Best artisan keycap

[Lustique]

Nomination rules:
Please suggest nominees for the best keycap set, novelty keycap, artisan keycap, or artisan in 2017. You have to give a short motivation for each suggestion. The keycap(s) must be newer than November 26, 2016 to qualify for this year's DTAs. You cannot nominate your own made keycap(s) or yourself.

[awwwwwwyeaahhhhhh]

I nominate GAF! Great work coming from GAF caps, really unique look and something I think was needed in the community.

[mike52787]

maybe I don't understand the concept... but those GAF caps are some of the ugliest artisans i've ever seen

[Tally810]

I'd like to nominate brocaps for "best artisan" because of all of the amazing colorways and new stuff he has brought out this year. The Christmas sale, valentines sale, 420 blind nug run, 4th of july, Halloween sale and whatever others I may have missed, all had some of the nicest colorways Ive seen and the "thurrg" from his last sale is an awesome new sculpt. He also reworked the gamer sets to a nice new design and is dropping full resin topre sets with those new gamer sets which is what I am most hyped for.

[The_Boom_Boy]

I'll put my nomination in for zorb i just love the sparkey

LmEAZBO.png (1.81 MiB) Viewed 28152 times

LxaNJla.jpg (94.85 KiB) Viewed 28152 times

Oa8eswe.jpg (285.67 KiB) Viewed 28152 times

[kbdfr]

My usual friendly comment on all this stuff:

WC.jpg (26.64 KiB) Viewed 28127 times

By the way, you cannot nominate it

[Lustique]

My usual friendly comment on all this stuff:

[attachment= 0]WC.jpg[/attachment]

By the way, you cannot nominate it

I don't understand why people like these, either. As nice little figurines: OK, but I'd never put something like this on any of my keyboards. IMO these things ruin the look of anything they're put on. The same with those 256-colour keysets. You might as well get one of these.

[phetto]

My usual friendly comment on all this stuff:

WC.jpg

By the way, you cannot nominate it

hahaha

[ste]

HWS - Binge for best artisan for his hard work in 4x4. hope this control the aftermarket price.

[_PixelNinja]

For what it's worth, I also think keysets and artisans should be run as separate categories.

[andrewjoy]

For what it's worth, I also think keysets and artisans should be run as separate categories.

I agree , keysets are for enthusiasts, and artisans are for people with too much money who think they are enthusiasts .

[chuckdee]

For what it's worth, I also think keysets and artisans should be run as separate categories.

Agreed, and not for the typical pretentious reasons. As other communities are invited, it seems to me that a well-positioned artisan will have an outsized chance of winning over a keyset.

[webwit]

Due to popular demand, I split the keycaps category and created an artisan keycap category.

[DanielT]

I nominate GAF! Great work coming from GAF caps, really unique look and something I think was needed in the community.

Thank GOD for GAF, we needed another artisan to make Pok3rs look like shit .......

P.S: haven't followed this GAF dude, but how does his Clack collection look ? Growing ? usually this is the trend in this business

[Khers]

I nominate GAF! Great work coming from GAF caps, really unique look and something I think was needed in the community.

Thank GOD for GAF, we needed another artisan to make Pok3rs look like shit .......

P.S: haven't followed this GAF dude, but how does his Clack collection look ? Growing ? usually this is the trend in this business

You mean like this dude?



At this point in time, I guess that everyone knows what buying eat the food-keycaps helps fund

[zacheadams]

I nominate GAF! Great work coming from GAF caps, really unique look and something I think was needed in the community.

Thank GOD for GAF, we needed another artisan to make Pok3rs look like shit .......

P.S: haven't followed this GAF dude, but how does his Clack collection look ? Growing ? usually this is the trend in this business

You mean like this dude?



At this point in time, I guess that everyone knows what buying eat the food-keycaps helps fund

Not sure why everyone always chooses to hate on artisans and bemoan taste when:

A. We're all in a niche community large enough for multiple sub-niches. Get over yourselves, your tastes aren't the end-all be-all, being a dick to others doesn't make your opinions more valid.

B. You're criticising something that is literally the reward for all of the categories of the competition we're participating in. Wingnuts are artisans, they've been given out for years, and yet you're criticizing them? It's like you're standing on the podium with a trophy yelling about how much you hate trophies.

I have a video for everyone here poo-pooing artisans in a thread about the artisan keycap nominations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI

[TheGreatIceDrake]

I'd also like to nominate GAF. The keys are extremely detailed, and include some incredible Easter eggs including the shadow of a distinguished face on the Grimace. Many of the caps are upwards of four shots, which clearly shows the difficulty of the sculpt and casting process. They are a wonderful way of showing a grimey side to artisan making, and bring to mind many of my favourite graffiti artists.

[webwit]

Any other good artisan keycap releases besides GAF this year? Could use some more nominations.

[ABC123itsEASY]

These are fantastic nominations; all deserving of mention.
I would like to nominate Sneaky Potato over at Keyforge. Sneaky certainly isn't new to the artisan community with quite a few successful sculpts last year, but he really stepped up his attention to detail and colorway complexity with his Shishi and Orichi sculpts this year, placing his cap quality on par with the most desirable artisans currently available.

[kbdfr]

[…] Not sure why everyone always chooses to hate on artisans and bemoan taste when:

A. We're all in a niche community large enough for multiple sub-niches. Get over yourselves, your tastes aren't the end-all be-all, being a dick to others doesn't make your opinions more valid.

B. You're criticising something that is literally the reward for all of the categories of the competition we're participating in. Wingnuts are artisans, they've been given out for years, and yet you're criticizing them? It's like you're standing on the podium with a trophy yelling about how much you hate trophies. […]

It's not that I don't like artisan keycaps - I find most of them ridiculous with their skulls and spooky faces,
and, while recognizing that many of them may require remarkable designing and crafting skills, simply hideous.

Plus, I don't understand what they are doing on a keyboard (and I doubt any Wingnut ever finds real use as a keycap).
You would probably not want to wear them as rings on your fingers, and most certainly not at the price

Oh, by the way, in another category I am nominating shapeways for their well, rather matter-of-fact approach to artisan keycaps:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/UMAFN ... sa-profile

[Menuhin]

@kbdfr

Just curious, I can see your opinion of all key caps need to be practical.
Do you have any decoration items at home or that you came to have them because they (dead objects) look beautiful or fascinating in your eyes?

[Myoth]

@kbdfr

Just curious, I can see your opinion of all key caps need to be practical.
Do you have any decoration items at home or that you came to have them because they (dead objects) look beautiful or fascinating in your eyes?

He just doesn't like artisans, I can understand him, I too am not. I think that most people on DT don't too, but I'm not sure now that we have this Award ...

[Menuhin]

@kbdfr

Just curious, I can see your opinion of all key caps need to be practical.
Do you have any decoration items at home or that you came to have them because they (dead objects) look beautiful or fascinating in your eyes?

He just doesn't like artisans, I can understand him, I too am not. I think that most people on DT don't too, but I'm not sure now that we have this Award ...

Every year on DT, this award of "best artisan keycap" is like a thread of ridicules to all the artisan keycap sculptors and casters. Actually, none of the artisan makers post any ad on DT for their new work as they know DT in general has a hostile opinion about their work.

I don't have many artisan caps, and most are for color matching purposes (e.g. to the case or to the main key cap set) to make my whole build look good. When I was small, I like some rally car race in the 80s - I can totally imagine I can own some rally cars (at least similar vintage models), or some car models, but I totally won't mind have key caps carefully sculpted as some of classic rally car models, sitting on the functional row.

Have that said, the after market of artisan has crazy price (e.g. 200€-400€) for some caps. If I were to enter an artisan rally, and if the caps won't match my builds, it would then at least be 50% because I think I can gain some money out of the caps bought at their original price.

[Lustique]

[…]
Oh, by the way, in another category I am nominating shapeways for their well, rather matter-of-fact approach to artisan keycaps:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/UMAFN ... sa-profile

https://images4.sw-cdn.net/product/pict ... 274019.jpg

Nice, ‘Premium Silver’ is only €102.25.

[…]
He just doesn't like artisans, I can understand him, I too am not. I think that most people on DT don't too, but I'm not sure now that we have this Award ...

Maybe this is like DT's Kid's Choice Award?

[zacheadams]

[…] […]

It's not that I don't like artisan keycaps - I find most of them ridiculous with their skulls and spooky faces,
and, while recognizing that many of them may require remarkable designing and crafting skills, simply hideous.

Plus, I don't understand what they are doing on a keyboard (and I doubt any Wingnut ever finds real use as a keycap).
You would probably not want to wear them as rings on your fingers, and most certainly not at the price

Oh, by the way, in another category I am nominating shapeways for their well, rather matter-of-fact approach to artisan keycaps:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/UMAFN ... sa-profile

You don't dislike them, but you "find most them ridiculous" and "many of them [...] simply hideous" Sounds like you think exactly like the person I directed my message at.

"and certainly not at the price" -- congrats, again, you could get a functional keyboard for $10 or less from Amazon or another retailer, or free from anyone you asked in an office or school or library, most have boxes of them for use. You're arm-chairing about this, while in a forum that glorifies keyboards older than many of us with costs in the hundreds. What I don't understand, is why it's necessary to go into other people's threads to talk about stuff that is totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. I direct you again to the same video I directed the other user to.

Things that are cool: discussing the merit of various artisans earning nominations and why.

Things that are not cool: discussing why artisans shouldn't be a category or why you don't like like them. It's low effort, non-contributional content. Thanks for following in the footsteps of internet forum users forever since the beginning of time.

On a positive note, glad to see Bro, GAF, ETF, and KF all up there with nominations. Sculpt detailing, finishing, and evolution of craft by all four are really setting high benchmarks.

P.S. plenty of people use them as normal keys, for some examples you should see Clack Leafs, Bro Gamer Caps (V1/V2), Hunger Work Studios Earl Escapes, Kult Worship Kaps Wrapped, etc. --- all of which incorporate the concave curvature of standard keycap sculpts into their design.

Maybe this is like DT's Kid's Choice Award?

I too feel a very smug sense of satisfaction and maturity by making others feel less of themselves.

[dickeroni]

Jelly Key - For creating very impressive and unique little pieces of art.

[Khers]

Things that are cool: discussing the merit of various artisans earning nominations and why.

Things that are not cool: discussing why artisans shouldn't be a category or why you don't like like them. It's low effort, non-contributional content. Thanks for following in the footsteps of internet forum users forever since the beginning of time.

I would like to point out that I was not arguing that the category should not exist, I was arguing for why it made sense to have all keycaps in a single category at a time when there was no artisan category (as that was created later on) but people were bitching about the lack of one.

Oh, and if you want to tell people what's cool and not cool, do fuck off and head right over to reddit where you came from.

[scottc]

[...] being a dick to others doesn't make your opinions more valid. [...]

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of the irony klaxon.

[scottc]

Also, I'd like to nominate Maos Keys/Maos Store on AliExpress for actually selling artisan keycaps at a more reasonable price-point (~$5-7 shipped):

[Menuhin]

@scottc
I totally agree with this price! All artisan should not be too much more than double the price of a Shapeway cap.
People on /r/MK complain about these being "fake" or "counterfeit", I would suggest the one using these for the sale on Aliexpress to add a big mole of the face of these robots and skull - still like almost like all others.

Also, I'd like to nominate Maos Keys/Maos Store on AliExpress for actually selling artisan keycaps at a more reasonable price-point (~$5-7 shipped):

Spoiler:

@Lustique
You and many friends in Europe especially in Germany do not get it - people can make money out of thin air, such as selling stocks of "conceptual companies", and reselling the shares with much raised price. These caps are better, at least you can touch them - you see improvements and something is definitely created.
With a whole bunch of collaborators, hidden or not with multiple usernames on /r/MK or GH, some of these keys worked on their branding, and marketing, and creating hype and publicity.

What's the difference from spending $100 on well-known artisan key cap versus spending $100 creating a custom key cap on Shapeway out of premium silver?

The difference is I can definitely get back $90 or probably even more like $150-$200 if I put my money in the "right artisan caps". There is no market for a custom-made Shapeway key, especially if, say, the one uses their own name as the design, even when it is made of silver. If I won a few artisan caps raffles this year, and if I put waiting time of about 2-3 months, I might have enough money to pay 1-3 months rent.

For silver articles, it's better to like into things like used Tiffany rings, at least they have real resale potential.

[…]
Oh, by the way, in another category I am nominating shapeways for their well, rather matter-of-fact approach to artisan keycaps:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/UMAFN ... sa-profile

https://images4.sw-cdn.net/product/pict ... 274019.jpg

Nice, ‘Premium Silver’ is only €102.25.

[…]
He just doesn't like artisans, I can understand him, I too am not. I think that most people on DT don't too, but I'm not sure now that we have this Award ...

Maybe this is like DT's Kid's Choice Award?