Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Co. Projector Film
I’ve organised two group buys from Birmingham for my local fountain pen group (to maximise shipping efficiency) and in those two buys I managed to pick up 14 inks from the two batches. In the first batch was this Projector Film. I have to admit, I was initially more drawn to it because of the name (I’ve been getting into film photography lately and the loose connection to that interested me). But the ink colour seemed interesting as well and once I got it in a pen I realised it was quite interesting!
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. Birmingham Pen Co. divide their inks into different categories and sub-categories:
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.”
Birmingham also list the generalised ink ingredients in the bottle (which are different for each category). Projector Film is a Crisp Formula ink 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 Projector Film is a fairly yellow colour and leans towards the green. On the paper (usually) much pinker in colour. On most papers the ink is a warm, pink huffed taupe of beige. 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 drier.
That said, it is difficult to describe the inks actual colour because it changes quite a bit depending on the paper it is on. On cream Tomoe River paper the yellow comes out a lot more (and even leans a hair green). On Graphilo it looks much more like a light brown. On Decent Copy Paper and 68gsm Tomoe River it is noticeably pink. 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 decent on most 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 Blue Powder Rose 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.
Lamy 1.9 Stub: this is a very wet nib
Lamy 1.5 Stub: this nib is moderately wet to write with (this is used for the brand and ink name title);
Lamy 1.1 Stub: this nib is on the drier side;
Lamy Broad: this is a wet;
Lamy Medium: this is a very wet nib;
Lamy Fine: this nib is moderately dry; and
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 the inks has a noticeably pink hue to it. It is still quite warm. The darker the swatch the pinker it gets. I actually struggled quite a lot to find a similarly coloured ink in my collection (which is a decent indication that this is a fairly unique colour).
Diamine Gingerbread: much too orange and saturated (though it does still have a subtle pinkness to it);
Sailor Ink Studio 273: much too light and too pink but a comparable hue;
Louis Vuitton Or Audacieux: too yellow and green';
Kyo-Iso Stone Road of Gion: too brown (with no pink) and less saturated;
Hakase Sepia Dark: Lighter, browner (with no pink) and less saturated;
L’Artisan Pastalier Callifilio Inca Sol: too red and orange and too saturated;
Montblanc Swan Illusion Plume: much too light and the pink hue is much too subtle.
Strongly I think Sailor Ink Studio 273 is the closest here (and it really isn’t that close).
The shading of this ink is where it shines. Look at the blocky hight contrast in the title! The shading is frequent, with mostly sudden gradients and high contrast between the shades. Very nice. It shines in wet pens as well which is a surprise! There is also a subtle halo to it on Tomoe River.
There is no sheen here. Technically there is the faintest hint of a desaturated green sheen on the swatch but nothing close to sheen on the written line.
Similarly most of these do not have sheen even on Tomoe River and those that do only have it on the swatch.
You can see on some of the poorer papers that some green starts to feather into the paper from the heavily swatches areas. You can see this same green in the chromatography. The colour starts with a faint washed blue that becomes a warm pink that slowly gets darker and loses some warmth before breaking into a green.
This ink has no water resistance. The dry time is fairly normal (leaning towards slightly slow) on Tomoe River, and there is no smearing.
80gsm White Rhodia
On Rhodia the ink is more saturated and decidedly warmer. The pink is still there (especially in the more heavier parts of the swatch or shading) but it definitely doesn’t show as much here. This is more of a light orange brown colour.
Diamine Gingerbread: much closer on Rhodia but still too yellow and saturated;
Sailor Ink Studio 273: not similar at as it is way too pink, desaturated and light;
Louis Vuitton Or Audacieux: too yellow, green and saturated (and a little darker);
Kyo-Iso Stone Road of Gion: Too dark, brown and desaturated;
Hakase Sepia Dark: Also too brown and desaturated;
L’Artisan Pastalier Callifilio Inca Sol: too red and saturated;
Montblanc Swan Illusion Plume: too light, brown and desaturated.
On Rhodia I think Diamine Gingerbread comes the closest.
Shading isn’t quite as strong on Rhodia. The contrast isn’t as strong but the gradient and frequency are still the same as on Tomoe River. On Rhodia there is no haloing.
As should be expected from an ink that doesn’t sheen on Tomoe River, it doesn’t sheen on Rhodia at all. There is some feathering in the swatch here but not on the writing, thankfully.
None of these inks show sheen, especially on the written line.
There is no water resistance on Rhodia and the dry time is quite speedy! No smearing either.
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)
80gsm White Rhodia
Shading: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Sheen: 🚫
Shimmer: 🚫
Halo: 🚫
Saturation: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆
Luminosity: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆
Feathering: 🚫
Bleeding: 🚫
Flow: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
Dry time:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Smear: 🚫
Water Resistance: 🚫
52gsm Ivory (White) Tomoe River
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 I’ve inks 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 be say 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!
✒︎ ✑ ✒︎ ✑
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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 .