James Joyce Hunter Green - Organics Studio

[visvamitra]

Organics Studio is a boutique fountain pen ink company started by a University of Maryland biochemistry student. The company was present on the market few years ago and I guess some of their inks were quite popular. I remember I really enjoyed Walt Whitman, Blue Merle or Boron. In 2014 company's creator decided to take a break in creating inks and I have impression he did it in a way that discouraged many ink afficionados. Some of OS inks developped some sediment, some lost their colors or deteriorated. In June 2016 OS came back to market but as I see their inks aren't widely available. I believe regaining trust in our small world won't be that easy. On the other hand I would gladly try their new inks and if such a possibility arises I'll do it.

I'm a huge fan of dark greens and once I saw James Joyce Hunter Green swatch, I wanted to try it. The color is interesting and strongly saturated. You can safely use it on every day basis.

Flow: good. Although, when left in the pen for two - three weeks it feels oily.

 

Saturation: strong.

 

Lubrication: very good.

 

Drying time: rather reasonable. 15-20 seconds on Rhodia, 5 – 8 seconds on absorbent paper.

 

Clogging issues: None experienced. The ink may dry in the nib but only after few minutes. You can leave the pen uncapped for 2-3 minutes and everything should be fine.

 

Feathering: none experienced.

 

Bleedthrough: almost none, even on crappy paper - Moleskine

 

Water resistance: this ink isn't water resistant.

 

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

Color ID

Color range

Fabriano, Visconti Opera, medium nib

Copy paper, Pelikan M200, stub 1.2

Copy paper, Hero 5028, stub 1,1

Water resistance

[Drawing61]

Thanks very much for the review. I'm a fan of dark greens as well and this is one I shall have to have.

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for another wonderful review of an ink I have been interested in. I also like the dark greens & have dosed any incoming Organics Studio with sufficient Phenol to deter the slime that I have found in other OS (UNopened!) bottles. I do have a bottle of Athena Nihombashi Keyaki Green on its way to me, so I may wait to see it in person before ordering this ink.

 

(But I also may just add it to the cart if I am placing another order from a place that has it is stock! I am sure there would be a difference in the ink & I am probably not going to exhibit "restraint" any better than I normally do!)

[lgsoltek]

I like the colour. Sounds like one of the better-behaved OS inks?

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmmm.

This one I'd have to see in person. The ink splotch makes it 'look a tad blue (in spite of the red sheen, but the written exemplars are more promising looking. Also less than enthused by the fact that there is almost no water resistance. So this is a maybe.

Thanks for the review. Or possibly not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[visvamitra]

I like the colour. Sounds like one of the better-behaved OS inks?

 

Well, there's no slime. It writes, not only shines. The only issue I see - it "thickens" after using the pen unused for, say, two weeks and causes hard starts and skipping. No such behavior when the pen is used regularly.

[Intensity]

Looks beautiful! I only have Walden Pond Blue, and that ink is super lubricating and highly saturated as well; also no clogging experienced. Due to high saturation, it can take a while to flush out of a pen. Sounds like this ink is made to have similar properties, I’ll get a sample. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it with any converter-filled pen.

[namrehsnoom]

Nice review, Vis. I’ve been hesitant until now to give these inks a try ... reviews warned about bad ink behavior. Hopefully fixed with the new formulations. Hmm... maybe time to give these inks a try.

[Tasmith]

Hmmmm.

This one I'd have to see in person. The ink splotch makes it 'look a tad blue (in spite of the red sheen, but the written exemplars are more promising looking. Also less than enthused by the fact that there is almost no water resistance. So this is a maybe.

Thanks for the review. Or possibly not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

On my calibrated monitor, it looks green.

[Intensity]

Nice review, Vis. I’ve been hesitant until now to give these inks a try ... reviews warned about bad ink behavior. Hopefully fixed with the new formulations. Hmm... maybe time to give these inks a try.

 

If it's like my Walden Pond Blue, the ink concentration is super high, so there's a lot of surfactant and lubricant added to the solution. I imagine if a pen is not sealed well, the ink becomes too concentrated and flow gets worse, more readily/faster than with less concentrated inks. Other than that, there are really no issues with my Walden Pond Blue. Any pen filled with a converter (for easy access to cleaning or replacing the ink reservoir) should be perfectly fine with these sheeny OS inks--it might take a long time to soak and flush the ink, but eventually it does get removed. I once let Lamy Turquoise dry out in a pen, and it took forever to clean out. It's all about ink concentration, but it's all water soluble, so it does soak away.

[tropicalwitch]

Wow, I'm tempted to give this one a try, love that dark green color. Nice review, as usual!

[visvamitra]

No-name notebook, Wing Sung, fine nib

[Beechwood]

I am a fan of dark green ink and I am pleased to say that goes to the top of list over a long term favourite MB Racing Green.

 

I bought a bottle last week and its a lovely colour and an extremely well behaved ink.

 

Recommended.

[Honeybadgers]

I just learned that OS makes an iron gall turquoise.

 

It doesn't really change color, but it's got AMAZINGLY good manners and the IG part is VERY water proof

[jandrese]

Good review thanks. I have several of their more recent highly saturated ink such as this one. Not sure about trust and the community. Nitrogen, which I have, and which is a gorgeous but highly temperamental ink was and is a top seller on Goulet Pens. OS is also on the shelves at my pen store.

[inkstainedruth]

I just learned that OS makes an iron gall turquoise.

 

It doesn't really change color, but it's got AMAZINGLY good manners and the IG part is VERY water proof

 

Tell me more....

For instance, how does it compare color-wise to KWZI IG Turquoise? I had bought a bottle of that in the hopes it would be a replacement for the apparently now unobtanium Turkish Night that FPN member Pharmacist made, only it oxidized way darker than Turkish Night (although the shading is nice, it's not really a color I like). For that matter, any clue as how it compares to Turkish Night itself?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth