Thanks to David of the DC Pen Crew, I will once again be duping the Diamine Inkvent calendar. Like last year, I’m posting once a week with all of the inks from that week.
Also like last year, I’m basing my posting day on Christmas. Since Christmas is on Monday, I’ll be posting on Tuesdays. My first dupe post will be on the 5th, with the inks from December 1-4. My final dupe post will be on the 26th, with inks from December 19-25. And I’ll have a wrap-up/reference post on the 27th linking to the 4 dupe posts and listing the best dupe for each ink.
While perhaps not as exciting as the daily posting method I used in 2019 and 2021, weekly posts seemed to work pretty well last year, and allowed me to avoid double-posting during December.
Some Paper Differences
This year, I’ve swatched each ink on Iroful, Kokuyo 5mm grid Sarasara loose leaf paper, and Franklin-Christoph sugar cane paper (in a Firma-Flex notebook). I didn’t have enough Tomoe River paper left to make it through 25 days, and, to be honest, I don’t love the paper, so didn’t see the point in actually buying more. What I had previously came free with a separate purchase several years ago.
I used three different papers because I know Iroful paper makes inks look different. I don’t know why, it must be something in the composition or coating of the paper. Kokuyo seems to be a pretty neutral paper, with inks looking about how I’d expect. I threw in the Franklin-Christoph as a “tie-breaker” so you can see where the differences lie between Iroful and Kokuyo. the Franklin-Christoph paper seems to most closely align with Kokuyo in terms of how the inks look.
Addressing Feedback
I got some comments last year about how I do my 25 Days of Dupes — mostly about how I dupe only the base color, without all of the properties. And, they had a point, one could easily argue I’m not duping inks if I’m not matching the shimmer/sheen/shading. But, 25 Days of Matching Base Colors just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
So, to be clear, I’m looking for color matches for each day of the Inkvent calendar. As a single individual in the United States, doing this as a hobby, I simply can’t own every ink. If I happen to match the shimmer, sheen, or shading in an Inkvent ink, it’s by sheer luck.
And, something to keep in mind, several brands have shimmer additives, so, if I dupe the base color, you could add shimmer. And, someone who doesn’t like shimmer, can have the color without it.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a way — that I know of — to turn an ink into a sheener. It’s not like we can just add more dye. Nor do I know enough about ink composition to know how to turn one into a multishader.
But, I hope that these 25 Days of Dupes series are, at the very least, entertaining to you. While time consuming and somewhat pricey, I enjoy doing them.
Behind the Scenes
I’m adding some additional behind-the-scenes information this year, including my initial swatch tests. Usually, I just share my final swatch page with the best matches. But, I thought you might like to see what inks didn’t match. Let me know what you think of the additions when you see them. For now, I leave you with what 4 years’ worth of 25 Days of Dupes samples look like (minus the ones I ended up buying bottles of).
Per usual, you’ll be able to find all of this year’s posts on a dedicated tag page, or you can check out all of the 25 Days of Dupes posts. I hope you enjoy this year’s 25 Days of Dupes. Happy Inkvent season!
Have you followed any of my previous 25 Days of Dupes? Did you buy this year’s Inkvent calendar? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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