I couldn’t resist. I got the Lumos pen by Tom’s Studio. I’ve been on a slow but spirited journey to reduce the amount of disposable pens I own. When I saw that this pen accepted all kinds of dye-based fountain pen inks and carried interchangeable nibs, I had to give it a shot.
Tom’s Studio offers a single- and double-body model, and 5 colors to choose from, including a very lovely muted purple. At the moment, it’s going for $75 before shipping.
The pen is nice and weighty, but not too heavy to hold up. I like how evenly weighted it feels on either end. What I don’t love is that there’s no roll-stop for the pen. I have to be mindful about where I put this thing so it doesn’t roll off my desk. At least I know it won’t shatter if it hits concrete outside.
I enjoy that you don’t need to have fountain pen ink on hand already to be able to enjoy this pen, as it comes with a small bottle of ink to use right away. Unfortunately the ink is not waterproof. Pass.
How to Refill
Assembly and set-up is pretty easy. After removing the cap, all you need to do is remove the nib holder, and expose the cotton reservoir. Since this is a single-body pen, it comes with a little spacer in the barrel too.
Open up your favorite ink. My usual is DeAtramentis Black Document Ink (waterproof!!) Hold the reservoir into the ink until it reaches the top. After that, it should take a few minutes for the ink to absorb into the nib and be ready to use.
I uploaded a little recording of the first time filling the reservoir with ink (RSI tremor at all lmao).
Interchangeable Nibs
Next to the refillable ink reservoir, I was excited about the interchangeable nibs that come with this pen. I ordered a variety pack of their nibs, which range from a think .1mm width to brush, chisel and thick felt-tip type. I’ll definitely want to use the brush tip sometime for people sketching outside. I wonder how simple it will be to change these on the fly. Will it happen on a regular basis, or will nib width just be an option when it’s time to refill the pen? I intend to share my experience of this pen in use in a few months. We’ll see how that goes.
