Inktend / Ink library / Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue

Birmingham Pen Co.

Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue

Blues & navies#304B81

Small-batch Pittsburgh-made inks in house formulas, from everyday Keystone colors to intense sheeners.

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Specs

Color familyBlues & navies
Approx. hex#304B81
SheenNot typically noted

Paper & pairing

Blues and navies are the most broadly "safe" fountain pen colors: legible, professional, and unlikely to raise eyebrows in an office. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.

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About Birmingham Pen Co.

Birmingham Pen Co. is a two-person American ink and pen manufacturer from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, originally based in a warehouse on the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh's Southside and now located in Cranberry Township. The name honors the Southside's old nickname 'Little Birmingham', a nod to Birmingham, UK, the historic center of pen and nib manufacturing. The company hand-produces small batches of fountain pen ink in distinct in-house formulas such as Keystone and Everlasting.

USA Founded 2014
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Storing and using the bottle

Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.

Frequently asked questions

What color family is Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue?
Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue falls into Inktend's blues & navies family based on its typical swatch color.
Does Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue have sheen?
Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue is not typically noted for sheen. If you want that effect, browse similarly colored inks tagged with sheen in the ink library.
How should I store a bottle of Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue?
Years, easily, as long as it stays capped and out of direct sunlight. The thing that actually shortens an ink's usable life is sitting unused inside a pen, not sitting on a shelf.
What paper works best with Andrew Carnegie Steel Blue?
It behaves predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Stick to something reasonably absorbent-resistant, since cheap copier paper dulls saturation and can feather.

Similar shades By colour distance

Indigo Tiegan
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Taccia Ukiyo-e
Island No. 38 - Xitou
Kala Ink
Potomac
Anderillium

Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.