Organics Studio Henry David Thoreau Walden Pond - 55ml Bottled Ink

Captivating but Finicky

I bought my second bottle of this gorgeous ink only after learning how to manage its peculiarities. I initially used it in a pen with a relatively large airspace around the capped nib, and block threads that didn’t provide a tight seal. I'd never had problems with hard starts in this pen before, but after leaving it capped overnight I had to spend a few minutes coaxing the ink out of the feed and into the nib tip by slightly pumping the converter (and even sticking the corner of a piece of paper under the nib where it leaves the feed to blot the ink forward—am I the only one who does this?). This I did daily, until I made the mistake of not using the pen for three straight days, after which no amount of coaxing worked. So I then put it in a Platinum Century 3776, which has a Slip & Seal feature that Platinum boasts will prevent the nib/feed from drying out for longer than other brands. I also filled the converter through the feed (unlike simply filling the converter then attaching to the feed as I did with the first pen). Problem solved: no hard starts, pen writes immediately after being uncapped. But you still need to avoid leaving the pen uncapped while you ponder what to write, as this will result in a hard start. You’ll read in other reviews that this ink gets everywhere. What I discovered is that it dries out into tiny flakes in and under the threads of the bottle cap. When you open the bottle these tiny flakes fall out onto the surfaces around the bottle, and their shiny dark red color might be hard to see on a dark tabletop. However, moist skin will pick them up, and you’ll end up with teal-colored stains on your skin and anything your skin subsequently touches. To minimize this, wipe ink off of the threads and rim of the bottle with a damp cloth or tissue before capping the bottle. (Drop one of these flakes into the sink and turn the water on if you want to see it explode into a green flare underwater.) I haven’t had too much problem with the dry time, or smudging of what I've written, but it does occur on the less porous or coated papers I've used. The color and shading are beautiful, and the sheen is out-of-this-world, so if you like the color and these effects, then you’ll learn which pen it behaves best in and how to manage its finicky personality.

I love this color and the quality of ink

throw me some shade. The two tone colors are delightful. This is a wet writing ink that makes a fine steel nib feel like a medium gold nib. Joy.