[IC] DCS Lil' Lav v2 - Updated feedback numbers

[Piperaceae]

A cute and fun lavender and teal set, that's no longer just a smol guy.

Sorry for using Imgur! I'm still working on UK-friendly hosting. I was attempting to use PostImage but it just isn't stable enough.

FEEDBACK FORM

News
November 2, 2025: See bottom of thread for new kitting concept to address base kit pricing.
October 24, 2025: Ktechs added as a vendor.
October 21, 2025: New IC launched.

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Lil' Lav began as a deliberately minimalist DCS set. After the original interest check, I got the message loud and clear - people want more coverage! I also needed to make some color changes due to issues with one of my original choices. Given both the kitting and color changes, a new IC form was in order.

I've added some new potential child kits. Ahead of the original IC, I had ruled most child kits out due to cost, but I want to see how they perform, and let the market decide whether or not they're offered in an eventual group buy.


J-03 by ProtoTypist


Capy60 by Bowl


Glare TKL by Glare and Geon

•••

Vendors
SG: KTechs

More TBD. If you've a vendor and would be interested in carrying this set, reach out to me here, or message me (piperaceae_) on Discord.

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Dates
I'm targeting early 2026 for a group buy, after the holidays. Shipping probably ~3 months after the GB ends.

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Colors and Materials
Why There Aren't Teal Mod Legends
Feedback from the original IC indicated that people wanted teal legends across the board, on both the alphas and mods. Unfortunately, teal mod legends haven't proven feasible.

More

There are only a handful of stock lavenders available from SP, and the obvious choice (RFK) is too translucent (the teal shot for the legends would bleed through near the surface, making them blurry). The remaining darker lavenders don't offer enough contrast against teal. I was able to find a lighter lavender (RDZ) to use for the alphas, that doesn't suffer from bleedthrough, so I can continue to use the teal legends on those. Given the choice between my ideal colors and crispness, I'm going with crispness, so that the end product will look its best. And I think this color combination still looks good, even if it isn't what I originally envisioned.

Another change is that I've replaced the pinkish-cream mod legends from the original IC with the RDZ light lavender, reducing the color count to three, to help with pricing.


Here's RFK lavender. If light shines through the color chip, darker legends may appear fuzzy when paired with that color.
Thanks to Basil for discovering this method of testing!

Revised Colors
All keys are doubleshot ABS. Colors are Signature Plastic stock resins. Alphas are RDZ with BHD legends. Mods are REK with RDZ legends. Accents are BHD with RDZ legends.

     

No new legends are used in the design; everything already exists in DCS.

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Kitting and Pricing
Pricing is estimated retail, and is subject to change.

Base Kit
Base now includes both 6.25u and 7u support. Function keys use the vintage large (12.5 point) font size. The Lil' Lav base is no longer quite so lil', but this does open it up to a much broader audience, which I hope will help with reducing the cost.


@50: $132.46
@75: $118.46
@100: $111.47
@150: $104.48

Extension Kit
Alternates, UK ISO, teal arrows, and "Hjälp." People had asked for a "Help" key like SMRT included, but then I came across its more fun Swedish counterpart.


@25: $32.90
@50: $23.77
@75: $20.05

Numpad Kit
Uses the nav arrow sublegends from 7bit's Doubleshot Replacement rounds.


@50: $29.41
@75: $24.66

Spacebars Kit

@25: $20.71
@50: $13.32
@75: $10.86

40's Kit
This is less support than I'd like to offer, but it was very difficult to get this down to a decent price. I'm hesitant to entertain requests to add more keys, because it's a slippery slope back to a $76 kit again like the initial quotes were.


@25: $44.30
@50: $31.30
@75: $26.95

Big Bar Kit

@15: $14.87
@25: $9.60

Big Enter Kit

@15: $9.64
@25: $6.37


•••

Board Renders

Dalco 959 Mini by Hand Engineering


Petrichor by Alchemist


Paragon by Artemis


V4nag0n by Trash Man


Vulcan by Maja


Piggy by Jacky

[madmax13]

Looks great!

[ZavaZ86]

If you insist on only one iso enter then i suggest changing it so it isnt accent (blue)

[Piperaceae]

If you insist on only one iso enter then i suggest changing it so it isnt accent (blue)

I don't insist on anything. But if people don't want to pay several dollars more per base kit, it needs to be one or the other. Given the teal accents imo are part of the look and go with the teal lettering, it felt like the better choice of the two. I did the same with the big Enter key. But if people strongly prefer lavender, say so in the feedback form.

I'm an ISO user myself, but it doesn't feel fair to make 90% of the likely buyers pay for that, when there's already physical coverage. This has gone through so many rounds of quotes and revisions to try to get the cost manageable, certain compromises needed to be made.

[Piperaceae]

New renders! I'm going to begin promoting this IC in earnest next week; this has been an unexpectedly hectic few days since relaunching it.

Feedback so far:
- A request to move Hjälp to base, which is something I'd be open to. That's where it was until the last couple rounds of quotes.

- Keys in Spacebars and 40s are duplicates. Yep! I wanted to avoid having most 40s users need to buy base PLUS 40s PLUS spacebars. The separate spacebars kit is aimed at larger boards with split bars or people who need 6u. There's a lot of interest in the spacebars kit so far, so I'm hesitant to change it. I'd be open to stripping bars from 40s, but only if 40s folks tell me that needing to buy three different kits isn't too much of a hassle.

[nebulazy]

I am so stoked for this one! There aren't enough purple sets!!!! 

[Sionecom]

This purple version is so beautiful.

[Piperaceae]

Thanks for your support, everyone! Here's some new renders on a lavender Minimi40 by Keebibi, which had its own group buy begin yesterday!

  .

Remember to fill out the feedback form if you're interested in seeing this get made! We have one interested vendor so far (Ktechs) but we need more responses still.

[Piperaceae]

I have heard the complaints about pricing from Blacksimon and others, but unfortunately there's not a ton I can do - SP's pricing is what it is. MOQ is the biggest driver of cost, so hopefully getting more vendors onboard and helping to promote this and offer it globally will help with that. We have KTechs interested, but need more. And to attract more vendors, I need more feedback responses. A lot of folks filled out the original IC, but haven't chimed in about the new kitting yet.

Asides from a high MOQ, I can try to reconfigure the base to cut it down smaller, but with too many cuts we're back to the minimalist kitting of the original IC. If you want the bigger kitting retained, speak up!

Here's a concept for a base where I've moved the 1.5u Supers and other keys to the extension kit, and moved all accents to their own separate kit. The 6u bar moves into the extension kit so HHKB users don't need to buy base + extension + bars. The separate bars kit goes away. The extension kit would be more expensive, but the base would cost less for the majority of buyers as a result.


Base with HHKB moved out to extensions, and accents removed. UK alphas move from extension to base, because keeping the alphas together makes them cheaper. Hjälp replaces F13.


Extension with HHKB and basic Alice added, and accent arrows removed.


Numpad with accent removed.


40s without forced accent, to match the base.


New accent kit, keeping all the teal keys together to reduce cost.


BAE is no longer accented, to match the base.


No changes to the 10u bar.

I do not have new quotes for this yet. I'd much rather offer the current base, but if this can help with the pricing, it's an option. Please fill out the form and speak up if you like the current kitting, are okay with the kitting concept I just laid out, or would prefer the hyper-minimalist kitting of the original IC. Thank you!

[tunb]

The change is reasonable

[Piperaceae]

It's been a busy week but it's time to sort through the feedback again:

- Right now, 100% want the base, 38% want the extension kit, 31% want spacebars, and 37% want the numpad. 31% want 40's, 19% want 10u, and 19% want BAE.
- Besides Ktechs, which is already interested, SP themselves and Divinikey are leading as vendor requests.
- 69% of respondents are from the US, with other regions represented pretty evenly at around 6% each.
- People are fairly indifferent about alternate kitting to reduce the base size/cost, so I'll likely leave it as-is.
- Sorry, but purse caps is an integral part of the design; it's not going anywhere.

If the extension kit doesn't make it, I'll roll Hjälp into the base, don't worry.

Have something to say? Fill out the Feedback Form and let me know! Once I get enough responses to merit it, I'll take this to the vendors with the most requests. Thank you!