Search the Community

Toucan fountain pen ink is Australian made fountain pen ink that comes in 14 colours that can be mixed with each other to make your own custom coloured inks. The inks are formulated from water soluble dyes with no harmful additives and pH is supposed to be neutral (7). At the moment the inks are offered in glass 30 ml bottles. These bottles are really nice and fun. They look quite small, I would say it's the smallest 30 ml bottle I've used. I don't think they're particularly practical, especially for those who use mainly big-nibbed piston-fillers. With C/C pens you can always use syringe and fill cartridge/converter with it. With piston - fillers it's more complicated and some nibs will be just too big for this jar. These inks are made by Tintex. The full line consists of fifteen colors (that, interestingly are described as Technical drawing Inks on Tintex website and marked as such on labels): Aqua Black Blue Bright Green Crimson Gold Magenta Orange Primrose Royal Blue Scarlet Sienna Turquoise Umber Violet Scarlet is really nice red ink. Wetness is more than decent and the ink is saturated enough for me. No feathering or bleedthrough observed. I rather like this one. Ink splash Software ID Color range Tomoe River, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib Leuchtturm1917, Kaweco AL Sport, broad nib Rhodia, Wahl-Eversharp Doric

Toucan fountain pen ink is Australian made fountain pen ink that comes in 14 colours that can be mixed with each other to make your own custom coloured inks. The inks are formulated from water soluble dyes with no harmful additives and pH is supposed to be neutral (7). At the moment the inks are offered in glass 30 ml bottles. These bottles are really nice and fun. They look quite small, I would say it's the smallest 30 ml bottle I've used. I don't think they're particularly practical, especially for those who use mainly big-nibbed piston-fillers. With C/C pens you can always use syringe and fill cartridge/converter with it. With piston - fillers it's more complicated and some nibs will be just too big for this jar. These inks are made by Tintex. The full line consists of fifteen colors (that, interestingly are described as Technical drawing Inks on Tintex website and marked as such on labels): Aqua Black Blue Bright Green Crimson Gold Magenta Orange Primrose Royal Blue Scarlet Sienna Turquoise Umber VioletUmber is my favourite one because it's quite complex. The color is nice to my eyes. As for the writing, experience may vary depending on your pen and paper preferences. It's true for all inks but in some cases differences in behaviour are negligible, in some cases quite big. In dry pens Umber leaves perfectly legible line but feels dry, especially on cheap copy paper. You don't get much lubrication so using it in dry pens may not be most pleasant experience in your life. In wet pens, on the hand (take a look at Rhodia and Tomoe River scans) the ink flows very well and leaves much darker, richer line. I think this ink, especially given the low price, can be nice addition to browns choice. If however you're not that interested in trying new colors and look mainly for great writing performance, I wouldn't say this one should be your first choice. It's good ink, but may feel too dry in some pens. Ink splash Drops of ink on kitchen towel Waterproofness Software ID Color range Tomoe River, Wahl-Eversharp Doric Leuchtturm1917, Kaweco AL Sport, broad nib Rhodia, Wahl-Eversharp Doric

For the sake of providing a (fairly) comprehensive overview of the Toucan range of inks, here is Toucan Black. I already had two other black inks when I purchased this one - Noodler's X-Feather and Diamine Jet Black; I subsequently gave the latter away. I use Noodler's X-Feather by preference - I live in mortal fear of smudging my hand-written notes (especially work-related ones) so the 'bulletproof' nature of the Noodler's ink provides a massive reassurance factor. That said, there are times when a non-permanent black ink is not only acceptable but desirable - for example, when my 11-year-old son asks me to re-ink his Lamy Safari. Do I trust him not to stain his fingers, shirt, trousers, and various items of furniture with celluloid-reactive ink? Well, let's put it this way: it' snot that I don't trust him, it's just that I know him! So this is the ink of choice for his Lamy Safari; his second pen has Waterman Serenity Blue; his third (a Platinum Preppy) is inked up with everyone's perennial favourite 'safe' ink, namely Noodler's Baystate Blue. OK, OK, maybe that wasn't such a good idea... Without further ado, here is probably the least exciting ink in the range - photo only, not bothering with the scan: http://i.imgur.com/3MLZHd7.jpg Forgot to mention: this ink is only available in Australia and New Zealand at present - made by Tintex (Dye Manufacturers of Australia), and distributed by the Just Write Pen Company (www.justwrite.com.au).

Just when I thought I'd finished reviewing the Toucan range of inks, I've discovered an extra colour! More to the point, when the JustWrite company began stocking the Toucan ink range in 30ml bottles as well as pouches, they decided to make the entire range available - including the one colour they'd decided NOT to distribute at the outset. I think the review will make it obvious why the JustWrite crew didn't consider it worth selling BOTH Crimson AND Scarlet - they're very similar - but as a lover of red inks I'm more than happy to have both in my arsenal. The crimson is probably the 'truer' red (though the swab I've included on this sample sheet comes up pink); the Scarlet is more of a darkish orangey-red, but I think it's a very pleasing shade nonetheless. Standard Disclaimer: The JustWrite company have provided me with a few inexpensive pens to check out or review for them - but my relationship with them is primarily as a customer. All these inks I have purchased myself, and these reviews are my own initiative. Anyway, no point blathering on - here's the "missing ink", for your viewing pleasure! http://i.imgur.com/0rhAQHj.jpg And, just in case you didn't see this when I posted it in a comment (on another ink review thread), here's how the Toucan ink bottles stack up against a few of my other inks - same capacity as J. Herbin, but it LOOKS so much smaller... http://i.imgur.com/pOgaR3c.jpg

This is the third in a series of reviews of the new Toucan Ink range produced by Tintex, Dye Manufacturers of Australia. I have no connection to the manufacturer, or to the distributor (http://www.justwrite.com.au), other than as a satisfied customer. I have been trialling these inks for roughly three months, and have become a huge fan. I wish they were waterproof - that would make them more useful to me in the workplace! - but these inks perform well in the (admittedly limited) range of pens I've used them in, and are well-behaved on good quality paper (notably Rhodia and Reflex 80gsm copier paper - a well-known brand in Australia at least!). I've also tried them on 100gsm HP copier paper, with similarly good results. Toucan Turquoise is a really nice ink - I don't use it much personally, but my school-aged daughters both have a fountain pen permanently inked up with this colour. I don't have any other Turquoise inks, unfortunately - so the comparisons on the page are to a few of the blue inks I have in my possession. Please forgive the abominable handwriting - I was going for speed over style, which made it even worse than usual! http://i.imgur.com/iPiRTuT.jpg Another view - this time a photo: http://i.imgur.com/RgtIOVD.jpg

This is the fourth (I think) in a series of reviews of the Toucan Ink range, made by Tintex (Dye Manufacturers of Australia). See other reviews for background info and suppliers - will stick to the ink this time! Here's the scanned version of my test page: http://i.imgur.com/L3WF0El.jpg And here's the photo version: http://i.imgur.com/WuiRWVS.jpg If you search through the 'Mall' section of FPN, you'll find a page of samples from various contributors (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/255319-new-australian-made-fountain-pen-ink-at-justwrite/page-2) - including the picture below of a series of 'drip tests' (not taken by me - hope I'm not infringing copyright): http://i.imgur.com/Eh6jN4j.jpg The second splotch on the second bottom row is Aqua - apparently a combo of Turquoise and Bright Green? Hope that's useful - any questions, feel free to ask!

This is (hopefully) the first of several reviews for a brand of ink that was released onto the Australian market in November 2013. Manufactured by a Queensland-based company named 'Tintex', or Dye Manufacturers of Australia, I wasn't sure what to expect when I responded to an offer from the supplier (Kevin from http://www.justwrite.com.au) to send free samples to any Australian-based members of the Fountain Pen Network. Still, I put up my hand, and was pleasantly surprised by the collection of inks that came my way (in 2 ml sample vials). In fact, I was SO pleasantly surprised that within a couple of weeks I'd ordered the entire range (at my own expense) in the 60ml pouches available from the website. A couple of preliminaries: First, this is the first time I've written a review on the Fountain Pen Network (please be gentle!!) - though I posted a few sample pages on 'The Mall' forum. Second, I'm writing as a relative newcomer to the world of inks - though I've used fountain pens on and off for 2-3 decades, it was only last year that I started dabbling with anything other than Parker Blue or Black! Third, these inks are only available (at present) in Australia (or New Zealand), and the only packaging available is the plastic 'pouches' Kevin ships them in. (I believe Tintex produce them in rather functional, i.e. ugly, plastic bottles of various sizes, but they're not available for retail sale via their website.) If there were sufficient interest from international buyers, I believe Kevin would be willing to look into making them available worldwide - but the cost of shipping would introduce a big step-up in price for the end-consumer. Fourth, these inks are EXPRESSLY DESIGNED to allow for mixing - which means that there's an almost endless array of possibilities if you want to create new colours of your own. Fifth, I should say that from a personal point of view I really love these inks - though some much more so than others. The 'Royal Blue' is lacking in saturation; the 'primrose' and 'gold' colours are too pale (IMHO) to be useful for anything; and the Magenta is a shade of pink that, well, my 5-year-old daughter likes a lot more than I do. I'm kicking off with Toucan Orange because it's my personal favourite - in the vial it was fairly transparent, so I feared it would look washed out on the page, but boy was I in for a surprise! It's vibrant, shades nicely, and - both on Rhodia paper AND the (admittedly good quality) copier paper I used for these reviews, it's resistant to feathering and bleed-through. So without further ado, here is... Toucan Orange. http://i.imgur.com/DeMXO6D.jpg A bit more 'reddish' than in real life - not sure how to fix that - but hopefully this gives you a good idea. Cheers! EDIT: Attaching a photo from my Sony xPeria phone: http://i.imgur.com/INbt1vt.jpg

Review of a sixth ink in the Toucan ink range from Tintex (Dye Manufacturers of Australia) - Toucan Magenta. A bright-ish pink - comparisons to Pilot vpens and Platinum Preppy hopefully will give a point of reference! I don't mind this ink - but don't tend to use pink very often in my line of work... http://i.imgur.com/SQUMYgA.jpg

When I decided to review a few of my preferred inks in the Toucan range, I wasn't going to bother with this one - the first time I trialled it (about 4 months ago?) I was seriously unimpressed. To unsaturated, and too 'bluey-green', to be called a 'Royal' blue. I wasn't a great fan of the Bright Blue either, though, till someone suggested I try it in a Noodler's pen - and suddenly I discovered I was dealing with a different ink. So I thought it was worth revisiting the 'Royal' Blue - and I wasn't disappointed. It's still not my favourite ink - as you'll see in the comparisons, the three blue (or turquoise) inks are all somewhat similar, though you can certainly tell them apart. I'd like to see Tintex try to produce something closer to a 'classic' royal blue - though I guess the market in such inks is rather saturated (if you'll pardon the pun). But this is not a bad ink - having re-filled a couple of pens with it for this review, I expect I'll use it (though not for formal correspondence) until the pens are empty... Starting (again) with the photo: http://i.imgur.com/6h0I4kd.jpg And the scan: http://i.imgur.com/18yto0C.jpg

Of all the inks produced by Tintex for their Toucan range, this would probably have to be the most striking - though for whatever reason it's not one I find regularly in my rotation. A dark, 'burnt orange' kind of colour, that varies considerably in shade depending on the wetness of the pen, the thickness of the line etc. Hardly surprising that it's one of their better sellers. Have 'migrated' from my Sony phone camera to a Sony camera - hopefully the photographic image will be a little sharper, and truer to the colour... (p.s. Please forgive the typo - I *know* Sheaffer should be spelt Sheaffer, but in the heat of the moment I got it wrong...) The scanned version, first of all: http://i.imgur.com/WBBzjem.jpg And the photograph: http://i.imgur.com/4Yh4ZrH.jpg

This ink would have to be one of my favourites in the Toucan range - though if I'm honest, I wasn't as excited on first glance. It wasn't till I saw another mini-review on this site that I decided to take a second look - and boy, am I glad I did. How is it different from the Turquoise? Hard to say - except that it's somehow 'bluer'. This ink really looks great in a wetter pen - like the Noodler's Ahab I used to write this review - but it's pretty good whatever pen you choose. Like the other inks in this range, it's dye-based and cleans out very well - though for that reason it's not very water resistant. You can buy a 2ml sample of this ink for AU$1.25 (don't ask me what you'll pay for shipping, though - it's normally a flat rate of $5!); for AU$5 you'll get a 60ml pouch, or it's AU$15 for 400 ml. When you consider a 30ml bottle of J.Herbin retails for around $18.95 plus postage, you're talking serious value for money. After 3 months trialling these inks in my pens, I have yet to see a down-side - other than the lack of waterproofness, which they share in common with most dye-based inks - and I'd have no hesitation suggesting you try them out for yourself - though at present these are only available for shipping to Australian and New Zealand addresses. There is another mini-review of this ink on FPN, and a few samples (I think in the threads in 'The Mall') - so I won't bother with the photo, just the scanned image. Here it is: http://i.imgur.com/w9v1N2k.jpg

This is the second in a sequence of reviews of a new line of inks produced by Tintext, Dye Manufacturers of Australia - and at present only available in Australia / New Zealand. Unfortunately the inks turn up a little 'darker' in the scans than in real life - hopefully the comparisons in this review will help - as will the Q-tip swab and the finger print in the upper right corner! This is a lovely bright green ink that's not overly dark (compared to, say, Noodler's Marine Green and J. Herbine Lierre Sauvage), but very easy to read and very pleasant to play with. Feel free to ask any questions - and I'll endeavour to answer them as best I can. http://i.imgur.com/Gs8hvg7.jpg EDIT: Added photo - resolution's not great, but the colour reproduction (I think) is just a little better! http://i.imgur.com/UcCoxer.jpg

For the sake of completeness - and not out of any kind of love for this shade of ink! - here is Toucan Primrose. It's the palest of inks in the range, legible but just barely (and again, only using the wettest of pens). If you love yellow inks, this may well be right up your alley - and I will make no prejudgments as to your sanity! Like the rest of the inks in this range, Primrose is very well-behaved on reasonable quality paper - I did, unfortunately, smear this in a few places, but in my defense it was a little hard to see where the ink was and wasn't on the page!! It's a little paler than this in 'real life' - I suspect its two main uses will be (1) mixing your own colours (in a CMYK mixing kit, this would be the 'Y'), and (2) maybe as a highlighter ink - though I'd probably throw in a dash of 'Bright Green' to 'sex it up' a little... Only available in Australia at present (and NZ, sorry I keep forgetting my Kiwi compatriots!), with www.justwrite.com.au the main (sole?) distributor. Any questions, feel free to ask - and I'll answer if I can! This is my last review in this series - now I have to decide whether to review some of my other inks, but most of them (I think) already have a few reviews up here on FPN, so... We'll see. If you've trawled through all of these reviews... Thank you for your forbearance - and next time you're in the land of Aus (Downunder), why not place an order? http://i.imgur.com/CAo2IKL.jpg

This is post #9 in my series of reviews on the Toucan ink range - produced by Tintex, a.k.a. Dye Manufacturers of Australia. These inks are available (as of yesterday) either in a plastic pouches (30 or 60 ml) or in 30 ml glass bottles from the distributor - though it looks like the larger (400 ml) pouches are no longer on offer (see www.justwrite.com.au for details). I've had a difficult time trying to describe this ink - as you'll see in the images below. It's definitely not a reddish-brown, nor is it yellow-ish; I'd call it 'muddy' but that might sound like an insult; while 'chocolate' brown, 'coffee' brown don't quite capture it either. Have a look for yourself - and let me know if you can think of a better comparison! The photo first, this time around: http://i.imgur.com/1B3maKa.jpg And the scan: http://i.imgur.com/vMFJnz7.jpg

Here is ink #5 in the range of Toucan inks - and another of my personal favourites. This ink has been pretty constantly in one or more of my fountain pens since I first got hold of it. I think the hand-written review pretty much says it all (assuming you can read my handwriting) - but feel free to ask if you have any questions. The scanned version: http://i.imgur.com/68bTfLV.jpg The photo version: http://i.imgur.com/tBoc8fX.jpg

Toucan Violet - the third-last in the range (not sure whether I'll bother with #14). The review below may seem a bit harsh - but honestly, the only thing I don't love about this ink is its colour (!). It's well-behaved, reasonably saturated, washes well out of my pens... I just, well, prefer a more 'brightly coloured' purple (or violet). The ink in the Platinum Preppy (see sample) is just about perfect for me - this colour seems 'flatter' by comparison. That said, Toucan Violet is a 'legitimate' colour in its own right - it reminds me of the flowers on a spray of lavender. You know the drill: manufactured by Tintex, only available for purchase in Australia and NZ (at least for now), but an amazing price - kind of makes up for the extra we have to pay on every stinkin' pen and ink and paper that has to be imported Down Under and sold at a ridiculous mark-up to boot ('Pardon my potty mouth'!, as Fix-It Felix Jr would say...). Here it is - scan only (unless someone asks for a photo), but I think this is reasonably accurate: http://i.imgur.com/prgY6Ct.jpg

The Toucan ink with the most auspicious sounding name - but sadly not the most auspicious looking ink. Sitting somewhere between orange and yellow (I suspect it's a combination of the two), it's dark enough to be legible - just barely - but wouldn't make for the most comfortable reading. You'll notice I've deliberately used wetter pens to get a darker, more visible line (especially the Noodler's Nib Creaper) - but still it's not the most saturated of inks!! This scan probably does the ink some favours - it's a little lighter in real life - but I think it gives a reasonable impression of the ink. This *might* go OK in a highlighter pen; it's certainly OK to *mix* with the other inks in the range; and may have uses in ink-based artwork... but useless as an everyday writer. Tell me if you have a use for this ink - I'd love to know what it's good for! Here 'tis: http://i.imgur.com/doepAwL.jpg