Lamy Dark Lilac (LDL) was the Special Edition Lamy fountain Pen's accompanying ink for 2016. It's an ink that became very popular very quickly and for good reason; it's a beautiful deep dark magenta-leaning purple with bright gold sheen and great shading. Unfortunately it was a limited run and it is now very difficult to find the ink new (the pen seems, as of this writing, to be easier to find). I saw the ink going for around US$60 on eBay not too long ago. This is a pretty high price so people have been understandably looking for an alternative to the ink. I've been buying purple inks (in bottle and sample form) for the purpose of finding an ink that close to Lamy Dark Lilac. Unfortunately there is no dupe; I've found no ink that's a straight copy. There are, however, some alternatives that depending on your preference might be good enough.
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Ink Review: Robert Oster Signature Inks Kada Kada FPA Light & Dark
in Ink Review
Robert Ostster's Kada Kada FPA Light & Dark are two ink made for the Fountain Pens Australia Facebook group. After two rounds of choosing colours that Robert would base the ink off, the group chose "Kada Kada" with the colour hash code of #270567 and after that I worked with Rob to come up with this ink. The name Kada Kada means "Story" in the local (to me in Fremantle, Western Australia) Noongar language. And the hash code was chosen because it is the date (27/05/1967) that Indigenous Australians were afforded constitutional rights.
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Ink Comparison: Parker Penman Sapphire
Parker ceased production of Penman Sapphire in 2000 meaning that the bottle I have is at least 16 years old and probably older; that's more than half my age! I bought my bottle from a seller on eBay (and as of this writing he has another bottle up for sale). The ink is very well regarded and sort-after and the price certainly reflects that with prices upwards of $125 USD common. The price also dissuades many from getting the ink so alternatives are sought, and some, like Bungubox Sapphire, specifically mention that Parker Penman Sapphire was an inspiration for the ink. Brad Dowdy mentioned that Noodler's Baystate Blue, Private Reserve American Blue, and Diamine Majestic Blue come up as suitable substitutes but I've found in my testing that there are much better alternatives to Parker Penman Sapphire than these.
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Double Ink Review: Bookbinders Emerald Boa and Eastern Brown
Bookbinders Snake Inks, from Bookbinders Online are, a series of, at the time of this writing, eight inks. Bookbinder's released these two in their initial release of four inks (the other two from the initial release being Red Belly Black and Everglades Ratsnake). Bookbinders Online are a Brisbane, Australia based company that also bind their own Tomoe River notebooks (the ones I use in these reviews). Emerald Boa is a light green ink and Eastern Brown is a warm brown both with distinct characteristics from each other.
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Ink Review: Noodler's Pacific Dawn at the Golden Gate
in Ink Review
Made for the San Fransisco Pen Show but curiously exclusive to Straits Pens in Singapore this ink is both very disappointing but also very nice and quite interesting. The ink tries to include red in a blue ink without becoming purple. It's moderately successful.
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