Toucan Orange Ink

[Jamerelbe]

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

Edited March 11, 2014 by Jamerelbe

[Uncle Red]

Wow, great review and a really interesting ink.

[Jamerelbe]

Thanks - I'm really impressed with the whole range (though I wasn't so keen on the blues at first - and STILL don't see the point of the yellows...). This is still my favourite, though - not as vibrant and saturated (I wouldn't think) as the Noodler's oranges (Cayenne, Dragon's Napalm), but a really nice bright 'clean' orange.

[jmccarty3]

Love the color on the scan, not so much on the photo.

[Jamerelbe]

Love the color on the scan, not so much on the photo.

No worries - on my Laptop computer screen, the scan looks too dark and the photo about right; on my Desktop screen the scan looks about right (maybe just a shade darker than real life) and the photo is too light. It's a BRIGHT ink rather than a DARK ink - that's the best I can do... Ah well - it's the best I can do for now, sorry I can't offer any comparisons!

Edited March 12, 2014 by Jamerelbe

[kiavonne]

These Toucan inks are a lot of fun to see. I like them. Thank you for reviewing them.

[Jamerelbe]

These Toucan inks are a lot of fun to see. I like them. Thank you for reviewing them.

 

My pleasure - it's good to see a lower-cost option available in Australia (importation costs are pretty steep!), so I'm more than happy to see the inks 'out there' for people to have a look at!

[amberleadavis]

Great reviews and thank you for doing the work.

[amberleadavis]

North American Group Buy Coordinated by Sinistral1.

Closing date is 5/28/2014

Make your order here.