We're going to show you how to make an artisan keycap out of polymer clay in this polymer clay tutorial. You can use your custom or artisan keycaps in mechanical keyboards.
You might have seen a lot of artists make some great artisan keycaps out of polymer clay. We thought the concept was so much fun, we wanted to get started and help you too. We chose to make the Deadpool logo because it is just a few basic shapes stacked on top of each other.
But first, you should check out our polymer clay sale - we're selling all of our 2021 clay for $2.00 per 2.6 ounce bar to make room for 2021.
You will need
- Red polymer clay
- Black polymer clay
- White polymer clay
- PBT keycap
- Papa's Clay Softening Oil
- Ultra-Matte DuraClear
The first thing you need is a PBT keycap because it has a high melting point. Other types of plastic or other types of keycaps will melt in your oven and very likely release toxic and noxious fumes.
Take a small piece of black clay and put it on top of your keycap so you have a flat surface. Then, you can roll out out a slab of polymer clay in your pasta machine and lay it on top of your keycap or you can slowly and evenly add small pieces of clay until you cover it in black clay. Be careful that you are not adding too much clay, otherwise your artisan key will be too big and will touch the other keys. Bake your clay after this step.
Roll out a very thin layer of red polymer clay. Cut out a tiny circle that you can place on top of your keycap. Make sure it is big enough that you will be able to put a slightly smaller circle on top of.
After you've cut out your circle, place it directly in the middle of your keycap. I used some Papa's Clay Softening Oil to help move the pieces around a bit and also to help have the pieces stick together better after baking. I recommend baking again after this step.
Then, get a very thin layer of black clay and cut out a circle that is slightly smaller than the red circle you cut out previously. Cut your black directly in half from top to bottom. Then remove an equal and very small amount of clay from the part of the clay that it looks like someone has removed a tiny strip of your vertically from the center of it. Use some Papa's Clay oil to help position the pieces directly in the center of the red circle. I recommend baking your keycap again at this point.
The final step is to roll out some white clay and cut two tiny trianges out for the eyes. You will likely have to keep on making very tiny cuts to the triangles to make them smaller and smaller until they fit on the mask and are the right size. Again, use some oil to align them perfectly in each part of the black mask.
That’s it, bake your clay for the final time and then you can start enjoying your new artisan keycap made out of polymer clay. I added a few layers of Ultra-Matte DuraClear to help protect my keycap as well. Now, you can make your own artisan keycaps out of polymer clay - and hopefully this tutorial showed you how easy and fun they can be to make.
