Advice On Cute Pen For A Girl

[untrueparadox]

A good friend of mine's birthday is coming up and I'm having a hard time trying to find a good pen to give her. We're in college and she fell in love with my Raden Vanishing Point as her first FP. I'm trying to find a good pen with a decent price so I can hopefully get mine back when school starts. I looked into Sailor Hello Kitty Pro Gears but they're too expensive for such a gift. Some friends are chipping in so we should have anywhere from $50-100. I'm tossing bids around on eBay right now for any VP with a F nib and I have until beginning of September to get one. Looking for brand new and prefer cartridge fillers. Any ideas?

 

edit: one more thing, needs to be easy to use, smooth to write Japanese F or Western EF, and somewhat durable since this is a first timer FP owner. I don't want it to feel or look too cheap getting a Lamy Safari but a quality steel nib should be ok.

Edited August 5, 2010 by untrueparadox

[sygyzy]

Cute pen for a girl or pen for cute girl?

[redshifteffect]

A good friend of mine's birthday is coming up and I'm having a hard time trying to find a good pen to give her. We're in college and she fell in love with my Raden Vanishing Point as her first FP. I'm trying to find a good pen with a decent price so I can hopefully get mine back when school starts. I looked into Sailor Hello Kitty Pro Gears but they're too expensive for such a gift. Some friends are chipping in so we should have anywhere from $50-100. I'm tossing bids around on eBay right now for any VP with a F nib and I have until beginning of September to get one. Looking for brand new and prefer cartridge fillers. Any ideas?

 

How about the TWSBI with a nice ink? Should work out <100 and it would look pretty good. Comes in a nice box/packaging as well.

Edited August 5, 2010 by redshifteffect

[aditya.shevade]

+1 TWSBI

 

Cute pen for a girl or pen for cute girl?

 

:roflmho:

[untrueparadox]

Cute pen for a girl or pen for cute girl?

either way works haha.

 

I'm not a big fan of TWSBI, the pen is very nicely designed in deed, and the look and feel is amazing, but the nib is somewhat lacking. I got a F and it felt dry even though it lays down a reasonably nice line. Part of the reason she liked the VP was the cartridges. I gave her a box of 6 and told her to rinse it out and air dry it every 3 cartridges and that was annoying enough for her already. She was surprised when I told her that my normal pens refill from the bottle. Coming from G2 0.5mm rollerball, I'd rather let her decide if she wants to pursue the world of pens.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I would go with a western fine, in it will be more than likely write well out the box.

Are you sure she's ready for a Spiderweb nib?

[piembi]

First thing: stay away from pink or lookalikes! Being female does not mean a preference for girlish colours

 

If you are looking for a Japanese pen, check the ebay store of engeika. I bought a Pilot Custom 74 and a Sailor 1911M (now called Sailor 1911 Profit) for $ 60-70 plus shipping from him. Both have 14K nibs and I consider them a good deal.

[rollerboy]

In your price range I like the Aurora Ipsilon or Style, but I like the feedback of Aurora nibs. If you want Japanese smooth then I suggest a Sailor Procolor 500:

 

FPN review

Available in these colours.

Edited August 5, 2010 by rollerboy

[kernando]

Pilot Capless Décimo, if she likes the colors, and unless the size and weight is something she likes about the raden Capless, but ebay's the only way to come under three digits.

 

Sailor Professional Gear slim mini - But cute colors aren't common in the small size, so maybe a PG slim if the color's right.

 

The pocket pens from the big three Japanese makers can be cute without being girly and can come in at 2 or 3 per $100. You just aren't going to buy any new retail, but NOS from somebody. The Pilot ones can take new converters because the con-50 and con-70 have to fit the Capless pens.

 

Pilot Custom 74 colorless - It's big and has grey plastic, but you could put Hello Kitty stickers on the converter, but they also aren't under $100 at US retail. Er, they're just under $100 from elsewhere too.

 

Pilot Custom 98 - They're cute, but the colors are dark, except for yellow and maybe a red.

 

Pelikan m205 blue EF - That's if she likes clear blue and the EF nib is good.

 

Drive her out to Monrovia to The Fountain Pen Shop.

[tanalasta]

I find the Decimo is a 'love it or hate it' pen, like most vanishing points and that the thinner design changes the ergonomics of the clip placement. I don't mind mine but don't use it for extended work writing for that reason.

 

I'd also agree not to necessarily buy a

 

Pelikan white tortoise automatically comes to mind (what was the name of the FPN seller on marketplace that had fantastic prices on Pelikan pens) but may be a bit pricey. The vanishing points are also not very forgiving, especially in the finer nib sizes. They're soft and have a relatively small sweet spot - if you write off angle, it's not so pleasant.

 

Lamy 2000 - $89 - from pengallery.com ... not cute, but functional and a good first fountain pen.

Sailor Colors.

Or give her your Raden ... we all know you like the girl :roflmho:

 

How about asking this lovely lass out on a coffee date and then walk her into a fountain pen shop, let her dip a few pens and buy the one she chooses? Hopefully she won't choose that ST Dupont limited edition or the Faber Castell Pen of the Year, but that's kind of romantic.

[dogpoet]

How about a Cross ATX? One of those won't break the bank, and you can get them in some very nice finishes.

[soapytwist]

I occasionally give my wife vintage pens as keepsakes (she has modern pens that she uses every day). They aren't really users but my best choices have been:

 

Conway Stewart Dinkie

Salz Peter Pan

Kaweco Sport

 

The top two are usually to be found in pretty colour schemes as well.

[Silver Lake Woodworks]

I made this one for my wife (her first fountain pen) and she loves it! If you decide to consider a handmade pen, I can make one just like it for $100.

 

- royal purple quilted acrylic

- Heritance® steel flex nib

- Private Reserve "Purple Mojo" ink cartridges

- also supplied with a converter and gift box

 

PM me if you're interested.

 

- Joe

 

http://www.silverlakewoodworks.com/images/pens/purple_fountain1.JPG

 

http://www.silverlakewoodworks.com/images/pens/purple_fountain2.JPG

 

http://www.silverlakewoodworks.com/images/pens/purple_fountain3.JPG

Edited August 5, 2010 by Silver Lake Woodworks

[jonro]

Why don't you get her a Sheaffer No Nonsense in her favorite color, since they were made in just about all colors.

[omicron]

Why not get her her own vanishing point, since she likes it so much?

[Ernst Bitterman]

If you're prowling around eBay, do a search on "Pilot Fountain Pen" and "Sailor Fountain Pen"-- you can often find some quasi-vintage pens (1960s and -70s) which have some pleasant floral motifs on the barrels, and are generally c/c fillers.

[untrueparadox]

I thought of giving my other black VP and swap the M nib for an F to her, but the thing is, a few people are chipping in and they'd probably prefer a new one. I'll nab a VP off eBay and hope I get really lucky.

 

In any case, she's the kind of girl that uses those Japanese cartoony pencils and stationary sets and hangs one of those on her rear view mirror too. I thought there'd be some cheaper alternative to a Hello Kitty pen, but I guess there isn't.

[ehebert]

Sailor makes a great cat pen! They call it the Sailor A.S. Manhattaner's NY Artists Guild Fountain Pen. I have two and both worked flawlessly out of the box. You can get them at Jetpens for $21. Five designs were produced, but only two are still available at jetpens. I don’t know if you can hunt down the other designs elsewhere. I have the one with the cat & the suitcase. Darkgreen wrote a great review of this pen here.

http://www.jetpens.com/images/sailor_66-4102-303_2.jpg

http://www.jetpens.com/images/sailor_66-4102-303_1.jpg

 

Images are taken from jetpens

[Scylla]

How about a champagne pink Pilot Decimo?

[sygyzy]

How does a Decimo VP differ from a standard Vanishing Point?