Getting Started With Casting Keycaps

It seems like everyone during quarantine is making keycaps.

If you’re looking to get started, there are lots of videos online. Here are my recommendations:

1. How to Cast Artisan Keycaps with Silicone and Resin is a comprehensive guide to making your first keycaps. They also have other videos for advanced techniques.
2. Making Custom Resin Keycaps is a recent video showcasing how to make different types of keys. I wish I had this as a reference when I first started. It would’ve saved a lot of time.
3. Cloudy Sky Resin Key Caps is quite a bit different from the first two videos by using off-the-shelf molds. Due to the mold design, you won’t get precise fitting of the keyboard and the keycap, but this is super low investment. You only need resin and the mold. This is all the fun of keycap making with minimal work.

I use the same concept from video #2 to design my molds and actually cast with the technique described in video #1.

Here are my posts:

1. How to Cast Embedded Keycaps – It took me a long time to figure out for embedded keycaps, you need to cast the bottom piece first (the part with the stem) and then invert it into a well of resin. I tried all sorts of unsuccessful ways to cast the top piece first. If only I had :Making Custom Resin Keycaps” for reference.
2. Materials for Making Keycaps – Everything you need to get started with L2K casting

There are a lot of non-keycap resin artists with great videos for inspiration:

Artsy Madwoman is my favorite. She has a vibrant personality posts many videos on colorful projects