Woke up in time to get to the post office before they closed, so the Secret Santa gift is sent and nothing else to do now but wait. #FountainPens

Finished the Secret Santa letter. I blurred the photos enough so the color and such would show but not be readable on here. Nothing sensitive, just spoilers. PO is closed, but it'll go out tomorrow. I may have went a bit overboard with the fluorescent and invisible ink. But 'tis the season to be jolly and whatnot. The first gift in the box is a properly filtered flashlight so they can see it just like this. The letter tells them what to do/how to use it. #FountainPens

I feel like I owe the Penbbs 494 an apology about its piston lock. I thought I remembered the knob spinning freely when I first filled it >1yr ago, but when I just flushed and refilled it the lock bump was distinct. It does wiggle a little and the piston moves slightly, but it takes decent force to turn beyond that. Failed memory or user error? Dunno. So it goes from a 9/10 pen to 10/10. Nothing to dislike about it, $13 smooth writing piston filler with an excellent seal. #FountainPens

Nearly done with Secret Santa! Made a bunch of samples, wrapped all the gifts, and labeled it all. Now I need to find a suitable box, packing material, and write a note. My giftee didn't say they were on Mastodon, so probably safe to post things, but I may put spoiler tags on easier to read photos. If you're outside the US, it's definitely not you! Used my new label maker to make nice labels for the sample vials and the pipettor made short work of moving the ink as usual. #FountainPens

Mail carrier dropped off this li'l gem today: TWSBI ECO Cosmos Blue w/Onyx. I like the mix mine has, it's a pretty good blend. And as I suspected, it is somewhat fluorescent, enough to make the pen colors pop under UV at least. Now I'm trying to pick which of the Tono + Lims Star Light Series fluorescent inks to load in it. I have two more I've swatched but haven't posted yet, and the last one is arriving on Friday. #FountainPens #FountainPen

For Swatch Wednesday this week, another instant favorite: Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet. (I misspelled it again, oops) This is closer to what I think of when "purple" comes to mind. More grape-ish and trending toward indigo. Yama-budo is hard to beat, but that's more magenta. Both great in different ways. The gold sheen on this is subtle, clinging mostly to the outlines of letters. Looks especially nice on Iroful. #SwatchWednesday #FountainPens #FountainPenInk