(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
This bright pop of color is just what I needed on this cold, snowy week! Bungubox have released a pair of Morning Glory inks, in Red Purple and Blue Purple, to celebrate the vibrant colors of this fleeting flower. This bottle is the Red Purple colorway, and it's a stunner.
The bottle is a 22ml glass bottle with some lovely art on the label. The opening on these mini bottles is a bit small, so it may not fit larger pens. But despite the bottle's small size, the ink has a big impact.
It's a bright pink, almost neon, with high saturation that shows excellent shading. It can be a softer pink where the ink is finer, then pools to a lovely deep rose color. And it sheens! The sheen is a bright green-gold that really pops where the ink is heavier. Chromatography shows a bright magenta with a touch of emerald that combine to make a pink-purple tone.
It flows very well with no dry feeling at all, even in an EF nib, but it's also not too wet. The sheen doesn't show up much when writing with a fine nib, though. It needs a little more pooling for that to happen. It also needs a longer dry time, going past the 20-second mark.
Water drop tests show some water resistance. Where water was both dabbed and wiped away, there are some faint lines left behind, so a small spill may not erase all your work completely.
This color is unique in my collection. I'm sure there are near-duplicates out there, but this color is much brighter than the close matches I've tested before, and the sheen is sheenier.
Bungubox has these 20ml bottles for 1818 Yen, or between $13-$14, which is a pretty good price, as some of their other inks can exceed a dollar per ml. It's still on the expensive side compared to other brands, however, where you might get 40ml for that price. For a well-behaved ink in a great color with fantastic sheen, I think it's reasonable, and I'm excited to see how its partner color behaves for other reviewers. I may need to pick up a bottle, myself!
(This ink was purchased from Bungubox directly at the 2022 San Francisco Pen Show at normal retail price.)
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