thINKthursday
Bungubox Hatsuyume Aofuji
This airy, vibrant turquoise is a little ray of sunshine in a bottle!
thINKthursday – Bungubox Hatsuyame Aofuji
Bungubox Hatsuyume Aofuji is a pop-off-the-page vibrant turquoise inspired by clear skies above Mt Fuji! The color exudes energy and optimism, which makes sense for a color that was originally released in celebration of the new year.
Aofuji is available in the new Bungubox 30ml bottle, a sort of rounded triangular glass bottle with a graceful divet in the bottom that makes it easy to fill your pen when the ink level starts to get low. Bungubox did a wonderful job of incorporating that practical feature into a lovely design and all those graceful swooping lines really show off the thick, high-quality glass. The cap is translucent so you can see a little bit of the ink color showing though! This review was done with a Sailor ProGear F, a Pilot Custom 74 B, and on Rhodia blank No.18 paper.
In Japanese culture, the word “hatsuyume” refers to the first dream a person has in the New Year. That dream is supposed to set to tone for their year, and a dream about Mt. Fuji signifies a year of good luck! It’s no wonder then, that Hatsuyume Aofuji is such a happy shade of blue! It’s more vibrant than many other shades of turquoise, which makes it a positively brilliant color for a rainy day. The ink showed a good range of shades in both a fine and a broad nib, starting as a clear and confidant sky blue before moving into rich azure and, finally, a bold cerulean.
Unsurprisingly, Bungubox Hatsuyume Aofuji was a very well-behaved ink. The ink had good flow with no feathering or bleedthrough on Rhodia paper. Dry times were great at 15 to 25 seconds. I didn’t notice much sheen coming off the page, but it did leave a lovely halo effect in areas where the ink pooled more heavily! Water caused the ink to smudge and fade, but the letters were still semi-legible afterwards and it was very easy to clean up.
Bungubox Hatsuyume Aofuji is an extremely pure turquoise. The color has a little bit of green, but not much, and its incredible vibrance makes it really stand out on a page. It’s lighter than many turquoise inks, but Aofuji is still highly legible and would be perfectly acceptable in most work environments. That lightness adds a sense of airiness to the color that really ties in with its name. This year is still young, so grab a bottle of this optimistic ink and start manifesting good luck!
As with any ink review, the pen, paper, and person doing the writing will influence the way the ink looks. If you’re not sure about a color, try a sample to see if it’s the one for you, or see how it measures up against your favorites using our ink tool.
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