Birmingham Pen February 2019 Ink Subscription

Today we are looking at February's Pen Parcel, aka the Birmingham Pen ink subscription. Every month five new, 5ml samples hit my mailbox. Sometimes the inks become available as singles on the Birmingham website about a month after the subscription, sometimes they are just test colors. These five are not available yet, but if they become standard colors, you can find them at Birmingham Pens.

These colors are very bright and cheerful. I think it’s interesting that the Birmingham Inks have been made in a few different countries, this month they were made in Germany.

Swabs:

Left to right, Thundercloud, The Golden Arm, Beach Coral, Emerald Scout, and Canterbury Raisin.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time:

Three dried in 30 seconds, and Canterbury Raisin dried in 20 seconds, and Emerald Scout took 50 seconds.

Dry time: 20-50 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was feathering on Rhodia and Leuchtturm, mainly in the flex nib.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer. Each of the five had just a little bit of shading.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was lots of feathering in every nib size as well as quite a bit of bleeding, so I would not recommend these inks for cheap paper.

Comparison Swabs:

Thundercloud is closest to R&K Sketch Lilly. The Golden Arm is closest to Birmingham Arugula. Beach Coral is closest to Birmingham Salmon hors d’oeuvre. Emerald Scout is closest to Montblanc Emerald Green. Canterbury Raisin is closest to Pen Saijiki Fujifusa. Click here to see the Birmingham inks together.

I used a Bond A5 (Tomoe River 68gsm). Top to bottom, I used: Pelikan M800 Renaissance Brown with a medium nib, Pelikan M400 White Tortoise with a medium nib, Pelikan M600 Vibrant Orange with a medium nib, Pelikan M805 Stresemann with a medium nib, and a Pelikan M605 White Transparent with a medium nib. All of the inks had an average flow, but the consistency was a bit thin, almost watery.

Overall, I enjoy the bright colors, but the ink felt a bit watery. Both The Golden Arm and Beach Coral are similar to recent Birmingham colors. I don’t love any of these inks enough to need full bottles.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.