Alright, this might be a kind of crazy idea and it might fail miserably, but I want to try it so here we are. xD
Backstory? (TL;DR, I know...
)
For those that don't know (probably no one, I've mentioned this quite a lot
), I joined the forum in winter 2013. Artisan caps were intriguing, but not something I "had to have", so I kind of sat out most of the sales or looked on in bewilderment. After seeing Brobots and Clacks at the first couple meetups I went to my interest was piqued, but the cost of entry was still too high (~$50 for a common single color Clack at the time), so I held out. I did, however, see Binge's work at KeyCon and was enamored by the sculpting and handiwork that went into the caps, and promptly began collecting Binge's caps. Then I got lucky in early 2014 and won a few BroBot V2s from those first few sales.
But it wasn't until spring 2014 that I put a Clack on my own keyboard, thanks to wildcard loaning me his Topre HO -
and that is the inspiration for this post, nearly two years later. I was extremely lucky that wildcard trusted me with his Clack, and I want to pay that forward.
The other factor that played into this decision was my realization after taking the photo at the bottom of this post. Simply put, I have a lot of artisans and I feel guilty having so many while some have none or many fewer. Last year I had a similar realization and sold a bunch of caps at retail; this year, I'm trying this out in hopes that it will get the caps into as many hands as possible (albeit for a limited time). After this experiment is over, it is very likely that I will sell a decent chunk of the collection.
What's the deal?What does this all mean? Simple - I'd like to set up a small "library", of sorts, and loan out some of my artisan caps to people that otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to try/experience them. Whether that means the user has
zero artisans, doesn't have any from a particular maker, hasn't seen a particular sculpt in person, etc. I don't necessarily care to which degree you are "cap-less", so long as you don't ask to borrow something you already have.
How does it work?I will list all of the caps I am interested in loaning out right here in this thread. You will select a cap you are interested in borrowing and post in this thread to express your interest. I will indicate here in the OP which caps are currently in the possession of which forum members.
Due to the risk involved, I reserve the right to choose to not send a cap to an individual. Yes I realize this could get messy, so please keep things civil. If I opt to pass, do not take it personally - it's probably because I simply don't know you well enough. This will
not be determined by post count or registration date, it will be entirely subjective. If this bothers you, I'm sorry but hopefully you can understand why I'm doing it this way. I also understand that sometimes this method can tend to result in the loaning/borrowing staying within a circle of friends, at which point why even make a public thread, so I will be keeping this in mind and consciously trying to include people that I don't know very well but still trust. Hope that makes sense.
For the time being, I will list more caps than I will loan away at any given moment (I may list 15 caps but only loan 5 for example). This is to mitigate risks and help ensure that this doesn't reach an unmanageable scope.
I am undecided on how a "tour" scenario will be handled at this time. I may have users ship all caps back to me before being shipped out to the next user, but I realize this adds additional cost; this is open to discussion and will be handled on a case-by-case basis in the short term.
Note that the options available for borrowing may change as time goes on, and some options may be removed or added due to fluctuations in my collection.
What are the rules?- Do not PM me
- Unless otherwise noted, you can borrow the cap for up to 2 months
- Borrower pays shipping both ways
- Caps must be shipped Flat Rate Priority
- If you steal my caps I will hate you forever
- If you have any issues with these rules or this thread in general, please post your concerns in the thread
- All rules are subject to change at any time without notice (I will be reasonable, don't worry )
Got all that? Good - but if not, please ask.
Okay fine, but what caps??These!
(If this color scheme is unfriendly for the colorblind, please smack me on the head - I avoided using red for this reason, but am not well-versed on the subtleties of designing colorblind-friendly color schemes. If it helps, the top color in the legend is green (MX), middle is blue (Topre), bottom is orange (BS).)*NOTE: Keys 14 & 95 (2016/02/02) & 56 (2016/02/09) no longer belong to me and are hereby removed from the library/tour
If I've missed anything or anyone has any questions/concerns/complaints, please post.
<3
CURRENT LIST (2016/02/02)Here is the spreadsheet with the list of members requesting to borrow caps in the User_List worksheet, and the list of all caps available in the Cap_List worksheet. (There are some cap colors/names missing from the Cap_List worksheet, which is where the KeyCap Name is pulled from on the User_List worksheet, so if you want to remind me of those names, please do
)
