Birmingham – Schenley Park Thicket Green

[crahptacular]

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.

 

Thicket Green is a darker green color that I would call an evergreen. It leans more blue than yellow or brown, but isn’t as blue as a forest green. In terms of comparisons, it’s greyer/duller than Sailor Tokiwa Matsu (and also lacks both the brown tones and the coppery sheen), but not as grey as Papier Plume Streetcar Green, which is very unsaturated. The ink has some water resistance; both in writing and in washes, the green dye runs off but leaves grey behind—definitely enough to be legible if you spill water on your notes. There’s some gentle shading in my broader nib, but not from my SF nib. There’s a tiny bit of sheen when heavily pooled (see smear) but effectively none as far as writing, sketching, or even flex nibs are concerned. The ink also appears quite differently depending on paper (more so than other inks, to my eye). The color on the FC notebook’s paper, for example, appears noticeably paler than the same ink on TR, perhaps in part due to the whiteness of FC paper. Personally, I found this paler appearance pretty boring, almost anemic, though I'm not sure the scans show the difference as dramatically as I see them. All in all, I like the color in some cases, but not others. Plus, I don’t think I’d reach for this when I already own Tokiwa-Matsu, which I find somewhat similar but far more interesting.

 

PS – used up the Tsubame notebook, so it’s being replaced with a Midori MD one. The Midori paper is creamier (more yellow) than the others, but the scanner doesn't do a great job of picking up the difference.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate

Shading: Moderate-Low

Sheen: Effectively None

Water Resistance: Moderate (leaves a legible grey line)

 

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Falcon (Soft Fine) and a Franklin Christoph 65 (Broad 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: This one was tough. The doodle is too saturated; in reality, the colors are more washed out. The big smear is likewise a little more faded in reality, but it’s as close as I could get. The first comparison (Kokeiro) is completely messed up; you might as well ignore it. The other four are accurate enough to be useful. Overall, I think the scan flatters the ink, so readers be warned.

 

Scan:

 

 

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

Kyo no Oto Kokeiro, Papier Plume Streetcar Green, Robert Oster Jade, Sailor Tokiwa Matsu, L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Olivastre

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Midori MD:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[kfoss]

Beautiful Green! Great review also!

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review.
This is one I really like, but I don't use green ink a lot. The review reminds me I should pull it out again.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DrDebG]

Wonderful review! Thank you!

[pgcauk]

Crahptacular has some lovely inks in his collection, and uses them to make some lovely reviews - thank you!

 

I purchased some Fern Moss from Birmingham Pens in my quest to find a better behaved alternative to my beloved Organics Studio Walt Whitman. I liked the Fern Moss (and it's teal grey companion Rachel Carson Silent Spring) so well that I picked up some Schenley Park Thicket too! My first thought was "Vert Empire" so I ended up making quite a few splodges on a page. The upper row is Schenley Park Thicket and Walt Whitman, below is Robert Oster Moss (probably the closest, but a bit more brown, whereas Schenley Thicket is straight Green Grey), Vert Empire, South Park Fern Moss and De Atramentis Cement. Fern Moss is cooler and less brown than Walt Whitman. Schenley holds onto its green where the others (except Moss) are more ambiguous.

My experience with Vert Empire is that it goes down green and turns grey overnight. The "fresh" Vert Empire is closer in appearance to this Thicket Green than the "mature".

Hope this is helpful to someone? Greens are subtle territory!

Edited June 2, 2018 by pgcauk

[benjitzu]

Lovely darkish green and indeed very similar to tokiwa-matsu (my favorite green ink). Stunning review, as always - your handwriting and sketches make every ink look awesome!

 

I'll put a sample on my list of inks to try, though I'm in full agreement with you regarding tokiwa-matsu.