The Birmingham Pen Co. is a tiny family owned and operated manufacturer located just north of Pittsburgh. And of note, the Birmingham moniker was derived from Birmingham, UK – a manufacturing hub that specialised in, among other things, pen and nib manufacturing with thousands of craftspeople employed in the industry. There!
The Birmingham Pen Co. have been on my radar for a while now. I don’t know a lot about them, but from what I can gather and see for myself, they are a serious ink manufacturer with several growing ink ranges labelled under formulas: Crisp, Swift, Rich, Everlasting, Twinkle and Wishy Washy, all of which look compelling.
It was after a chance exchange of texts with a delightful ink enthusiast, Kalen Rowe, that the opportunity arose for me to try out ten of their inks. Three quite saturated inks and seven shimmer inks.
Jade Inferno (Swift Formula) – A rich deep teal green that bleeds out translucent greens when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a deep red metallic sheen.
Voltaic Arc (Rich Formula) – A deep warm blue with slight green hue bleeding out greeny blues and cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a deep red metallic sheen.
Ultramarine (Rich Formula) – A typical ultramarine blue bleeding out neon cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a red metallic sheen.
Blizzard Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – A warm blue bleeding out neon cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a deep red metallic sheen and quite a concentrated silver shimmer.
Galactic Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – An ultramarine blue bleeding out neon cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a substantial red metallic sheen and a concentrated silver shimmer.
Strawberry Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – A translucent orange pink bleeding out salmon pink when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a concentrated silver shimmer.
Midnight Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – An warm black bleeding out warm greys when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a concentrated silver shimmer.
Tributary Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – A dark blue with a red hue bleeding out purples cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a hint of red metallic sheen and a concentrated silver shimmer. My favourite!
Steamboat Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – A dark warm blue bleeding out a teal greens and cyan when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous reaction to bleach with a hint of red metallic sheen and a concentrated silver shimmer.
Cranberry Twinkle (Twinkle Formula) – A deep purple brown bleeding out smokey chocolate when added to a wetted paper surface. A fabulous gold reaction to bleach with a hint of green metallic sheen and a silver shimmer.
I really enjoyed playing with these. I think it’s important that if you are into fountain pen inks that you do get pleasure from them. These are utterly delightful and I’d love to mess around with the the complete collection (hint hint). Sincere thanks to Kalen Rowe for making a hapless ink geek very happy. And one last thing, these really are the most shimmery inks I have tested to date – take another look at the writing sample images to see what I mean.
AND HEY! If you’re interested to know more about how to use fountain pen inks in more creative ways – whether it’s simply to observe their chromatic behaviours, or, to recreate one of my swatch cards, or, to learn how to use them in watercolour painting, illustration and calligraphy, why not check out my online course ?
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 