Handmade custom keycap 'keyboard jewellery' specialist Jelly Key has unveiled a new range of artisan creations. The new Forbidden Realm series is made by skilled craft workers at the Vietnam-based company, and these enchanting keycaps attempt to reproduce a scene from a forgotten world, sealed under crystal clear resin, and mounted on a Cherry MX compatible key base.
These showy keys are often installed in the place of an Esc key to personalise / customise a cherished keyboard. Jelly Key's latest series is said to be "inspired by the greatness of nature and from our imaginary about the perfect place for taking a moment away from our normal life... etc". Based upon the SA row 3 cap the Jelly Key will be a little taller than a regular OEM keycap on the top row.
To create these fantasy world scenes Jelly Key's artisans have used materials such as multi-layered wood veneers, grass, smoke, and more - under resin. The wood veneers create a stepped landcape which reminds me of the pixelated Populous worlds on 16-bit computers. Other suitable materials are used for the blue of rivers and lakes and greens of pastures, for example. Some of the keycaps are made with back illumination in mind.
According to Tom's Hardware, Jelly Key is one of the better known makers of artisan keycaps. Previous Jelly Key creations would have cost $30 or $40 per key but as the Forbidden Realm series is the most intricate yet the price is expected to reflect this - they may be priced as high as $60 each.
The Forbidden Realm artisan keycap range is actually referred to as a 'prototype range' for now, so the supply is strictly limited to just one of each of the three shown above. They are being given away on various social media channels used by Jelly Key. The Cyan Lake giveaway is open now. We aren't sure when Jelly Key will make the Forbidden Realm range available for purchase. The firm usually makes batches to order, as group buy pre-order numbers dictate.
On the topic of luxury technology products, the UK-based Vertu Mobile recently closed its doors and some of the now unemployed craftsmen could surely create fantastic artisan keycaps if they judged it was worth their while.
