DCS Delftware
Based on porcelain art
(https://i.imgur.com/7c9fQTH.png)
Inspired by ceramic art famous in the Dutch city of Delft. The colours, novelties and sublegends are based on real hand-painted ceramic artwork, with over 25 unique sublegends designed to make your keyboard stand out.
The beautiful, delicate sublegends give the set a more human feel, bringing more warmth and life to a classy set.
Renders + fonts used are a representation of the final product but are not 100% accurate due to limitations. Renders are done with Cherry profile caps, with a similar but not identical font. Font during production will be Gorton as used for DCS Red Alert and DCS Yuri.
This set will run in dye-sublimated PBT in DCS profile by Signature Plastics (SP) to allow for many unique sublegends without increased tooling cost. GB fulfillment is estimated to occur Q4 2021.
Dedicated discord channels to discuss the set here (https://discord.gg/4QmYnyYbhw), courtesy of NZ streamer Epsilon Keyboards.
Vendors + Pricing:
Vendor | | Region | | Base kit | | Novelties | | Numpad | | RAMA | | Deskmats |
Project Keyboard (https://store.projectkeyboard.com/collections/dcs-delftware) | | NA | | $140USD | | $39USD | | $34USD | | $56USD | | $17USD |
MyKeyboard.eu (https://mykeyboard.eu/search/?q=delftware) | | EU | | €141EUR | | €41EUR | | €36EUR | | €56EUR | | €20EUR |
ILUMKB (https://ilumkb.com/products/dcs-delftware) | | SEA | | $202SGD | | $56SGD | | $49SGD | | $80SGD | | $27SGD |
Daily Clack (https://dailyclack.com/collections/group-buys/products/dcs-delftware) | | AU/NZ | | $202AUD | | $56AUD | | $49AUD | | $80.70AUD | | $27AUD |
AlphaKeys.ca (https://alphakeys.ca/products/dcs-delftware) | | Canada | | $140USD | | $39USD | | $34USD | | $56USD | | $17USD |
ProtoTypist (https://prototypist.net/collections/live-group-buys/products/group-buy-dcs-delftware) | | UK | | £121GBP | | £33GBP | | £29GBP | | £48GBP | | £18GBP |
zFrontier (http://www.zfrontier.com/app/mch/EBbzAEZyazDB) | | China | | ¥1088CNY | | ¥275CNY | | ¥242CNY | | ¥375CNY | | ¥120CNY |
zFrontier (https://en.zfrontier.com/products/dcs-delftware?variant=39302828392526) | | Global | | $185USD | | $43USD | | $37USD | | $58USD | | $20USD |
Kits:
Disclaimer: Renders + fonts used are a representation of the final product but are not 100% accurate due to limitations. Renders are done with Cherry profile caps, with a similar but not identical font. Font during production will be Gorton as used for DCS Red Alert and DCS Yuri.
Base kit | $140USD | 250 MOQ
(https://i.imgur.com/fNFk45K.png)
Numpad kit | $34USD | 100 MOQ
(https://i.imgur.com/FVaAz25.png)
Novelties kit | $39USD | 100 MOQ
(https://i.imgur.com/EJSCPnD.png)
Deskmats - $17USD each
We have three deskmat designs for Delftware:
Pattern
(https://i.imgur.com/MmFZBUC.png)
Inverse Pattern
(https://i.imgur.com/zYiK7mz.png)
Place Setting
(https://i.imgur.com/G1CQ9F4.png)
RAMA cap | $56USD | 100 MOQ
PVD Brass keycap in DCS R1 profile
(https://i.imgur.com/Lj5e2XW.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/XHTCnxh.png)
Board renders
More
Bean - Kingk22
(https://i.imgur.com/7c9fQTH.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/oT0mZj0.png)
Silver En Dash - Finderworks
(https://i.imgur.com/DHarjJM.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/cNDY2sQ.png)
PC Tengu - Finderworks
(https://i.imgur.com/94WLare.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/FqAGZqW.png)
Navy Constellation - AEboards
(https://i.imgur.com/ErZ3sJ7.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/DwwGHZQ.png)
Keycap samples and colours
More
(https://i.imgur.com/wIgsVuD.png)
The base kit and dye-sub PBT are using SP's default PBT colour WAN. The dye-sub legends in the sample above closely match Pantone 2726C. Based on responses from the IC form this will be the final blue.
(https://i.imgur.com/lz3jWhd.png)
Forum signature
(https://i.imgur.com/FrjM0CK.png) (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112032.00)
[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112032.00][img width=200 height=120]https://i.imgur.com/FrjM0CK.png[/img][/url]
Big thank you to all that have helped, and the lovely vendors who have supported this GB. Kingk22 (again) for renders and emotional support, Agilr for feedback on the design and colour matching, Would for advice on typography and fonts, Gok for advice on designing a dyesub keycap set and general design tips, Epsilon for general support and letting me piggyback off your discord channel, Peaches for emotional support, and the Finder Works and NZ discord groups and IC form fillers for general feedback. Couldn't have done it without you guys <3
Click here for discord link (https://discord.gg/4QmYnyYbhw)
Thanks everyone for the support! I've also spent too much on this so know the feeling :p
Thin?
DCS is thinner than GMK, yes, but quality is still there. I've had some discussions about the thinness of DCS on the Delftware discord channels and my general thoughts are that thin vs thick isn't really a great measure of quality, as long as the plastic quality is high enough, and it isn't so thin it'll chip easily. I didn't decide to go for DCS until I'd received the samples shown in the post above, because I wanted to be sure that Delftware would be a high quality set. Most of the keycaps I currently own are GMK so I definitely understand quality concerns - it just didn't make sense to use GMK for Delftware given the additional cost of all the custom sublegends especially considering it's primarily a blue on white set (perfect for dye-sub). I can't speak for the sound profile of DCS as I haven't got enough caps on me for a full board, but in terms of dye-sub and keycap quality I've been convinced.
Here's a photo of the underside of my Delftware samples vs GMK just in case anyone is curious:
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/JNCz5wS.jpg)
a lot of people **** on DCS for no reason other than because everyone else ****s on it
don't knock it till you try it
I love DCS profile more than Cherry, and i have DCS CC&G, White alphas, midnight modiefers, few old thin sets. I use it with silent switches, but with normal switches the sound is too high and annoying. Now i purchase a thick DCS from WYSE PCE ansi. It must be killer)
Got some real life photos of the samples on a couple boards so you can see how they look. Note these photos were taken on an iPhone 7 and have not been edited/colour balanced. The photo of the samples in the original post are most accurate colourwise.
Note: The line thickness for the sublegends has been thinned so the alphas + sublegends will have consistent line thickness. The colour + font + sizing in these photos will not change for the final product.
Indoor, natural lighting, on an e-white board with brass accent. Blue looks a bit darker in this photo than it is.
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/Hd2CRrA.png)
Outdoor in the shade, natural lighting, on a silver board with polished SS plate. Blue looks a bit lighter in this photo than it is.
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/IHD4WzT.png)
yo this is super nice
(https://i.postimg.cc/cx54bGDn/DCSdelftware-Orders210430fin-Yext.png)
More
(https://i.postimg.cc/cxJLhLcW/DCSdelftware-Orders210430fin-Next.png)
<-- without extras
got my set, this came out great
quick and dirty phone pics, a little out of focus
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/kIpItE1.jpg)
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/fd6y7Ug.jpg)
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/QequXra.jpg)
i would say dyesub quality is similar to the latest CRP round, i would call it 8.5/10. very minimal bleed/blur, which is on par for DCS dyesubs historically. i'm not an expert, just a guy who has owned a lot of sets, but i'm comfortable saying that as far as dyesub goes, SP continues to be better than pretty much every other option. there are still a few artifacts/minor issues, but nothing you'd notice if you weren't looking for it.
as far as keycap quality, it's PBT DCS, which is good, but has a texture that not everyone might like. not dissimilar to some other PBT sets, like EPBT and other gateron blank-based manus. CRP is a little smoother in my experience.
my one gripe is that the font weight on the alphas is different than the font weight on the mods but it's not bad enough for me to categorize it as a demerit.
overall very happy with this set, one of the more interesting sets in the past year or two, it's really unique and i think that people only slept on this set because of the "DCS bad" meme.
Thanks for the pics! Eagerly awaiting my set now.
Some bad news for 6u users - it looks like the 6u DCS spacebars are lacking support for 6u stabilisers. I'm not sure yet if this is true for all DCS 6u spacebars or just for Delftware. I have sent an email to SP to see what we can do. See image below (photo courtesy of jonehhbravo, badly drawn red lines courtesy of yours truly):
Show Image
(https://i.imgur.com/UVa9WBg.png)
The vendors should all have received the keycaps by now, RAMA caps are on the way to RAMA from the manufacturer and the deskmats should be arriving in another month or two. Hoping that all orders will still ship in 2021 (and on schedule) but we'll have to see how things progress.
We've got some good news! The keycaps have begun shipping from SP to vendors this week!
Unfortunately no updates on deskmats/RAMA caps but keycap only orders should be arriving with regional vendors this month.
a gb shipping... early?? in 2021??
excited to get my set soon
It was always slated for Q4 2021 shipping, so it's only on time unfortunately.
I would just snap off some stems from some keycaps i don't like/use (needle nose pliers and a little wiggle action usaully snaps them off pretty cleanly) and ca glue them in the space bar where you need them.