Ink Review #287: Birmingham Boysenberry

 Today's ink is Birmingham Southside Market Boysenberry. I purchased my sample of ink from Birmingham Pen Co. The ink is available in 5ml samples and 30ml bottles. 

The color:

Boysenberry is a medium purple with a red undertone.

In large swabs there is a little bit of gold sheen around the edges.

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering on Rhodia, mainly in the flex nib, but in some of the other nib sizes as well. The ink also feathered on the Col-o-ring card.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low

Other properties: Low shading, low sheen, and no shimmer. 

On 20 pound copy paper there was some feathering.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): KWZ Berry, Birmingham Boysenberry, and Diamine Purple Dream. Click here to see the Birmingham inks together.

Lamy Dark Lilac, KWZ Gummiberry, and Monteverde Rose Noir. Click here to see the purple inks together.

Longer writing: 

I used a broad Pelikan M600 Turquoise on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, it's a lovely color and I like the gold sheen. There's a bit more feathering than I like, and I wouldn't recommend this ink if you use Rhodia as your main paper, but give it a try, you might love it.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.