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Building tiny keycaps into a small business

Building tiny keycaps into a small business

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On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk to Tinymakesthings, who has turned keycaps into a whole business.

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A tiny keycap resembling a burger is held between two fingers.
This is one of Tinymakesthings’ artisan keycaps, sculpted in clay.
Image: Tinymakesthings

Mechanical keyboard love lovers have created a small boom in small businesses. People are making a living designing and building PCBs, switches, caps, and whole keyboards. They’re partnering with small factories to bring their creations to life. But some artisans are building the products themselves — no factory involved. The artist who goes by the name Tinymakesthings is one of those creators.

She’s a keycap artist, crafting individual keycaps that are truly tiny works of art. She uses a few mediums to build her keycaps but relies primarily on clay and resin. She broadcasts her work on Twitch and sells her caps in her own shop, and she felt like a perfect person to speak with for the next episode of Solo Acts.

Solo Acts is a five-part Vergecast miniseries airing every Monday. Each episode, Ashley Esqueda speaks with creators who are building really cool stuff on the internet all by themselves. In previous episodes, she’s chatted with the creator of the McRib Locator, the builder of the Twitter alternative Hive, and the creator of the indie video game Birth.