Review: Birmingham Inks – Grandview Avenue Midnight Horizon

I got a few new inks to try a few weeks ago, thanks to Everything Calligraphy. I’ve never heard of Birmingham Inks before. I think it’s pretty awesome that we now have a lot of ink brands to choose from in the Philippines. I can still remember a few years ago when the only choices that were readily available were Parker and Sheaffer inks, and only in black, blue, red or green. It’s awesome to have so many options to choose from now. These little bottles contain 30ml of ink especially made to commemorate iconic landmarks and people related to Pittsburgh’s culture. Unlike my usual habit of going for the green and brown inks first, I opted to pop open the first blue ink I saw, Grandview Avenue Midnight Horizon.

It reminded me of a few blue-black inks that I tried, but this one’s more of a grayish blue. It’s a dusky blue color that is muted and quite conservative. People who want a more subdued color of blue will definitely love this.

The ink flow is on the slightly dry to moderate side. It’s not a wet-flowing ink, at least not in the pen that I tried it with (Liliput steel, Medium nib). I kept it in the pen for over a week and it did not dry up or hard start. It really just has a moderate flow.

I’d say it’s well-behaved, not given to feathering or bleeding through, it dries up in about 20 seconds, and is not particularly water resistant. It does have shading, though no discernible sheen. In a wetter pen, I guess this shading will be less pronounced. Here are a few close ups of the writing sample.