Inky Inspirations

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Monami - Red Purple

Monami - Red Purple - Ink drop

Monami is a brand that I almost never see mentioned for their bottled fountain pen inks. It’s hard to get outside Korea with only limited distribution in select areas in Asia, and I hope that changes soon. It's well worth the effort to find, and the price is amazing! I bought it BlueBlack pen and ink in Korea for an incredible US$3.20!

Monami - Red Purple - color range

This is Monami Red Purple, but in Korean the name is the far more inspiring “Passionate Sangria”. Regardless, this is a lovely ink. Sangria actually describes the color perfectly, but the ink truly does blend red and purple. It’s not the strongest shader in writing, but as the splatter shows, lighter areas bring out pinker elements and drag it towards magenta. In writing, it’s more of a wine-red purple. It’s a good-looking ink, and a water brush pen would likely bring out a wide range of shades.

Monami - Red Purple - Shades and edge

I’m very impressed with the writing performance. It’s wet, but not insignificant in feel. Flow was smooth and a real pleasure. Strokes were sharp and clean with almost no feather on any of my six test papers. I prefer it on coated paper, as nice edging frames each stroke and makes it particularly crisp. It was nice on uncoated, as well. There was a bit of show-through on copy paper, but that’s predictable. This is a nice writing ink.

Monami - Red Purple - Ink writing sample

I can’t believe this ink is so inexpensive! I’m amazed! It’s very pretty and performs extremely well. I’d love more shading, but this ink is a pleasure to use. I really like the ink drop-shaped bottle, too. It’s fun! (Check it out in the last image below.)

Monami - Red Purple - Ink swatch card

If you’re interested, Monami inks are available on the Korean version of BlueBlack’s website. There are 12 colors in the series, and honestly, I wish I’d bought them all! (If you need help navigating the website, send me a message here, or on Instagram. I’m happy to help.)

Monami - Red Purple - Ink swatch comparisons

Monami - Red Purple - Ink bottle and box