My wife loves the cosmetics of the Waterman Hemisphere Shimmery (green in particular), but I'm only able to find it in a M nib with my limited knowledge of where to look. She wants a F or EF nib (she writes quite small). Does anyone have any good suggestions as a possible alternative to that pen? I'm trying to get her into fountain pens and she'll want something "cute" (cute to my wife is sparkly, pastel, etc... think Disney princess colors for those who are familiar with that color palette)

Link to Hemisphere Shimmery for reference:
http://www.pencity.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.ex...3058+1198230913

How about the slim Aurora Talentum Finesse in pink

http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/Index_S...D859%26MFG%3D66
scroll down to see the pink

or Aurora Talentum in powder-blue?
http://www.goldspot.com/Aurora_pens/Talentum/AU-D11A-EF.html

I have one in black, and it is a divine, luxurious instrument. These come in EF and the nib has a nice subtle flex to it. Granted, the price is higher than the Waterman Hemisphere, but so is the quality of the pen. You should be able to buy one from Pamela Braun at a considerably lower cost than what is advertised on these links. If your wife likes pastel colors and EF nibs, she will *love* this pen.

Nice find! Thanks! It's a bit more than I wanted to spend on her first fountain pen but I'm bookmarking it as a consideration because she does like the look of it and being that it is a higher quality pen than the Hemisphere makes it worth considering spending the extra.

your posts remind me of me a 9 mos ago. you'll note my reply to your early post regarding 1st pen. i said Comfort - Ease of Writing - Style as my criteria for a new user based on what i've experienced. Let me also share my 1st christmas...both for my wife and two boys (18 and 19). For my wife:

http://shop.peartreepens.com/product.sc?ca...p;productId=152

NO AFFILIATION ....Pelikan M400 Tortoise....comfortable for a woman....great writer...piston filler...interchangable nibs....ease of writing....a GREAT 1st pen for a wife. And, this is a great deal on a pen where, in good condition, you should be able to get most of your money back in short order if she doesn't like it....or keep it and it will be worth what you paid, in good condition, forever.

FYI...for my boys Parker 51 Aero's...older than their dad....great intro....great pen...always worth what you pay for it.

My 2Cents

Randy in Florida

I bought an(?) Hemisphere lwith M nib ast Chrsitmas for a friend and after trying it she felt she wanted a fine nib. The shop (a typical UK deprtment store) sent the pen away and it came back free with a F nib. I think few retailers stock enough extra nibs to cater for all tastes for all models, but I believe Waterman do supply the nib you seek for that pen ( I bought the matt black version, colour aside it looks identical).

By now may be too late for Christmas, but the turnaround was OK (just under 2 weeks post Christmas) so perhaps you could still go for the Waterman option.

Nic

Nic- thanks for the suggestion! I'll look into that

Randy- You know, the more I read through this board the more I start to feel like I need to just focus more on the quality of the pen. Perhaps the initial attraction to fountain pens is their uniqueness (especially in our day) and that tends to focus our attention on appearance. I must say though I am quite liking the swappable nib ability of the Pelikans. Now the question is do I just bite the bullet and buy an M605 and consider it money saved when I only have to buy different nibs rather than additional pens? I noticed the nibs are interchangeable between most of the lines too... even more to think about haha. To some it might be frustrating but I enjoy it; research is half the fun of buying in my opinion.

Oh, I completely forgot about the Retro 51.

If you are looking for something less expensive, the baby-pink Tornado is available for $35.
http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/Index_S...1040%26MFG%3D25

The Scriptmaster is a bit more upscale and pricier at $65. It comes in a nice, shimmery pink cracked-ice version.
http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/Index_S...D595%26MFG%3D25

I have a Retro 51 Tornado, and it is a surprisingly great writer for such an inexpensive pen, so I *highly* recommend it as a pen in the lower price category. The nib has an unusual "soft" feel to it that I cannot compare to any other pen I own. It is definitely a fun and girly pen, that is at the same time reliable and feels great to write with for long periods of time.

Good luck with the gift : )
QM2

QM2- My wife is very fond of the pink Scriptmaster. She says that's her 2nd favorite pen she's seen so far (next to the Shimmery Hemisphere) so that's definately a good possibility. Thanks so much for your help!

If she likes the looks of the Hemisphere, and has any capacity at all for delayed gratification, it's a fairly straightforward operation to get Waterman to swap the point for you-- I did the same with a Hemisphere I bought about six months ago. The only extra expense was the cost of shipping there and back (of course, this was the Canadian set-up-- there may be variations elsewhere). Nip around to their website and ask them what the procedure is-- email is cheap!

You can get the Expert instead of the Hemesphere.
As far as I know the Expert is an upgraded version of the Hemesphere so here is a link for an Expert with a Fine nib.

http://www.avalonpens.com/Avalon-Pens/1456.html

This might be a little more than you want to spend, but the pen that comes to my mind immediately is a Pilot Decimo in the pink (aka champagne) color. It's a shimmery but subdued pink, and I think it's a very cute pen (and I love the ease of the retractable nib). See Taki's photo here (scroll down for it):

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...ecimo&st=15

If you do an internet search of "pink decimo," you'll probably come up with a lot more photos and places to order it. It is not typically sold in the US, so I ordered mine from Japan (easy transaction).

Nibs on Japanese pens tend to run smaller than Waterman's, I think. I used to have the Hemisphere in a medium nib, and the Hemisphere medium wrote wider than the Decimo medium does. Your wife might like the medium in the Decimo, or maybe the fine (I've never tried the fine, personally).

For what it's worth, I didn't especially like the Hemisphere, which was the first fountain pen I bought for myself. I regretted the purchase later because I didn't pay enough attention to the ergonomics of it. It was rather heavy and also top-heavy with the cap posted on the back. Plus, the pen felt a little too slim for me in the grip. Trying to hold a skinny pen tightly to keep the weight of it upright was fatiguing for me. I didn't enjoy it. The size, shape, and weight (I think it's lighter) of the Decimo suits me much better, but everyone's grip is different, so take this with a grain of salt.

As for the Pelikan M605, I don't have that pen, but I have a Pelikan M620 (Athens), and the size and weight work well for me, too. I usually use the fine point in the Pelikan, sometimes medium. I love my Pelikan, too.

actually....i'd stay away from the 600/800/1000 series at first. although i enjoy me m850 and m800 due to size, i actually use my m215 just as much....compare the sizes at:

www.richardspens.com....go to Pens and Specialty Nibs - New Pens- Pelikan and scroll to bottom of the page to compare sizes....still best bang for the buck is the M400 tortoise for you wife and m215 for you...check it out....

you'll be happy

WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE

Sheaffer Agio 9097 Whisper Pink fp
£39.95 £32.99

SURE YOU WILL FIND IT IN THE USA