Birmingham – Fort Pitt Blockhouse Sepia

May 23, 2018

The Birmingham Pen Co.’s line of inks (30 colors when I bought the sample pack, but I think they’re at 40+ and counting) 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.

Blockhouse Sepia is medium brown ink with pinkish undertones. I’m avoiding the term “sepia” because it seems like each person (and ink maker) has a different idea of what it should mean. It has moderate color saturation, and its appearance seems to depend on nib wetness quite a bit. In the main review, you can see that the smaller writing (SF nib, relatively wet) the ink is a consistent darker brown, with little shading and crisp lines. In the larger writing (broad stub, on the dry side) it has a sort of chalky appearance. The paler shades reminded me of bottled chocolate milk, especially in the doodle. For comparisons, I didn’t have any similar brown-pink inks, so I tried to select browns with a range of different undertones. Brown isn’t my favorite color family, so I’m not that excited by the color, but I liked the way it looked on creamier papers like Midori and TR, while I thought it looked lackluster on the colder white of FC paper (which the writing sample scan didn’t pick up properly, unfortunately). I wish it had just a little more oomph in its darker shades; I’m not a fan of how the dry ink looks as though it were covered in dust, though the softness might be considered by others to be a positive.

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate (felt slightly more lubricated than the average Birmingham ink)

Shading: Moderate-Low

Sheen: None

Water Resistance: Some (color washes off, grey remains)

The following sample was done with a Pilot Falcon (SF) and a FC 65 (B Stub) on Tomoe River (68gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a Kuretake Menso brush (Small). Flex writing was done with a Leonardt 30 dip nib.

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: The scan is definitely more saturated than the actual appearance of the ink, but the hue is close to accurate. Most of the comparison inks came out more red/orange than they actually are. Overall, the doodle and writing are pretty reliable, while the big smear doesn’t correctly convey the “chalky” appearance of the ink.

Scan:

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

Franklin Christoph Terra Firma, Diamine Oxblood, Graf von Faber Castell Hazelnut Brown, Diamine Ancient Copper, Kyo no Oto Adzukiiro

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction; papers of increasing absorbency), from Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible

Maruman Mnemosyne:

Midori MD (sorry about the ribbon):

Franklin-Christoph:

May 24, 2018

Your beautiful reviews flatter any ink you use!

May 24, 2018

Have I suggested the idea of you producing a book of these wonderful reviews ?

May 25, 2018

I can almost taste the beer :-)

The colour itself doesn’t really speak to me though. But I never tire of your reviews, they are great!

May 26, 2018

This ink is quite reminiscent of KWZ Brown Pink. Fantastic review as usual!

May 27, 2018

Not what I would call sepia, but an interesting looking ink -- and I say that as somewhat who doesn't normally like brownish reds or reddish browns. And of course as always the artwork is spectacular.

Thanks for the review -- and perhaps not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 29, 2018

Have I suggested the idea of you producing a book of these wonderful reviews ?

That would be super fun. I was going to put them all in a binder or something for safekeeping, but a bound book would be much cooler Maybe one day I'll learn how to hand-bind books...

This ink is quite reminiscent of KWZ Brown Pink. Fantastic review as usual!

I somehow haven't tried that ink before, although a sample of it's been in and out of the shopping cart several times in the past. After using this ink, I've got the itch to add it back to see how it compares... I did like the pink undertones as a change from the other browns I've used that are usually yellowish or reddish instead.