Hello everyone!
Curiosity got the better of me and I've decided to try my hand at keycap making. I've seen a lot of great work crop up recently and felt really inspired by some of the artisans on here (namely Bro, Binge, Booper, and Whizzard) and plus, I wanted to learn a few things about sculpting, mold-making, and resin casting. Additionally, there is a wealth of information on here about how to best go about making keycaps, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I have a lifetime love of drawing and sketching, so I figured I would also enjoy sculpting. It's a medium I've never really explored, however there is always a first for everything!
I drew up a few keycap inspirations and ordered some Super Sculpey and some tools. As I await some thick blank pbts from Singapore (thanks Gutz!), I decided to prototype out one of my keycap designs. I've found that I tend to prefer harder clays - Super Sculpey gives a nice range of flexibility when it comes to malleability: it warms up and softens nicely, however it can also harden up a bit and still allow you to sculpt the finer details. It's extremely versatile and I like that I can go back and refine the design with no 'hard-stop.' This is especially important in the first design/prototype phase.
Here is my initial design of a keycap:
I've always loved the idea of a fantasy figure keycap and am a sucker for all things weird/strange. I have a few other ideas along similar veins that I'm looking to explore as well.
I also enjoy sculpting more lifelike/humanoid forms because they are easily relatable. I'd like introduce Goyle, my goblin to everyone:
I am about 70% satisfied with how he came out (I decided to forgo the conehead) - there are still lots of adjustments to be made (ears, nose, etc), however I wanted to share and document my progress. Once the keycaps arrive I'll proceed to adapt Goyle to his keycap base and I'm sure there will need to be adjustments to accomodate the form of the keycap. I just wanted to get an overall undestanding of sculpting something and how to treat a 3d object as opposed to a 2d object. You have to consider each and every angle and make sure it looks acceptable. I think that's the hardest part - adapting my designs to multiple perspectives.
Overall this has been a pretty fun experience so far. I know this is just the beginning - there's still TONs to learn about mold-making and resin casting. If any of you have any advice or tips, I'll gladly take it!
TLDR;
I like drawing and decided to make some keycaps.
[UPDATE 9-13-15]
New Keycap design! I'm proud to present to you:
SHARPEI BÉRET!
[UPDATE 10-12-15]
Casted some caps! Crappy potato pics below:
Sharpei Béret
Frank N Cap
Cold Yeti