properties. Fitting the bill for a traditional fountain pen ink, this series by far the most popular. 

  • Wishy-Washy Formula inks are constructed with dyes selected for both performance and washability. Colors in this series will clean easily from most fabrics and surfaces with soap and water.

  • Everlasting Formula inks are compounded with pigmented colorants to produce highly water resistant and archival properties on paper.

  • Twinkle Formula inks are formulated using hybrid dye and pigment combinations to create a unique twinkling luster. 

Birmingham also listed the generalised ink ingredients in the bottle (which were different for each category). Antique Copper was a Crisp Formula ink (now Keystone) and has the following ink ingredients:"

Diluent - Highly purified laboratory grade water to ensure consistency
Thickener - Tempers feathering
Humectants - Influences dry-time
Lubricants - Regulates flow & performance
Surfactants - Regulates flow & performance
Preservative - Adds shelf life for safe long-term use & storage
Colorants - Powder dyes to bring colors alive in the solution

As you can see, in the bottle the fluid of Antique Copper is a fairly green. A fairly cool green, in fact, in the bottle. On paper this green doesn’t come out nearly as strongly. In areas of haloing you can see some of it but generally the green loses a lot of saturation and becomes quite a bit warmer. The pinkness of the dichromaticism also warms of the colour of the ink a lot as well. Overall it still leans more green than otherwise but not as much as what the fluid would suggest.The ink is fairly light and the saturation is low and it has that dustiness that I often associate with Birmingham inks. The ink is a little on the drier side of performance. I definitely would prefer this in a wetter pen. The flow is good but the ink feels a little not highly lubricated..

The ink does have some variance depending on the paper it is on with some papers bringing out the saturation of the green much more that others.

That said, it is difficult to describe the inks actual colour because it changes quite a bit depending on the paper it is on. Whiter papers have a cooler look, unsurprisingly, but they are also greyer with less green saturation overall but the yellower papers have a higher gree saturation. The pink colour also comes out to various degrees depending on the paper. As a swatch, performance of this ink isn’t amazing on poor quality paper but in the written line (which is the important part) the performance is OK to decent on poor quality papers. There is even some shading on decent copy paper. Examples of the ink on 15 different paper types is at the end of the review.

Birmingham inks, with the exception of the Twinkly Formula (shimmering inks) which is only in 60ml bottles, are available in 30ml, 60ml, and 120ml. I’ve come to enjoy 30ml as a size and so all of my inks (bar two because I wanted to have one of each bottle) are 30ml. The 120ml bottle comes with a built in eye dropper just like the larger Noodler’s bottles (in fact this 120ml Birmingham bottle looks very similar to the Noodler’s (but it is different). The bottles are all glass and all of them (especially the smaller ones) have a simple vintage look about them as if they are from the the industrial era. They remind me of Noodler’s in this regard and I love the look.

Nib and Pen details

I used Lamy Safaris in Savannah for this review and seven different stainless steel Lamy nibs on that pen. The choice of pen (be that Safari, AL-Star, Vista, Joy or Studio) will have little impact in the writing performance. I will not use a Lamy Dialog because there is the rare chance of the nib drying out slightly which might affect the writing performance.

  1. Lamy 1.9 Stub: this is a very wet nib

  2. Lamy 1.5 Stub: this nib is moderately wet to write with (this is used for the brand and ink name title);

  3. Lamy 1.1 Stub: this nib is on the drier side;

  4. Lamy Broad: this is a wet;

  5. Lamy Medium: this is a very wet nib;

  6. Lamy Fine: this nib is moderately dry; and

  7. Lamy Extra Fine: this nib is moderately wet.

I also use a fine JoWo nib attached to a James Finniss Serendipity (from Pensive Pens) for the comparison ink names. This nib’s wetness is moderate but the feed is primed which gives it a wetter character than would be a normal writing experience. This generally as the effect of reducing shading and luminosity, while increasing sheen and saturation. The possibility of feathering and bleeding is also slightly increased. This is still more accurate than a dip pen or a glass pen in my experience.

52gsm Ivory (White) Tomoe River

On Tomoe River Birmingham Antique Sepia is lighter, warmer and less saturated. There is quite a bit of pink that shows in the swatch and the the written line. I only have a couple of comparable dichromatic inks.

  • Troublemaker Kelp Tea: is lighter, more saturated (both colours) and a little warmer;

  • Sailor Ink Studio 280: is much more yellow (even if the pink has taken over here) and much more saturated;

  • Sailor Ink Studio 370: is darker, more saturated and a warmer;

  • Sailor Manyo Shirakashi: is much darker more saturated and a little warmer;

  • De Atramentis Cement Grey:is slightly greyer with less saturation but isn’t a whole way off;

  • Robert Oster Moss: is not too far away from what you’d expect this to look like from the fluid colour but isn’t that close on the paper; and

  • Robert Oster Khakhi: not similar at all.

On Tomoe River Troublemaker Kelp Tea comes the closes with Cement Grey being not too far off!

There is a decent amount of shading with quite a lot of lovely haloing as well (which is where you see the cool green come through). The shading is frequent and fairly contrasting but has a mixture of sudden and smooth gradients which can hide the shading a little.

There is no sheen whatsoever.

Sailor Manyo Shirakashi has some lovely copper sheen, Robert Oster Moss has some dull copper-magenta sheen and Khakhi has some silver. There is a hint of a dull brown-silver sheen on Cement Grey but none of the dichromatic inks have any sheen.

Looking at the chromatography shows a pink gradient at the start that breaks into a little bit of yellow before another gradient of light cool green. You can see two separate dye gradients which is interesting.

There is absolutely no water resistance, dry time is decent and there is no smearing.

80gsm White Rhodia

On Rhodia the ink is darker, cooler with more green saturation and less of the pink showing.

  • Troublemaker Kelp Tea: lighter and warmer, the pink is much warmer now too';

  • Sailor Ink Studio 280: more yellow than green and the pink is now orange. Much more saturated;

  • Sailor Ink Studio 370: a little warmer and more saturated but not too far off;

  • Sailor Manyo Shirakashi: too dark and desaturated. More brown now;

  • De Atramentis Cement Grey: again not far off but a little darker and desaturated;

  • Robert Oster Moss: too green and saturated; and

  • Robert Oster Khakhi: not even close.

The closest here would surprisingly be either Sailor Ink Studio 370 or, again, De Atramentis Cement Grey.

I feel link the pink comes through on Rhodia less on the swatch compared with Tomoe River but more on the written line! There is a decent amount of pretty pink showing though. Shading isn’t as strong as on Tomoe River with less contrast but a similar frequency and the similar mix of gradual and sudden gradients. There is still a nice halo.

No sheen whatsoever.

None of the comparison inks have sheen.

There is still no water resistance and the dry time is very fast. Almost less than 10 seconds. There is no smearing.

Final Remarks

⭐️ = One Star

★ = Half a Star

☆ = No Star

🚫 = None/Not Applicable

(Star ratings are a rough and glanceable indication and are more quantitative than qualitative. They are not saying that something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but rather that, of the particular characteristic, the ink has a ‘high’ or ‘low’ amount)

52gsm Ivory (White) Tomoe River

  • Shading: ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆

  • Sheen: 🚫

  • Shimmer: 🚫

  • Halo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️★☆

  • Saturation: ⭐️★☆☆☆

  • Luminosity: ⭐️★☆☆☆

  • Feathering: 🚫

  • Bleeding: 🚫

  • Flow: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆

  • Dry time: ⭐️⭐️⭐️★☆

  • Smear: 🚫

  • Water Resistance: 🚫

80gsm White Rhodia

  • Shading: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆

  • Sheen: 🚫

  • Shimmer: 🚫

  • Halo: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆

  • Saturation: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆

  • Luminosity:⭐️⭐️☆☆☆

  • Feathering: 🚫

  • Bleeding: 🚫

  • Flow: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆

  • Dry time: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️★

  • Smear: 🚫

  • Water Resistance: 🚫


I’ve been really happy with the Birmingham Pen Co. inks I have put in my pens. I’ve got four reviews prepared (including this and the already published Projector Film) and I’ve inked six inks so far (I think). In general the feel of the inks is slightly drier than I prefer but the colour and and look of this ink makes it easy for me to look past that. They have such unique colours and some subtle dichromaticism as well. I’d definitely recommend looking at their range (they also make some pens periodically)!

I’d also like to commend on the professionalism of this small run ink studio! The second group buy (which was close to AU$1000 - a little of US$700) came in two packages. Because of the pandemic shipping was very slow (this is definitely not Birmingham Ink Co.’s fault!) It actually reached almost 60 days with no tracking and the way Nick and Josh handled this was amazing so I can definitely confirm that you will be treated very well!

The ink is quite decently priced for my mind. The 30ml bottle is US$13, the 60ml is US$16, and the 120ml is US$19. Shipping internationally isn’t very affordable (but you can’t blame them for that - I recommend a group buy!). US shipping is free over US$40 (which should not be difficult to get to) and I should also note that they often have sales that knock a couple of dollars off the ink. I should note that the Twinkly (shimmer) inks are US$29, and the Everlasting inks are US$19, US$29, and US39 for the respective sizes

What are your favourites from their current lineup? If I’m ever part of another group order I need a list!

✒︎ ✑ ✒︎ ✑

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please let me know in a via the comments, Instagram, or contact me directly.

You can find my ink collection here and my pen collection here. Is there something you’d like reviewed? Let me know!

For blog updated you can follow @macchiato_man on Twitter, subscribe via email, or like my Facebook page. Check out the sponsors of this blog as well!

I was not compensated for this review and everything here is my own honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review. I purchased this ink myself .

Tags: Birmingham Pen Co., Birmingham Pen Co. Antique Sepia, Ink Review, Troublemaker Kelp Tea, Sailor Ink Studio 280, Sailor Ink Studio 370, Sailor Manyo Shirakashi, De Atramentis Cement Grey, Robert Oster Moss, Robert Oster Khakhi
← Pen Review: Esterbrook Premium Camden Northern Lights Manitoba BlueInk Review: La Couronne du Comte (Diamine) Vert Sapin →
Back to Top

Blog RSS

✉ Email Subscription

☞ Fountain Pens Australia (Facebook Group)

☛ Sailor Pens & Inks (Facebook Group)