Birmingham – Andy Warhol Pop Art Purple

[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.

 

Pop Art Purple is a well-saturated, bright medium purple. I think this and Truss Blue are the most saturated inks I’ve tried from Birmingham—this is definitely not one of their usual muted colors. In terms of hue, this ink is quite similar to KWZ Gummiberry or Callifolio Violet, but the first comparison to come to mind for me was Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu. Pop Art Purple is slightly more red/less blue than Murasaki Shikibu, but they have a similar brightness that “pops” (pardon the pun) off the page. It does lose a bit of its brightness as it dries, and it ends up looking most similar to Gummiberry, but it maintains a good level of contrast. In writing, the ink behaved well, with pretty generous flow. It was lubricated enough that my dry fine nib didn’t feel uncomfortable, though the line came out significantly paler. In the broad nib, it was very wet, laying a bold line with only a bit of shading. There was a small amount of feathering with the bold nib on FC paper (if I ever let the nib rest on the paper, it would begin to soak up ink) but not on any other paper. Surprisingly, the ink displayed virtually no sheen, unlike many other saturated purples that sheen green or gold. I can see the tiniest bit of gold sheen in the big smear, but nowhere else (even flex writing), so effectively there is none. Overall, I’m pretty happy with this ink. I’m glad that an ink named “Andy Warhol Pop Art” is appropriately bold and saturated in color.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate high

Shading: Low

Sheen: Basically none

Water Resistance: Moderate

 

Paper: Tomoe River (68 gsm/white/loose-leaf)

Pen 1: PenBBS 308 (F/moderately dry)

Pen 2: Nemosine Singularity (B/moderately wet)

Dip: Zebra G

Brush: Menso small, size 0 liner

 

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: The scan came out pretty well for the smear and the writing. The doodle is a little off in the pale tones (too bright and pink). The comparison inks are close to accurate, but not quite there. The first two (Murasaki Shikibu and Gummiberry) have way too much blue, but the other three are decent. The FC writing sample is strangely... fluorescent. Not sure what I did there.

 

Scan:

 

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

Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu

KWZ Gummiberry (standard)

L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Violet

Nemosine Alpha Centauri

Franklin Christoph Tenebris Purpuratum

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Kono Abe’s The Ark Sakura

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Midori MD:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[Jan2016]

Beautiful review again. I use this ink, and I like the color, it is kind off a "happy" purple

[ENewton]

This was the first Birmingham purple I tried, and my notes compare it in hue and brightness to Pelikan 4001 Violet. To me it is a pleasant ink but less distinctive than the other Birmingham purples.

 

Pop Art Purple does, as you say, feather on some paper.

[lapis]

Nice review. I think I like your paintings best, although it (the ink) seems to be dark and saturated enough to work well for writing too. Looks like it comes in close to MB's Beatles.

[amberleadavis]

Love the drawing.

It reminds me of the new MB Beatles.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Another lovely review, thank you!

Glad it does justice to its name. A muted pop art purple would have been too jarring.

[fireant]

On 8/6/2018 at 8:56 PM, crahptacular said:

Scan:

 

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

Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu

KWZ Gummiberry (standard)

L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Violet

Nemosine Alpha Centauri

Franklin Christoph Tenebris Purpuratum

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Kono Abe’s The Ark Sakura

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Midori MD:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

 

What a stunning review. I quoted the pictures in the hope they don't disappear like some have from different reviews.

[dragondazd]

Huh. It is warmer than I thought. I think that makes it more useful and also maybe more boring. Thanks I will skip this one as I have pretty non-feathery purples.

[inkstainedruth]

Somehow I missed this thread originally.  

To my eye, the swab in the review is similar to the color of MB Great Characters Jimi Hendrix (The MB Beatles ink is more red leaning).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth