Ink Review #288: Birmingham Piano Girl Pink

Today's ink is Birmingham Mary Lou Williams Piano Girl Pink. I purchased my sample of ink from Birmingham Pen Co. The ink is available in 5ml samples and 30ml bottles. 

The color:

Piano Girl Pink is a dusky maroon, not quite a pink.

In large swabs the ink is very dark, almost a black. In ink drops, the ink spread out farther than the drops.

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

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering on Rhodia, mainly in the flex nib, but in some of the other nib sizes as well. The ink also feathered on the Col-o-ring card and in the flex nib on Leuchtturm.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low

Other properties: Very low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer. 

On 20 pound copy paper there was some feathering.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Kyo-no-oto #6 Adzukiiro, Birmingham Piano Girl Pink, and Diamine Burgundy Royale. Click here to see the Birmingham inks together.

Monteverde Mercury Noir, Papier Plume Red Beans and Rice, and Sailor Jentle Grenade. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer writing: 

I used a Waterman 52 1/2 and a broad Pilot Vanishing Point Copper on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, it's not really a pink but more of a maroon. There's a bit more feathering than I like, similar to the other Birmingham inks I have tried this week. I wouldn't recommend this ink if you use Rhodia as your main paper, but give it a try, you might love it.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.