Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Company JADE INFERNO – Swift Formula
Background:
Birmingham Pen Company (BPC) started as the brainchild of two brothers – Nick and Josh. Initially, Nick and Josh worked with third party ink producers in England and Germany to produce their inks. BPC started making their own inks over a year ago. While some changes have been made, their new formulations include “Crisp” inks designed for everyday use on all papers, “Swift” inks that are a bit wetter, starts up quickly and works well on premium papers, “Rich” inks which have high sheen and saturation, “Everlasting” inks that have high water resistance, “Twinkle” inks with shimmer and “Wishy-Washy” inks that are designed for performance but a washable from fabrics and surfaces.
The glass bottles with tight-fitting plastic lids bottles are very nice and functional. My largest pen fits nicely into the bottle for a full fill. BPC offers three sizes: 30ml, 60ml and 120ml for all inks except the Twinkle inks which are only available in 60ml. The 120ml bottles have an eye-dropper lid instead of the regular lid.
Review in Brief:
Saturation: moderate saturation
Sheen: some nice red sheen
Shading: medium shading from fine to wider nibs
Haloing: low
Lubrication: medium lubrication
Wetness: moderately wet
Water Resistance: Not resistant; some color left
Feathering: minimal feathering on lower quality papers
Bleedthrough: minimal only on lower quality papers and with high ink application
Showthrough: medium showthrough on 52gsm Tomoe River, minimal on Kokuyo and Cambridge, and Rhodia papers.
Price: reasonable for 30mls, very good for 60ml and exceptional for 120ml which is the best value.
While some inks retained the same name (or an abbreviated version), they may be slightly different. Ana at the Well Appointed Desk discussed this very well in her January 2021 blog (https://www.wellappointeddesk.com/20...-company-inks/)
It appears that the new version is very similar to the older version. The only difference is that the new version is the “Swift” formula.
Pens: Conklin Duragraph 1.1 stub nib and Waterman Charleston with fine nib.
Papers shown: Rhodia Dot pad, Tomoe River 52gsm sheet paper, Cosmo Air Light notebook, Cambridge and Kokuyo notebook papers
The ink is nicely saturated with some red sheen when pooled. The ink flows wonderfully in both pens. The ink worked well in both pens, gliding effortlessly across the page. The ink does dry fairly quickly on all papers tested but is slower on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light (20-25 seconds).
Feathering and bleeding are not seen on Rhodia, Tomoe River, Cosmo Air Light. There is some feathering on the Cambridge and Kokuyo papers, but less than expected. Only the Cambridge showed small amounts of bleedthrough in heavy applications of the ink. Because this is a fairly saturated ink, there is showthrough on Tomoe River, Rhodia, and Cambridge, but surprisingly less so on Kokuyo notebook papers, even with the 1.1 stub nib.
Color Comparisons:
Overall this is a very nice ink that behaves very well in both pens and on the papers tested. It is a delight to use, and I highly recommend it.
Disclaimer: I purchased this ink directly from Birmingham Pen Company. Any photos, opinions and thoughts regarding the ink are my own and are not sponsored by Birmingham Pen Company and do not necessarily reflect their opinions.
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