A new player has come to light recently in the pen world – Tom’s Studio. This is a pen maker in England who broke into the scene with calligraphy tools and is quickly expanding into fountain pens, refillable fiber-tipped pens, and most recently, Tom’s Studio ink.
I ordered a Lumos pen from Tom’s Studio months ago when I saw a stainless steel special edition of the pen – I love the extra weight from the material. While ordering it, I noticed that the store offered ink samples of their 20 ink lineup.
Or at least there are inks numbered up to 20. There’s actually no number 13.
The ink samples came packaged in individual sleeves of heavy paper with a swatch of the actual ink on the paper.
The bottles themselves are adorable.
Each bottle comes with a dropper. Which is good because it’s a very small vial – the same size as the Ferris Wheel Press sample vials – too small for most fountain pens but fine for most dip pens and converters.
I chose the most interesting 10 inks from the line up and when the package was delivered, I found an additional sample (Stainless Steel) had been included – I assume it was included because the pen was a special edition in stainless steel.
The shape of the Tom’s Studio ink bottle plus the location of the store made me wonder if these were inks produced by Diamine – many inks are manufactured by a large ink maker and repackaged for a retailer – so I thought I’d take a shot at comparing these inks to existing Diamine inks.
Since there are ten inks here, I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.
Tom’s Studio Marmalade is a touch lighter than Diamine Autumn Oak
Tom’s Studio Dove Grey is a bit darker but very close to Diamine Grey.
Tom’s Studio Deep Black is nearly identical to the base color in Diamine Solstice which is probably Onyx Black (of which I do not have a swatch!).
Tom’s Studio Iris is close to Diamine Majestic Purple but a bit darker.
Tom’s Studio Strawberry Jam and Diamine Wild Strawberry are very close (AMAZING red ink – either of these choices are wonderful).
So that’s the first 5 inks. Now for the remain 6:
Tom’s Studio Raspberry Sorbet and Diamine Deep Magenta are a nearly perfect match. My Deep Magenta swatch has seen a bit too much sunlight, it seems.
Tom’s Studio Sunny Teal is close to Diamine Soft Mint but a touch darker.
Tom’s Studio Neptune reminded me of Diamine Marine but it isn’t quite as blue. It is nearly identical to Diamine Helen which is a Cult Pen’s exclusive color.
Tom’s Studio Cassis is close to both Diamine Syrah and Diamine Burgundy Royal from their 150th anniversary inks. Beautiful color.
Tom’s Studio Damson is somewhat close to Diamine Purple Dream from the 150th anniversary collection but much closer to Monteverde Rose Noir (another gorgeous color).
Finally, Tom’s Studio Stainless Steel. This is a touch warmer than the Dove Grey from Tom’s Studio, but still a close match to Diamine Grey. It’s a bit cooler than Kala Spring Rain, an ink that is no longer available.
Here are all 11 inks from Tom’s Studio on Midori MD paper:
Cosmo Air Light paper:
And Tomoe River 52gsm paper:
I’m fairly certain the Tom’s Studio ink line is made by Diamine. However, that’s amazing news for everyone interested in these inks – Diamine has such a long history with ink. We know that they understand quality control, packaging, distribution, and supply. I wasn’t able to show the swatches of the inks I did not purchase, but there are several colors that I’m not certain have equivalents in the current Diamine line – Peaches and Cream and Lemon Yellow are two of those.
The Tom’s Studio line is a solid offering for a first round of inks from a new company. The price is amazing – $16 for 50mL glass bottle ($0.32 per mL), the packaging is minimal and recyclable, and the colors on the labels are accurate to the color of the ink (since they use a swatch of the ink as the actual label). Diamine inks themselves are packaged in either 30mL plastic bottles or 80mL glass bottles.
I started this review thinking it would be some kind of exposé about how these were just repackaged Diamine inks. But I don’t think it matters if they are. They are still very well priced, amazing colors, and the packaging itself offers new choices for size and color label clarity. I’ve seen great innovation from Tom’s Studio so far with the felt-tipped refillable pens and I’m excited to see what else they have in store for the future.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me the purpose of my own use. Please see the About page for more details.
