Jump to content

Birmingham – South Side Park Fern Moss

crahptacular

By crahptacular
in Ink Reviews

 Share

Recommended Posts

crahptacular Rare

crahptacular

Posted
Posted

Birmingham – South Side Park Fern Moss

 

The Birmingham Pen Co.’s line of inks (30 colors at the time of writing) feature various colors based on or inspired by notable locations or people associated with its home city of Pittsburgh, PA. I bought their sampler pack, and plan on slowly going through the whole line of inks, though I expect it will take me quite a while. For those interested, I posted some color swatches in a different topic (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328952-birmingham-pen-co-ink-swatches/) where you can get a quick idea of what the whole line looks like together.

 

South Side Park Fern Moss is a very grey green. I’d even go so far as to call it a greenish grey rather than a greyish green, depending on the lighting. In daylight, I see it as a green, but at night with dimmer artificial lighting, I could swear that it’s a grey. When I first made a swatch for this, I was really excited to try it, but now that I’ve used it for a while, I’m not as enthusiastic about the color. It looks much different in writing than when I made my initial swatches. I think the color should be relatively complex (the paper towel I rest my brushes on shows at least three different dye components), but somehow I can’t see any of the complexity in writing, or even more surprisingly, in washes. I’ll readily admit I let my expectations get ahead of me, so apologies for the bias, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed with the ink. Anyway, I have quite a few greyish greens to compare this against, so you can see that this ink has far less color saturation than others like Foggy Green or Loden. I also included Lexington Gray in the comparisons so you can decide for yourselves whether this appears closer to grey or green—to my eyes, it falls neatly in between. My own inflated expectations aside, I think fans of not-quite-greys or greys-with-a-twist would enjoy this color. The amount of green is sufficient to add some interest to it and distinguish it from plain greys, and I found its shading in writing to be subtle and attractive. I think this is one of the uncommon cases where I find an ink more attractive in plain writing than in more generous applications like splashes, smears, washes, flex, etc.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate

Shading: Medium

Sheen: None. Very matte.

Water Resistance: Moderate High. (I forgot to show the usual test on the review sheet! The three letters “ses” at the end of the word “staircases” became the ad hoc test. The green comes off, the grey stays put. Very readable).

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Kakuno (Medium) and a Franklin Christoph 65 (Broad Stub) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a size 3/0 mop. Flex writing was done with a Leonardt 30 dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: The photo lighting is absolutely awful. Unfortunately I think the next few months’ worth of photos will be equally bad. The scan is quite accurate, fortunately. The colors are just a touch oversaturated in the comparisons, but the doodle, writing, splash, and big smear all look good on my monitor.

 

Scan:

fpn_1511593747__birmingham_south_side_pa

 

Photo:

fpn_1511593771__birmingham_south_side_pa

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

Papier Plume Bayou Nightfall, KWZ Foggy Green, Franklin Christoph Loden, Birmingham Frank Gorshin Riddle Green, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

fpn_1511593787__fern_moss_mnemosyne.jpg

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

fpn_1511593804__fern_moss_tsubame.jpg

 

Franklin-Christoph:

fpn_1511593824__fern_moss_fc.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 15
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Intensity

    3

  • Honeybadgers

    2

  • Tas

    1

  • inkstainedruth

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Intensity Collectors Item

Intensity

Posted
Posted

Beautiful color with good water resistance: on my list now. Thank you for your review.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

Posted
Posted

Hmmm. This one is a maybe. Reminds me a bit of J Herbin Vert Empire (which I already have) after it's faded a bit. But the artwork is lovely.

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 5 months later...
lapis Museum Piece

lapis

Posted
Posted

Ooo wee.

 

How did I not notice this ? :huh:

DITTO !!

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RoyalBlueNotebooks Collectors Item

RoyalBlueNotebooks

Posted
Posted (edited)

Oh goodness look at that shading and that indescribable color. Wish list!

EDIt: Thank you to the power of thank you for uploading big scans. I have poor eyesight so I usually need to squint to gauge the ink color, but not in this case. Great review!

Edited by RoyalBlueNotebooks

fpn_1502425191__letter-mini.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Intensity Collectors Item

Intensity

Posted
Posted

This review prompted me to get my own bottle (thank you!), and it is definitely excellent and complex ink with a great vintage vibe!

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 7 months later...
DrScholl Near Mint

DrScholl

Posted
Posted

Ooo wee.

 

How did I not notice this ? :huh:

 

Same here!!

Thanks for your beautiful review, look at that shading ...

Does any of you know if this ink is available somewhere in the EU ? Besides I read here that Birmingham inks are made in Germany by DeAtramentis.

I tried to order one from the US but there was a killing shipping cost of $ 22.33 for a 9.99 bottle, which kind of dampened my spirits

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Honeybadgers Donor Pen

Honeybadgers

Posted
Posted

Birmingham needs more love. Such amazing ink quality

 

Sport Donnelly grass stain is my favorite green ever, and it was a limited edition

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JonSzanto Antique

JonSzanto

Posted
Posted

Birmingham needs more love. Such amazing ink quality

 

Sport Donnelly grass stain is my favorite green ever, and it was a limited edition

 

But of course you realize how subjective this all is. I like the guy, I dug his spirit and way of treating customers, all that. I purchased three inks after looking at quite a few. One of the things that makes it difficult is that a lot of his inks are very closely similar in hue and shade. Teeny differences. But I found three, one of which was Sport.

 

I used one fill and knew I wouldn't use it again. Just not my kind of green, and I like green inks. Fortunately, the two others (again, they are similar, just slightly differing shades of rusty/brick/magenta) turn out to work pretty nicely in flexible nib situations, and I'm enjoying those.

 

So there may be others in his lineup worth investigating, but my general take on them - from my perspective and use - is that they lack a bit of character for common use and appear a bit weak and faded. I'll keep an eye on the reviews so that I can be surprised by another new ink. Sport Donelly didn't work for me. No hate, by any means, but can't love it, either.

"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

~ Benjamin Franklin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Honeybadgers Donor Pen

Honeybadgers

Posted
Posted (edited)

He kind of aims for the faded, warm, smoky colors. He doesn't do vibrant. I really like tarnished nickle, fort blockhouse sepia, and in particular allgegheny river twilight is an AMAZING dusky purple.

 

They're also extremely well behaved

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ENewton Collectors Item

ENewton

Posted
Posted

He kind of aims for the faded, warm, smoky colors. He doesn't do vibrant. I really like tarnished nickle, fort blockhouse sepia, and in particular allgegheny river twilight is an AMAZING dusky purple.

 

They're also extremely well behaved

 

I also really like the purples. My favorites are Waterfront Dusk and Lilac Wind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Intensity Collectors Item

Intensity

Posted
Posted

He kind of aims for the faded, warm, smoky colors. He doesn't do vibrant. I really like tarnished nickle, fort blockhouse sepia, and in particular allgegheny river twilight is an AMAZING dusky purple.

 

They're also extremely well behaved

With a few exceptions, the colors are murky and dark. But Andy Warhol Pop Purple and Truss Blue are very vibrant.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33577
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26766
    5. jar
      jar
      26105

  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc.

      By Shanghai Knife Dude · Posted

      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o

  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More

  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...