Author Topic: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art  (Read 4625 times)

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Offline Nlight

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Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« on: Sun, 17 June 2018, 20:28:59 »
I discovered the world of keycaps just few weeks go, and while I recon the difficulty of these sculpted caps, I don't find it appealing, I amdefinitelynot a fan of fancy shape caps, and those in different colors... well, they're just colors to me. But then I fell upon these absolute work of art, just incredible !
Watch and lose yourself gazing at them :




Aren't hey just georgous ?

I wonder how he made them, cause I would definitely would see more of these beauties, or even try the adventure of doing it.
« Last Edit: Sun, 17 June 2018, 20:31:14 by Nlight »

Offline Joey Quinn

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 18 June 2018, 21:05:30 »
Get this k3 garbage outta here

**** them and everything they make
People in the 1980s, in general, were clearly just better than we are now in every measurable way.

The dumber the reason the more it must be done

Offline Nlight

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 03:18:44 »
Oh, really ? Why is that ? What's wrong with it ?
« Last Edit: Tue, 19 June 2018, 04:29:22 by Nlight »

Offline M

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 04:15:41 »
Oh, really ? Why is that ? What's wrong with it ?

From what I've seen, k3kc is notorious for stealing others' designs to make his own caps

this thread goes into a lot of detail https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51797.0

Offline Nlight

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 04:49:24 »
Oh... ok, but are the caps presented here, copies ? Due to the random nature of the process, impossible, but I would watch similar cap art anytime

So, you want to apply boycott, right ?

I think that conceptually, this is encouraging him to keep copying because : he needs money, he invested in hardware and material, so he must turns it into profit. And if the purists (who are IMO the only ones capable of buying his $300 uniques) boycott him entirely, his only market segment left is the segment who is after cheap copies.
But only promoting/buying his ORIGINAL creations is encouraging him to pursue these more than the rest, by rendering his copies less profitable while making his original work more profitable (as a yearly sale, not each).
In short : if you want to lead someone out of immoral path, reward/encourage his honest work.

This whole copy thing is debatable even if I personally go for the original, but as long as I don't promote copies. I feel quite right. If this is a problem, I think moderator will intervene to sort this out, and I will comply.

Offline DALExSNAIL

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 07:01:50 »
His caps that you think are some sort of "ultimate art" are run of the mill etsy tier encapsulation. Lots of people are trying to cash in on this sort of thing since the rings like this came out, and since jellykey started doing it.

I think most of them are just art blocks you buy then sand down to whatever profile you want.

Just search landscape ring online and you will find hundreds of shops selling these caps in ring form for very cheap.

The copy thing is not "debatable" as he 1 for 1 copied clacks, brocaps, etc. Supporting his non copies will not make him all of a sudden stop being a piece of ****.

The only thing that is "debatable" is your claim that these landscape cubes are "original"

Offline Nlight

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 08:29:04 »
Oh, sorry for that, prior to this I was unaware of those ring landscape... indeed, the price point of these keycaps seems, a bit high then, assuming hid did not make these himself (and now that I know how this is done, I can say that even then, this remains overpriced

Being an *******, and the work produced by this ******* are two things different, many good performing actors are true ******/drunkards/junkie in life.

However, it does not change the fact, in my eyes that the presented keycaps are beautiful, far more than any sculpted one. This is a taste thing.
Well, there is not many,

You missed my point when I said the copy thing is debatable, and I don't want debate it because too often emotions comes in play and ruins the conceptual debate. But I was talking of the conceptual aspect of copying art, not the specific case of this person.

No matter what this person does, I am only interested in what is created, that is it, I never intended to sell his stuff, just show something that is really nice, no more, no less.

Please note that I have no hard feelings whatsoever.

Quote
The only thing that is "debatable" is your claim that these landscape cubes are "original"
Dude, I meant original, as non copies

Quote
Lots of people are trying to cash in on this sort of thing since the rings like this came out, and since jellykey started doing it.
Maybe, so ? Does not many people paint the same things while not being the firsts ? Is it a shock, bad ? It's a human thing, you reproduce what you admire. Otherwise it would be a monopole policy... Thanks for the mention of Jellykey, some of his work is superb like this one on the left, and even this one on the right despite being sculpted :

Yet in the resin incrusted department, the rest of his work does not appeal to me as much as the one selected or the three posted in the OP

Does anyone knows how he does these cloudy effects that stays low on the wood ? I'm pretty sure this is something simple... maybe... maybe an opaque resin first, then a small layer of clear one on top, then play with a tooth pick, then add some more clear on top... dunno.

EDIT : oh **** ! yeah I found some landsape caps on ebay for $44, and absolutely georgous too, so yeah, $300 is wayyyyyyyyyy overpriced  :))


« Last Edit: Tue, 19 June 2018, 08:43:02 by Nlight »

Offline Binge

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 10:07:40 »
Oh, sorry for that, prior to this I was unaware of those ring landscape... indeed, the price point of these keycaps seems, a bit high then, assuming hid did not make these himself (and now that I know how this is done, I can say that even then, this remains overpriced

Being an *******, and the work produced by this ******* are two things different, many good performing actors are true ******/drunkards/junkie in life.

However, it does not change the fact, in my eyes that the presented keycaps are beautiful, far more than any sculpted one. This is a taste thing.
Well, there is not many,

You missed my point when I said the copy thing is debatable, and I don't want debate it because too often emotions comes in play and ruins the conceptual debate. But I was talking of the conceptual aspect of copying art, not the specific case of this person.

No matter what this person does, I am only interested in what is created, that is it, I never intended to sell his stuff, just show something that is really nice, no more, no less.

Please note that I have no hard feelings whatsoever.

Quote
The only thing that is "debatable" is your claim that these landscape cubes are "original"
Dude, I meant original, as non copies

Quote
Lots of people are trying to cash in on this sort of thing since the rings like this came out, and since jellykey started doing it.
Maybe, so ? Does not many people paint the same things while not being the firsts ? Is it a shock, bad ? It's a human thing, you reproduce what you admire. Otherwise it would be a monopole policy... Thanks for the mention of Jellykey, some of his work is superb like this one on the left, and even this one on the right despite being sculpted :
Show Image
Show Image

Yet in the resin incrusted department, the rest of his work does not appeal to me as much as the one selected or the three posted in the OP

Does anyone knows how he does these cloudy effects that stays low on the wood ? I'm pretty sure this is something simple... maybe... maybe an opaque resin first, then a small layer of clear one on top, then play with a tooth pick, then add some more clear on top... dunno.

EDIT : oh **** ! yeah I found some landsape caps on ebay for $44, and absolutely georgous too, so yeah, $300 is wayyyyyyyyyy overpriced  :))

Show Image
Show Image
Show Image



It seems like you would really appreciate lathe work/turning as well.  The concept of these caps and a lot of art forms is to emulate life scale with convenient macro textures and color gradients.  It's clever enough and has been used for years by lots of artists.  There are some amazing street performance artists who create 'space' paintings with a very select techniques and tools.  These techniques can be easily taught, but clever thinking and a lot of practice really makes for the best representations.

I think these pieces really show an understanding of very specific techniques.  You obviously have a very specific taste, but be careful because it is very much an illusion.  A lot of what makes these pieces beautiful to some utilizes unstable materials which are prone to breaking under normal use.  They make much better show-pieces than functional caps if QC is not thorough.  A lot of them will look perfect but the use of stabilized wood and certain clear epoxies can lead to cracking/shattering as the materials aren't meant to be utilized on this scale without considerable wall thickness (3-4mm or more)
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Offline Nlight

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Re: Cong Tang Ton N - ultimate keycap art
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 19 June 2018, 11:02:29 »
Quote
It seems like you would really appreciate lathe work/turning as well.
Oh you nailed it, I actually do  :thumb:,  even though I do not own any lath for room and money reasons.

Quote
A lot of them will look perfect but the use of stabilized wood and certain clear epoxies can lead to cracking/shattering as the materials aren't meant to be utilized on this scale without considerable wall thickness (3-4mm or more)
Good to know, thanks. One of the first thing you learn with wood, is that it needs to breath, so if the wood used in these pieces is not stabilized and the driest possible, I red somewhere that it  would rot, but I've never seen it, I'll have to make a test, just for my own curiosity.
I guess for such pieces, it would be better to cast the thing in one block, then drill a hole to mid height, and then glue in a separate stem, but alas this is just theory that I will never take the time to check.