Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Packaging

The Organics Studio line of fountain pen inks was new to me a few weeks ago when I saw it on the Goulet Pens website, and with such interesting names I decided to grab a few bottles.  The first ink we will take a look at is from their “Masters of Writing” series of fountain pen inks.  The Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass ink is very earthy looking in that it has a grayish-brownish-blackish ink with noticeable green highlights.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Open Bottle

I like showing the inside of a bottle of ink just so you can see how the ink looks on the walls of the bottle and on the cap, but in this case I show it for another reason.  When I first got this bottle and opened it, I almost spilled a significant portion of the ink, so I wanted to warn  you how to avoid making a similar mistake.  When opening it for the first time I would highly recommend gripping the bottle at the corners and not flatly on the sides.  Because the bottles are plastic, when you grip the bottle with most pressure on the sides, it buckles a little bit and can cause the ink to spill out.  Focusing the pressure on the corners make it much less likely that the bottle will buckle in and cause any ink to splash out.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Green Black Ink on White and Ivory Papers

Depending on the paper you use the Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass ink on, you will get slightly different tones from this great looking ink.  In the photo above, the left writing sample was done on white paper from Doane Paper and the writing sample on the left was done on Rhodia 90g ivory colored paper.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Rhodia Writing Sample

Taking a closer look at the ink when put on the ivory paper of a Rhodia Wenotebook you can see the subtle shading and highlighting  you can get depending on the nib that you use.  In the writing samples here we used the Noodler’s Ahab Flex, Levenger True Writer with Broad Nib, and Sailor Professional Gear Imperial with Fine Nib to get some idea how it looks with different nibs.  Having the ivory colored paper behind the Organics Studio Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass makes for a slightly richer and more complex coloring with this ink.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Doane Paper Writing Sample

Using the Organics Studio Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass green black fountain pen ink on white Doane Paper shows a more muted and natural color for this ink.  Instead of having a more golden brown shade as with the writing sample on ivory paper above, the writing sample on the white DoanePaper tends to have a much more natural green or grassy looking shade to it.  I have been using the combo of this ink with my Sailor Professional Gear Imperial and my Levenger Circa notebook paper and I have to say its been a great combination.  The fine nib and somewhat dry characteristics of the Walt Whitman ink were an excellent combo for me as I really liked the way the ink flow seemed to be limited to just the right amount.

The color of the Organics Studio Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass is best described by its name since it does tend to look a lot like leaves and grass. This is a very unique color that I think is great for business or professional purposes because its not flashy or gaudy at all but still has a look and feel all its own that will never be mistaken for a drab blue or black.  On both the Rhodia 90g paper and the Doane Paper pad, the ink performed flawlessly.  There was no feathering to speak of, no see through, and no bleeding onto the other page.  The only issue I came across was that the ink did tend to take a bit of time to dry on the Rhodia paper and sometimes with the wider nib.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass ink is a fantastic ink that performs great and also has a unique look to it that will help set you apart from the crowd of other boring colored inks.  Just make sure to heed our tip about opening the bottle or else you will end up wearing more ink than  you probably want to.

©2017, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.