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What Even Is An "Artisan" Keycap?

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Wouldn’t the proper phrasing for these be “artisanal” keycaps and not “artisan” keycaps? As I was looking through the ‘Mech Keys Guide List’ here on Drop a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see that there were effectively no articles detailing arguably one of the most unique and interesting niches of the mechanical keyboard community – artisan keycaps. In fact with each passing day I find myself sinking further and further into the depths of artisan keycaps and have gained an appreciation of them that far surpasses any expectations I could have ever had after getting my very first one. Despite artisan keycaps being fairly ubiquitous in this day and age, and with beginner friendly storefronts like Drop selling alongside prebuilt, accessible mechanical keyboard kits, I still find that those freshly diving into the keyboard hobby have a very skewed (mis)understanding of these kinds of keycaps, why they are priced the way they are, and all of the variety that exist out there. While this misunderstanding was certainly a valid excuse for me to have back in 2018 when I won my first artisan keycap as a giveaway prize at a keyboard meetup, there’s no excuse remaining for those of you here reading this article. Let me take you on a very brief introduction to artisan keycaps and hopefully begin to clear up some of the confusion that you have about them. (And no, they’re not just expensive keycaps…)
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Figure 1: My personal current 'best of' box my collection of artisan keycaps.
At the highest level, artisan keycaps (also referred to simply as ‘artisans’) are singular, decorative keycaps that can be added to a keyboard to elevate the aesthetics of a keyboard build. Unlike most of the other keyboard components that exist out there that have both some functional and aesthetic benefits to them, artisans are purely decorative in nature and meant to support, enhance, or contrast all of the design aspects of the keyboard, switches, or keycaps that they are paired alongside. In a way, they could even be thought of as “keyboard art”. Artisan keycaps come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials, and are made out of any number of materials including clays that are painted, 3D printed materials, or hard setting, colored resins that are casted from molds. While you may encounter those painted or 3D printed ones towards the more mass produced end of artisan keycaps scene, the majority of the artisans that are super sought out by the community and are discussed day to day are those that are casted purely out of resin and use no paint, 3D printing, or computer aided tools in their creation. These handmade, resin cast artisan keycaps come to life when a keycap maker first sculpts a design for their artisan out of clay or wax, uses that to create a negative 3D mold out of silicone, and then pours different colors of resins into those molds to set and form a keycap that is identical to what they sculpted out of clay. It’s because of the incredibly tedious, done-by-hand nature that these keycaps fetch the prices that you’ll see for them when they are sold; they truly have an artwork level of effort and talent put into them, as well as a non-zero amount of failures, to make them come to life!
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Figure 2: The big blue block on the left is a demonstration half of a mold from Mastonon Kaps whereas the poor blob on the right is a failed test casting of a keycap from maker Backwards Caps.
When discussing artisan keycaps of any style and variety, there’s also probably a few phrases that you’ll come across that you’ll need to understand so that you know exactly what you are looking at. Some artisan keycaps are designed so that they perfectly mimic the shape, size, and feel of existing keycap profiles. Referred to as “blanks”, these keycaps are often described as matching a specific profile of keycap – such as Cherry, SA, etc. – which is identical to those phrases used to describe normal keycap sets. The majority of artisan keycaps, however, are designed in such a way that they are not shaped identically like keycaps and instead use the general space of a keycap to emulate faces, creatures, or whatever design they may want in that space. Artisan makers who produce these keycaps on their own and independently from large keyboard sellers and manufacturers also do this by making several different varieties of what are known as “sculpts” and “colorways”. ‘Sculpts’ refer to the shape of the artisan keycap and refer to the original clay or wax design that the artist first sculpted in order to make their mold. With molds being able to be reused multiple times to cast copies of this same sculpt, artisan makers will often produce different versions of their sculpts that are known as ‘colorways’ and use different colors and patterns of resin to differentiate each cap from one another. Because of this practice, it’s not uncommon to see an artisan keycap maker make several different iterations of something like an astronaut, a shark, or a rabbit multiple of different times over in different colors and themes. Often times, as well, these makers will use color schemes that match famous keycap sets from the keyboard community such as Carbon, Red Alert, or Windbreaker in order to maximize the aesthetic impact these artisans have on a complete build using those keycaps. Those who are interested in collecting artisan keycaps will also then build their collections based on these different features. While some people like to only collect keycaps made by certain makers, some people will collect only specific colors of keycaps, and others will collect all of the different colorways of a specific keycap sculpt. 
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Figure 3: Multiple different colorways of the same 'Mummy II' sculpt from one of my personal favorite makers Kult Worship Keycaps.
Speaking of artisan keycap makers in passing, you’re probably beginning to wonder where you even get your hands on artisan keycaps or where you can see all of the varieties that exist out there. For stuff that is more accessible (and generally a little bit cheaper), large keyboard companies like Drop will often sell artisan keycaps that match the design or aesthetic of themed keyboards that they release. For example, there are at least five different Lord of the Rings themed artisan keycaps that they currently have in stock and that are to match their LOTR-themed keyboard and deskmat releases. As for the more unique, handmade artisans which are not necessarily connected to any specific keyboard design or aesthetic, each keycap maker operates on their own terms and via their own styles of platforms. While some makers have their own websites or storefronts where they will post keycaps for in-stock style sales, the majority of these makers operate on a sort of “raffle” system. Artisan raffles, regardless of whether they’re held via a website or Google Drive, are almost always done the exact same way in which people put a free single entry into a large pool of entrants and hope to get drawn as a winner. If you win an artisan raffle, you’ll then be asked to pay the cost of whatever the keycap is that you entered for and won. In this way, there’s no money collected unless you’re a winner, and you’ll know up front from the raffle form how much you could be charged if you won. To learn more about all of the different artisan keycaps and artisan keycap makers out there, as well as to find links to their various social media platforms and places of operation, consider checking out some community led artisan keycap knowledge repositories over at keycap.info and artisancollector.com! Despite artisan keycaps being infinitely more complex, nuanced, and varied than I could possibly cover in one short article here on Drop, I hope that this article provided a clean, easy introduction to the world of artisan keycaps for you. While they’re certainly not for everyone, be that for the lack of performance upgrades they provide to your keyboards or because of the price point that some of them exist at, there’s a lot of dedicated keyboard enthusiasts who have an appreciation for what artisans have to offer. There are even some people out there who collect them like I do switches! However if this is all a bit much for you and you’re wanting to instead learn about some more beginner level information about simply choosing a keyboard rather than decorating one, consider checking out some of my other articles here on Drop such as ‘How to Ask for Help When Buying a Keyboard’ or ‘The Three Main Types of Switches’!
(Edited)
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I began collecting keycaps a number of years ago when I recognized that they were the quintessential folk art of our era. I say that knowing that many will be rolling their eyes at such preposterous generalizations, what with all of the art forms that have emerged over the past several generations. However, I believe that the keyboard represents a singular transient artifact of our relationship to the technological transformation of the past half-century, soon to be discarded with the coming of more advanced interfaces. I learned to type in high school, encouraged by my mother, who saw that computers would need an interface based on the typewriter, a technology that most people understood. I have long awaited the emergence of voice recognition systems that will make keyboards an anachronistic artifact, but have been disappointed by the rate of progress. Like quilts, artisanal keycaps represent the apex of a long tradition, hand-made by craftspersons and artists from around the world. The fact that many of the best are crafted in Vietnam, the country that defined my developmental teen years, only adds to my delight in seeing their delightful confections. When the Dwarf Factory made a series of caps of 70s-era American weapons, I chided them on their choices. Their response was predictable — they were giving their customers what they wanted. Ultimately, that is what folk art really is — a reflection of the era, a grasp of the zeitgeist, and a timely statement of the larger universe. [“Oh, you want to go to Mars as well?”]
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Great article as always! I hear so many people starting their artisan collections by winning a giveaway, and I wonder if that's how they get ya hooked! Haha. It's such a deep layer of the hobby as you mentioned, with so much lore and history regarding makers and their various sculpts. As a casual artisan enjoyer, I'm in awe whenever I hear someone talk about artisan lore or read about it, so this article was such a blast to read.
HubertTheMadI got hooked thanks to someone being generous enough to "tour" a Clack around back in the day. Figured what the heck, maybe I'll see what all the fuss is about. Mission accomplished, lol 🤣 It's definitely the type of thing that you don't "get" until you've at the very least held one in your hands.
HoffmanMysterOoh, very nice! As long as we only grow our artisans from giveaways and the occasional purchase, it's fine, right!? *Anakin Padme Naboo meme* All kidding aside, I agree 100%. Never have I been so entranced by a little piece of plastic as I have with artisans. Especially if it's got a great story behind it!
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