After lurking for months, and thoroughly enjoying reading the wonderful material on the site, I'm finally overcoming my intimidation about posting...

I've always been fascinated by fountain pens, but never had good experience with them as a kid (lots of scratchy pens). Then a few years ago, I started to study Mandarin. I had a book on "hard pen" calligraphy, and as I passed a cluttered little stationery store near my apartment, I noticed a "fountain pen sale" sign. I went in, bought a pen, and went home thinking I should have done a little research first. So I went online, and found that I had bought a Waterman Carène, which I thought was a good sign, since my "real" name is Karen, and I'm a total francophile (and my name pronounced in French is . . . Carène). I has also bought some Waterman black ink, and was a little surprised that there were so many colors available--who would want anything but black?

In researching my Waterman pen, I came upon the Sérénité and was completely entranced. But a little broke. Months later, I couldn't stand it anymore, and bought a Sérénité, again without much research. I got this pen home, and again searched online, this time finding Denis Richard's beautiful review on this site. Ahhh. I started reading, and reading, and reading, and now have more pens, and shockingly, bottles and bottles of all colors of ink.

My first two Watermans (Watermen?) were fine points. I then, on a whim, bought a medium point Omas Ogiva Vision. Then a Pelikan 400, fine point. Then a Pelikano w/oblique nib. My current favorite is the Omas with Omas gray ink. And the Sérénité with Noodler's Navajo Turquoise. I can't decide if I like fine or medium. My friends make fun of me, since I'm notorious for not writing letters, and they can't imagine what I'm doing with all these pens.

Sorry to ramble on and on! Easy to do, once I start on pens...

Karen/Carène

Hi,

Nice! I bought a 1960s Small Omas Ogiva.

I like to call my Waterman pens "Waterman's" because they used to have the imprint, "Waterman's IDEAL Fountain pen," and my Waterman pens are the smaller ones. "Ici Et La and Audace"

Now, Seriously, What do you write???

For me it is homework, letters, and my diary.

Dillon

Greetings and welcome.
You've got good taste in pens.
That Serenite has been on my wish since reading Denis' review, but i haven't
had the opportunity to test drive it. How do you like it? Any aspects you don't like?
What do you write. What do you do?


Regards,
Jeen

Wow! Got of to some start there, Carene! Some very nice pens you've got there. Perhaps you'll do us the honor of reviewing them for us - even the Serenite which Denis and some other(s) have already reviewed (multiple reviews are always better). See you around.

welcome! don't hesitate to post out of fear. the water's fine, so to speak, and no one here is malicious.

Thanks for the nice welcome!

I'm trying to restrain myself, since I seem to have spent several years' worth of pen budget already. Then yesterday I finally got my Omas Society package in the mail, with a big, glossy catalogue of their pens. No!

I'm an editor, for a foreign policy nonprofit. I have to say I'm writing a lot more, just to have an excuse to use pens (and ink, and paper). I love the Carène and Sérénité--they both write smoothly, never hesitate, work well with all different inks. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but part of the fun of the Sérénité is just *looking* at it! Perfect for when you're trying to figure out what to write. I love the curve, the bamboo silver band, the way it stands on end. And I love the twist mechanism for putting the cartridge and nib back into the pen.

I take a French literature class on and off (basically a book group, but in French) at the Alliance Française, which is conveniently located near Joon pen store, where I bought the Omas. I *really* have to stay out of there! Now I take lots of notes, which is really improving my French!

The Omas is my first medium point, which took a little getting used to. It writes very wet, and the Noodler's and Herbin inks I tried in it just didn't work. The Omas inks really do seem to work best in it. Somewhere on the boards here I read that medium points show off the ink more, and I do really like that. But I go back and forth! Fine? Medium? I don't know. And now I really want to try a flex nib, maybe a vintage Waterman. (And I like Waterman's for a plural!)

Anyway, more rambling. I'm sure that eventually I'll run out of pen talk...

Carène

welome Carène!

glad to here you are enjoying your new sickness (from what i can see we are all terminal here! ).

if you get the time post a reiview or 2........ or 3 lol :bunny1: of your beloved FP's it is always good to here different opinions on pens.

all the best ,
Jason

Hi Carène and welcome to FPN!

I, too, am a Francophile so I applaud your clever FPN username

Sorry for the late welcome, but better late than never....
As Dave R. said above, no need to worry about posting here---it's a nice place.
Hope you enjoy reading through the posts--both old and new!

Thanks for the nice note, Maja! I'm really enjoying reading through all of the posts, although I'm finding that my list of "hmm, that sounds interesting, maybe I should get one" is growing way too fast!

Karen/Carène

Bonjour Carène !

I seem to have missed you introduction. (Thank you Maja for reviving this thread.)

Thank you for the nice words about the Review. It's nice to finally have a Francophile here; you would not believe the way they are treating me here !

Bienvenue sur FPN !

Denis.

Bonjour Carène, and welcome to the FPN! I have to warn you that this place will only feed your already acute addiction to fine writing instruments and high quality inks. You will have to attend a pen show and really go wild, but make sure you place yourself on a budget!

What color ink do you like the best? We often have ink reviews on here and blue is an all-time favorite (mine too) of fountain pen users in it's various shades. Likewise, since I love medium nibs, they almost always lay down a great line of ink.

I am sure that you will love it here!

Happy New Year!

Well, reading FPN does have that effect on a lot of people....
(and that's mainly why I had to stay away from pen boards for a few weeks this summer, when I was in between jobs )

Merci for the welcome from the Francophile contingent! In keeping with my knee-jerk Francophile tendencies, I really like Herbin inks--I think my favorite is bleu myosotis, which is forget-me-not blue, but which I think looks more like periwinkle. I need to get my old scanner hooked up, so I can show some samples. I also have a growing collection of brown ink--I think the Pelican brilliant brown is my current favorite, but I have some PR copper burst en route. And of course, I like the Herbin café des îles...

And now I have to go entertain friends from out of town, who are keeping me from more fountain pen browsing!

Karen /:)