Birmingham Pen Co.- Mary Lou Williams Piano Girl Pink

Another ink from the Birmingham pen company.  I wasn’t planning on reviewing another of their inks just yet but I received this as a freebie when I had a dud pen replaced.  I had bought a couple of fountain pens from Birmingham pens and one would not write, I tried everything I could think of to no avail.  Nick at Birmingham pens very kindly replaced the pen for me and sent me a bottle of this ink.  It is not an ink I would have bought seeing it on the web site however the writing experience is quite different, I have filled my pen a number of times as I am using it a lot..

As mentioned in a previous post the Birmingham Pen Co is based in Pittsburgh. I also posted prices for the inks in the same post so will not repeat it here as there has been no change.  All the inks have a name with a link to Pittsburgh, each comes with a brief history of the name but I always want to know a little more
Mary Elfrieda Scruggs (1910-1981) was born in Atlanta Georgia but brought up in Pittsburgh. She is better known by her professional name (and that of the ink) Mary Lou Williams (MLW).  Williams because it was the name of her first husband whom she married at 16 in 1926, Mary Lou and not Mary at the recommendation of a record executive.

MLW was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer.  A musical prodigy, teaching herself to play the piano at 3 and supporting her family by playing at parties by the time she was 6.   She started playing publicly at the age of 7 and around Pittsburgh became known as "The Little Piano Girl”, hence Mary Lou Williams Piano Girl.  I have no idea why pink.

​I really enjoyed reading about  MLW as I knew nothing before and discovered she played with some of the greats such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.  She was the first women to become successful in jazz and was playing professionally right up to her death at 71 from bladder cancer.
A small taste of her talent  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3-B9vSFSb4

The packaging for the ink is simple, I have described it previously but only showed a picture of a 5ml sample bottle.  Here the 30ml bottle of this ink.

​On the Bimingham pens web site the swatch of this ink is quite pink but on opening the bottle it doesn’t look that pink.  If you are a fan of diamine oxblood and similar coloured inks then this is also an ink you would like despite it being called pink.

A drop on absorbent paper is more telling.  There is depth at the centre but towards the edges it spreads to reveal red and what I would call a peachy pink.  

A swatch in the col-o-ring and it now looks pink

Tomoe river it doesn't look that much different

I found both these swatches a surprise because the ink is completely different when you write. ​

Copy paper

Tomoe river

Rhodia

​I love Diamine oxblood and use it quite frequently. Despite this ink being called pink as I used all I could think of was oxblood. The swatches though are very different.

MLW Piano Girl Pink on the left and Diamine Oxblood on the right

They look like completely different inks though of the same shading.  However, the writing comparison and you could think it was the same ink being used.

MLW at the top, Diamine oxblood, ancient copper and red dragon and there really isn't much to choose between the four of them.  If anyone thinks its because of the lighting used I can assure its not.  This may be called a pink ink but when writing it is almost indistinguishable from oxblood.

​Last but not least the water testing.  I have taken to running my test under a tap to really get an idea of how good the inks are - I know one wouldn't normally do this with an ink but I like to really put them to the test and this did not disappoint.

Just after being put under a running tap

After the water in the left photo had been wiped off

Very impressive water resistance.

Overall another great ink.  It is a well saturated ink but with minimal shading, similar to Diamine oxblood so I really like it.  Other positives - price, service basically everything I said in my previous Birmingham pen review.