Solo Acts: Tinymakesthings' custom keycaps

On today's episode of our Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Tiny of tinymakesthings, who makes artisan keycaps for mechanical keyboards. Tiny explains how she got started making her projects on Twitch, the process for designing the keycaps, and the community she built with her art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Alex Cranz?

  Welcome to The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of little tiny hamburger keys on a keyboard. I'm your friend Alex Cranz, and today we have a new episode of our Solo Acts mini-series, which features interviews from people who are working independently to create great things on the internet. Every Monday on The Vergecast, our friend Ashley Iskada is curating and hosting these interviews and sharing with us what she's learned. Hey, Ashley.

• 0:54Speaker 02

  I did not realize I was legally required to learn something. Oh, no.

• 0:59Alex Cranz?

  Yeah, you're legally required. So who are, what are we learning about today? Who are we talking to?

• 1:05Speaker 02

  I am very excited to talk to Tiny Makes Things. And Tiny Makes Things is a maker and dreamer. That's how she describes herself. She's an artisan keycap creator, which means she makes really, really adorable keycaps for your mechanical keyboard.

• 1:26Alex Cranz?

  I love it.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Now, you are, you're like a mechanical keyboard enthusiast.

• 1:31Alex Cranz?

  Oh, yeah. I have been in this space since like, ooh, 2009, actually. That was my first big mechanical keyboard. It had Alps keys based kind of on like an Apple keyboard from the 90s. I spent way too much money on it. I still have it.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  Are you able to discern, like a musician can hear a note? Are you able to discern an MX cherry from a?

• 1:52Alex Cranz?

  I can hear a topaz. I can hear that because that's the key that like makes my heart sing. But I was very excited to hear you were talking to Tiny Makes Things because like the little novelty keycaps, oh my God, I love them. They're so cute.

• 2:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's got some really adorable keycaps. One of my favorite things that she has ever made is an entire keyboard full of open-mouthed Kirby's.

• 2:15Alex Cranz?

  Yes.

• 2:16Speaker 02

  Which are extremely adorable. And she is a content creator as well. So part of her early career was spent on Twitch, making keycaps and talking about her process and, and building a community there. She also does, I mean, she does hand sculpted clay keycaps and then she also works with resin. She makes accessories. I mean, it's really, it's really impressive stuff and also just outrageously adorable.

• 2:43Alex Cranz?

  Well, I know our listeners have heard to hear me talk about mechanical keyboards a whole, whole lot and I'm super jealous that you got to go and chat with Tiny Makes Things. So let's just like, let's get to this interview. I want to hear everything you guys learned.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  She's terribly fascinating. I love talking to her. Let's do it.

• 3:08Speaker 02

  Tiny, thank you so much for coming and talking to me today.

• 3:12Speaker 03

  Thank you for, for having me, Ashley. Really, really happy to be here.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  I want to talk about Tiny Makes Things. Can you give listeners just a brief overview of your work?

• 3:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, I just love making keycaps that are silly, funny, cute, and just bring joy to you when you like see it on your keyboard. I basically just started out just making things that people, doing commissions, like making keycaps that people would ask me to make of them. I kind of draw a lot of inspiration in general from pop culture, like things that are trending, like memes, anything that I just find funny or entertaining. Mechanical keyboards back maybe, you know, six years ago or so, a lot of it was just the gamer aesthetic of mechanical keyboards, a lot of the darker, like black colors with RGB. When people thought about mechanical keyboards, they thought about, oh, it's like for gamers and it's a certain kind of look.

• 4:06Speaker 03

  And I just, I felt like that wasn't true. And being part of the mechanical keyboard hobby, I knew that there was a lot more to it. And so doing keycaps and making kind of fun little keycaps was my way of sharing and trying to get people to understand that like, yeah, mechanical keyboards can be for everybody.

• 4:23Speaker 02

  How and when did you originally get into mechanical keyboards as a hobby?

• 4:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was maybe like seven years now. I was just in college and I had built my first PC to play video games on. And then the keyboard component, I actually just, I just went and bought like a $15 keyboard. It was not mechanical. Because back then, I think the only, like the cheapest mechanical keyboard that you could get was something like $80 to $100. And I was like, why would I spend so much more money on a keyboard? I don't really see the need for it. And I think it wasn't until a little bit later that year that I, it was because I had this crush on this boy. And I knew that he was into keyboards. And it was a very small hobby back then. I was like, oh, you know, maybe I just, I just use that as an excuse to like, talk to him. And so I was like, hey, can you tell me about keyboards? I'm thinking about getting a mechanical keyboard.

• 5:11Speaker 03

  And I basically just, I kind of used it as an excuse, but I definitely got actually interested in it. And I learned a lot about it. For me, it was just learning about like, oh, you know, like, it does really make a big difference. How it sounds, how it feels, and the typing experience. And it being something that you use so often, like every day in your life, it feels like it's kind of just a good investment to make, to have something custom and that feels good whenever you use it.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  What do you think it is about mechanical keyboards that sort of capture people's imagination? Because there is so much creativity in the space. And I mean, your work and the work of others, I've just seen some stunning keyboards just by themselves, independent of custom keycap work, which is its own, its own separate community of makers. What do you think it is about mechanical keyboards that really just captures all of our nerdy little hearts?

• 6:06Speaker 03

  I think it's so customizable that it appeals to people in different ways. Some people are really, really into, just for example, the keycap collecting part of this hobby, which is, some people don't even like, mount these keycaps ever. They just keep it in a display box. And I actually got into that. That was kind of how I got into making the keycaps in the first place, because I used to collect them. And it's just one of those things, it's like, you know, like collecting Funko Pops. Or something where you're you just really like something and you'll collect a lot of it. And you kind of trade around different keycaps. And so that's like one, that's a very small portion of the bigger hobby. But because people can be like, OK, well, I want a keyboard, but I really like these cool, like little art pieces I can collect and put them on my keyboard if I want to.

• 6:50Speaker 03

  But there's people who also just really are into like, I really want something that sounds a certain way, or I want it to sound like nothing at all. I don't want I don't want any sounds when I'm typing because I just want it to be quiet. Or I want it to feel like stiffer or harder or maybe a very light touch. And I think like people can get into it however they want to. And the fact that you also don't really have to get into it if you don't want to. I think a lot of people see how crazy like the hobby can get. And they're like, oh, there's so much to to kind of like think about to learn. And you could just go in and get something just like a one time thing. And that will last you many, many years. And you don't ever have to like go really deep into the hobby. You can just kind of pick out something that you like and just stop there.

• 7:34Speaker 03

  So I think like the flexibility and the kind of the customization of the hobby really allows people to be as much into it in whatever fashion they want to or not at all. I think your workspace and how it looks affects how you function in that workspace. And I think we saw a huge growth in the hobby. Like the lockdown and pandemic happened and started that because everyone had to kind of buy their own like work from home workspaces. And so the keyboard might actually probably be the most like customizable part of that. So I think people really like to just make something their own. And it affects how they how you see your workspace and how you feel in that space. And I think that's the impact that it has is big, considering how like it's not really a big thing,

• 8:19Speaker 03

  but it can have a big impact.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  Now, you have mentioned that what a lot of people associate with a mechanical keyboard are sort of these like very loud clicky switches. So there's sort of like clicky switches and linear switches. The linear ones are sort of the higher end ones that a lot of enthusiasts like to use when they build. What setup are you using the most these days? Like, what is your favorite keyboard switch profile set? Like, what's your what's your setup for the enthusiasts listening?

• 8:52Speaker 03

  I have in front of me is, it's called a Mr. Suit. It's just the name of the keyboard. And the trend, or maybe the past year or two's trend, is this kind of marbly, like thock. It's just terms that we use, but marbly thocky sound. I'm not sure if you can, it's really hard for me to like, record the sound because I feel like I've tried, even with my phone, or just to get it in a video, even with a nice mic setup. I just feel like it doesn't capture the like, marbly sound quite well. And, and hearing it in person is kind of like, it just, I don't know how to describe it. It just kind of like hits differently when you're, when you hear. I can, I can type on it really quick, but um, this is a, the trend is kind of putting foam into the keyboard

• 9:36Speaker 03

  and it mutes a lot of the kind of like, yeah, yeah, it's like a thick, more like dense kind of sound.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Okay, we're gonna take a break and then I'll talk with Tiny about her creative process.

• 10:02Speaker 04

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• 10:36Speaker 02

  All right, I'm back with Tiny Makes Things.

• 10:41Speaker 02

  I would like to move on from mechanical keyboards in general to your work with custom keycaps and talk about your creative process. So what is the very first keycap that you made?

• 10:51Speaker 03

  The very first keycap, to my recollection, because it's been many years, was actually this Link and Zelda. Well, I actually made a pair of just like this kind of chibi, like cartoonified version of Link and Zelda. And I actually, it was just kind of a thing that I wanted to try out doing. And I think somebody actually, I saw a post on like one of the subreddits that was asking about like, oh, you know, does anybody know if Link keycaps exist? I want to get one for like me and my girlfriend or something like that. And that's why I made two of them. And I actually remember reaching out in DMs to this person after I made them. And I sent a picture of it and I was like, hey, do you like want these? I literally like offering them for free because I made them.

• 11:36Speaker 03

  And back then I wasn't even making them as, you know, like as an artist. I don't think they ever responded. So I was just like, oh, you know, I guess that's, that's that. Like it's not good enough or whatever. I think it was just like a random, I just thought about it because I was like, I don't think there are, back then, there weren't a lot of people making custom. And that's maybe where I got this idea like, oh, I can make certain characters and designs for people that are looking for, looking for those design in the hobby because it doesn't really exist. At that point, it wasn't like a full blown thing that it is now. So yeah, that's the one that I remember off, I guess, the top of my head that I made.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  So how did that initial pair of keycaps snowball into what you're doing now? Is it, was it a process of like, like you mentioned, was it a process of being on subreddits and joining mechanical keyboard communities and offering those commissions? Or was it more of, I'll just start making and then post them and see if people want to buy them?

• 12:36Speaker 03

  I would say maybe it is a combination of that. After I started making them, I obviously was like, okay, well, you know, me reaching out randomly to people, the chances of people being like, oh, I would like a keycap. Or I guess the eventual goal is to be paid for the keycaps if it was something that I wanted to do. But even in the beginning, I would just make them and then we'll see kind of where it goes from there. And I think I made keycaps. Caps that I personally thought were cool or the designs that I really liked. It wasn't one of my first, I would say, sales or ideas was well, what I called sush keys, which were just like sushi keys. It would be like a, you know, a salmon or tuna that's like mounted on top of like a white keycap.

• 13:21Speaker 03

  So it kind of looks like a little sushi. And so I made maybe a couple of those. And then the way I guess most people go about you, you post on like one of the subreddits and you just kind of announce like your sale, that it's happening at a certain time and this is how you can buy one. When I first started making keycaps, I was very inconsistent about it. I was working a full time job and when you get home, you just want to like, just like potato and, and just play video games or watch TV. And then, like, you don't want to do anything productive because you kind of, you just feel like tired. And then I just felt very kind of like my life was just not going anywhere because I was like, I'm working full time now and is this just what my life is going to be for the rest, for the rest of it? I come home and I'm just like, I want to watch TV.

• 14:03Speaker 02

  I feel like everybody asks themselves that question at a certain point. They're just like, is this it?

• 14:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was, I was like 20, whatever, 22 out of college and I was like,

• 14:11Speaker 02

  22 and you're already asking, is this it? Oh, no.

• 14:16Speaker 03

  I was like, yeah, I guess like for the next, what, 40 years? This is what like life is going to be like. So I was, I was having a hard time like getting myself to make the things, even though I wanted to. And so what I did to kind of make myself be more consistent about it is I started streaming on Twitch, just the actual creative like keycap process. And a lot of times I wasn't even making keycaps like for anyone specific or even for a sale. I was into Overwatch back then, so I started making all of the characters from Overwatch. I think I still have a lot of those keys that I, I just made the full cast of the Overwatch characters.

• 14:52Speaker 02

  A lot of keycaps.

• 14:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was a lot of keycaps, but it was a lot of like, I, I would do it while I'm streaming. So then I had, you know, company, you know, people would stop by and so like you'd chat with people. It helped me be really consistent because I would force myself to, you know, stream for a certain amount of hours. And I think that really helped me practice and helped me. Kind of get better at the actual keycap making. And then two, I think, even though I don't think my stream was, you know, super popular or anything, I think it did help me grow. And then I had to, not had to, but when you have a Twitch, you're like, okay, I also should be on other social media. So I was also on Instagram and Twitter. And it gave me other outlets to kind of share my work and to really, you know,

• 15:34Speaker 03

  post about what I was making. And so I think that helped grow my audience and also potential, I guess, clientele. And, and then from there, I think I started to get actual commissions and I would open up for, you know, like, hey, I can take a certain amount of commissions. And then people would request certain things and then I would kind of do commissions and I could also stream that as well. So I kind of like built on itself over time. But I did really kind of start out just making without the intention of like, I want to sell this. It was just like, I want to make these things because I think they're cool and I like them and I want to practice. And then eventually got to a point where I was like, okay, look, people are,

• 16:15Speaker 03

  people are interested. There's, there's a need for kind of custom keycaps in this space. That's how I, that's how I started out.

• 16:22Speaker 02

  I've heard this from multiple people, at least over a dozen, that have attributed their success in a creative field to getting on Twitch and being held accountable by their viewers to, to be consistent. As your community has grown, do you stream the same amount they used to? Do you stream more because now this is your full-time job? Do you find that your community is really supportive? Or is it more, has it more transitioned into a business and customers situation on Twitch? Where a lot of your viewers are sort of treated like a business relationship? As opposed to that sort of parasocial Twitch relationship that we see that's like very common?

• 17:05Speaker 03

  In the first, maybe two years of streaming, I was very, streaming a lot. I was very gung ho about like, I need, you know, I want to hit partner. I want to, you know, hit certain numbers or whatever it was. I would just, I put a lot, I would say like 80% of my effort and maybe 20% was still like he kept making, but of my efforts into streaming. And it was a really big thing for me to, to have that platform and that community and just that space. And I think you're right in, in that it really helped having that consistency. And I think a lot of people, when I look back and even just thinking about it now, I think what I do is not particularly hard. I would say like the actual craft. And I don't want to say that in a way where I'm like, oh, this is so easy.

• 17:47Speaker 03

  But like, I just, sometimes I'm like, yeah, I just did it for a long time and consistently. And consistency is key for a lot of people because I would say a lot of people also give up on, you know, on the way to doing something because you don't see results or you're not seeing whatever you're expecting. And it's hard to kind of be in those places when you don't feel like you have to hit some numbers or you feel like you're not growing as fast as other people or whatever it is. It's sometimes really tough to stay in, you know, that mindset and to keep doing things. So in the beginning, I would say streaming was my very, kind of I put all my effort into. And then over time, I would say, especially since I kind of discovered short-term video

• 18:28Speaker 03

  content was for me and my style and maybe just my own personal like expression. I thought that short video content really suited the way that I like to share my art. Most of my TikToks of my art are very quick, maybe like 15 to 20 seconds, like not time lapses, but short kind of parts of me making things and then you see the final product. Sometimes that takes like hours to do and you get to see 15 seconds of it completed really quickly. I just thought that was like easier for people to digest, obviously. And I got into TikTok right before the lockdown and everything happened before. I think TikTok blew up. And when I got on the platform, I was like, this is, this is great.

• 19:10Speaker 03

  I don't have to, streaming is fun, but it's also, you know, you're, you're sitting through hour, like you have to prep for it. There's hours of it and then afterwards you're really tired. But at least for these videos, I could post it and just like leave it there. I don't have to, there's nothing I have to do once I'm done with it. After I started doing more short form like video content, I just took a backseat from streaming and I don't stream as often now. I would say like a couple of times a month, maybe. I really still do enjoy the community and kind of just the people that I've basically hung out with for the last like couple of years and people who were there when I wasn't, you know, whatever influencer or content creator. I think I really value just those connections that I've made in the past.

• 19:52Speaker 03

  And it's like, kind of just like seeing friends from time to time when I, when I stream now. So it's not something that I use particularly to like grow anything, I guess, at this point. It's more of a, hey, I want to hang out with the community. Kind of just want to relax and like do something, but you know, it's just there to kind of like relax and catch up and not use it as a, this is my thing. This is what makes me money. This is like, you know, and I think it was like that in the beginning where I felt like, oh, I want to be, you know, a really big streamer and make lots of money or whatever it is. And for me, I just kind of felt like, yeah, I, I don't know if I'll ever reach that point. And, and maybe I don't want to, because I feel like when it gets big, it's hard to have like close community and I really value that aspect of it.

• 20:39Speaker 02

  All right, we're going to take one more break and then I'll chat with Tiny about the challenges of making her keycaps and the accessories she's making for them.

• 20:52Speaker 05

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• 21:32Speaker 02

  Okay, I'm back with Tiny.

• 21:37Speaker 02

  I am curious about the most complicated keycap that you've ever made and how long it took for you to make.

• 21:44Speaker 03

  So that question is sort of difficult to answer in a sense that sometimes I take like days, weeks, months, or whatever to kind of prototype a keycap. And that's a lot of design. And then you like sand things down, you maybe cast it to see what it would look like. And then you kind of go back to the drawing board. If something doesn't go back, you can sand things off and remake it. So that's hard because it's technically, it is one keycap, but then, once you've finished like the master, the initial key, you can make like tons of it after. So sometimes just things take a lot of like reiteration, just based on the design. I'm generally a more fast-paced designer, kind of like less intricate, but more like more designs.

• 22:29Speaker 03

  Like I've made a lot of different designs. I kind of just, you know, hammer them out just to kind of get something on the table. I think it's just like my style of doing things. One of the designs, I'm just gonna name one that I don't know if it is the most difficult one, but it's a little panda, and I have it here, but...

• 22:45Speaker 02

  For anyone listening, it's an extremely cute panda keycap, and I'm sure you can see it on your Instagram.

• 22:54Speaker 03

  It is on my Instagram. The thing that this makes this hard, though, and what maybe people don't really recognize from the get-go is that when you make a keycap like this, which has multiple mini black and white kind of like layers, the keycap is actually made upside down. And what I mean by that is the mold is, it's casted upside down before, in this mold. Basically, it's poured into a mold, and so it's a liquid, and you have to fill up this liquid in order...

• 23:25Speaker 02

  It's like a Jell-O mold.

• 23:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  So you have a clear Jell-O mold, you pour in, if you're making different color layers, you have to like pour in a layer, let it set, pour in a new layer, let it set.

• 23:34Speaker 03

  Exactly. That is a great way to explain it. And so... You have to think about like his eyes and his ears. Those are all like black and those are not like a whole layer. Those are like, you have to take like a needle, basically something very tiny. And I'm just tapping it into the resin and like dripping it as carefully as I can into these areas. So this is like maybe six shots, what we call. So I have to do the, the eyes and the ears and the nose and that's, they're all black. The next layer is white, which is his like face. So that's another layer and then you do his arms. And then you have to do his like toe pads, which are white. And then you have to do his legs, which are black. And then the last layer is the white. So it's like, I think that's six.

• 24:15Speaker 03

  And any part that you get wrong in the middle, you just, the cap is, I just, I don't usually sell like the, what I call B stock or something that's like slightly, if, if there's bubbles or whatever, if you mess up and the lines aren't clean. So it's just frustrating because if you mess up in the middle, you're like, crap, I gotta go back and redo it again. And can't really like undo the layers. You can't go back, you just start over again. So this is more just like a complicated process one, not very like, I wouldn't say like the details are super intricate. It's just the process was tiring and, and I didn't get a lot of like, the yield wise was very low. The successful pandas that came out of this.

• 24:55Speaker 02

  So when you are making keycaps, you also have what I have deemed accessories for your keycaps. You have, which I find extremely adorable, but also very clever. For example, you have these kind of little kirbys with open mouths. And then you have for a shift key, for example, you've got a, a piece of corn, like an ear of corn that you can drop onto the top of that and remove if so desired. I would love to hear about how that came about. Your work was the first time I had ever seen accessories for custom keycaps or removable parts for custom keycaps. And I'd love to know sort of how that experimentation kind of came about.

• 25:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think when I think about keycaps and the design of it, a lot of what I think about is, how do I make this fun and kind of like a toy? And I think maybe not the only source of inspiration, but I was really into hats when I was playing TF2, Team Fortress 2, it's a shooter game, but there was this whole economy that had to do with like literal hats in the game. And I think all the time I'm just thinking about keycaps, I don't know, just like ideas come and go. So I was like, would it be, it wouldn't be cool if you had a keycap to head, you know, like hats or something that you could just swap around and give it like things that it could take off or put on.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  I didn't end up doing something specifically like hats for Kirby, but I think it was just the idea of like either modularity, I always think that's kind of a cool concept of like being able to swap things out with other things or like move things around. For keyboards even, there's actually keyboards that have like numpads that are modular, which I think is a really cool idea. But I just think about in general, when I think about design, I'm always just trying to think of like, what other things can we do with keycaps? And it's hard because it's such a small space, you obviously have like restrictions about what you can really do in a certain space.

• 26:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, you have, there's a few of them, got a few accessories for the little Kirby.

• 26:56Speaker 03

  I think the first ones came as tongues, and I think maybe it even came out during a stream, which I feel like I, there was one time when I was just making different things for Kirby's face, but it wasn't like magnetic yet. I think I was just adding like teeth, which makes Kirby look very weird, or like glasses and yeah, just kind of facial accessories. And I think maybe it came up to me or to think about like, oh, maybe if he did have a magnet in his mouth, it could be a magnetic accessory that you could pop in and out. And then it also wouldn't be as haphazard.

• 27:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, it snaps on, just snaps right on.

• 27:33Speaker 03

  Exactly. And if it comes off, it's, that's part of the design, right? Like it doesn't, you don't need to, for it to be bonded in that position. And I think it might be dangerous if there was actually like a tongue coming out or something like skinny like that. So yeah, I think I, I think I had that idea and I was like, oh, let me. Play around with that. I think I thought about magnet keycaps long ago, but I just didn't really. One, it's hard to like mass produce at a scale and I thought it would be fun to have it in between like different artists, to have some sort of like base or standard magnet. So like if I make accessories and someone else makes accessories, but we use the like different polarity, then they won't work with each other. But my original idea was like, what if there was a standard and we had all these little accessories?

• 28:17Speaker 03

  And not just it being like, you know, a tongue specifically, but like, you know, Kirby could eat anything. So if you had like another keycap that maybe did have hats, Kirby could eat hats. I don't know. You know, like it could be something that you could swap among your, your keycaps. And you could even, you know, standardize it if you did want to say like, oh, maybe food things. And then we all release like our own food things for our own keycaps. But then you can swap it among different makers and different, you know, kind of themes or, or whatever. And then anybody could make little magnetic things because you could buy one of these and just make your own accessories. And it would be really easy. And I think like sharing that and having that in a space. So something that I was really excited about. Um, I actually have not ever actually released a magnetic Kirby like to sell.

• 29:01Speaker 03

  Like I don't think I've ever sold them. I just made them and I just throw them on myself. But yeah, that was the original idea and kind of how I wanted this to go and wanted people to kind of experience this and have, yeah, just like cool things that you can throw on your keyboard, uh, keycaps at any time.

• 29:17Speaker 02

  That's so fun. And, and I encourage everybody to go look at your Instagram page because there are some very delightful videos there of examples of all of this that we're talking about. It's, it helps put a visual to the description, I'm sure. I think my very last question for you is, I would love to hear your advice to anybody who sees your work or the work of another custom keycap creator or mechanical keyboard enthusiast and wants to get into this either as a hobby or a line of work to go into business for themselves. I think you have a lot of experience here that is very valuable that you could share. And if you have any advice for those people who feel inspired, what would it be?

• 29:59Speaker 03

  For people who just want to get a keyboard and to learn more about it, we have these, not we, but the community as a whole has these meetups. They're just called keyboard meetups. And people just bring their own keyboards and we're just usually in one big space. And you just talk to people about keyboards for like hours. It is probably one of the best ways to really get a good, deep dive into keyboards. If you want to spend the least amount of time like studying or learning or researching about it, it's really easy to go into one of these places. And I want to say that they're beginner or like friendly to people who are into the hobby. Obviously, if you're there, it's likely that you are already in the hobby.

• 30:44Speaker 03

  But everyone is really psyched to talk about keyboards. Like you could probably go up to anybody and be like, hey, can you, you know, I'm new to this. Can you explain to me about keyboards? And I would say like a good amount of the people there would happily talk their ears off about keyboards for the entire time. It's a great place to just see a very wide variety of everything. And I'm going to make, take this chance to plug in. If you are local to the Bay Area in Northern California, I actually opened up a keyboard shop in downtown San Jose. You can just search Tiny Keyboard Shop. And it is literally a tiny keyboard shop. But if you're new to the hobby and would just like to learn and you don't want to go to a meetup, you can go there and kind of experience keyboards.

• 31:27Speaker 03

  And we'll happily explain to you everything you want to know about keyboards. And you can also walk away with a keyboard if you would like to, or and/or any of the accessories that are related to keyboards.

• 31:49Speaker 02

  Thanks again to Tiny for sitting down and talking to me in this interview. Alex, I just want to know how many mechanical keyboards you've purchased in the time between the start of this interview and now.

• 32:03Alex Cranz?

  I don't think I'm allowed to respond to that legally. I have to consult with my lawyers. Are you gonna go get one?

• 32:08Speaker 02

  I think I have to, right? Now I think I've got to. After talking to Tiny, I'm really excited about it. I want to learn more about the community. And from what I have seen, a lot of people are just super welcoming in places like the subreddits and other groups that you can find online, Discords, things like that. People have just been really welcoming and they want to help you be an enthusiast. So it's really, it's a great community.

• 32:30Alex Cranz?

  It is a great community. I 100% recommend going to like a meetup because everybody brings their keyboards and the thing that everybody wants you to do is like type on their keyboards.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  I think that sounds like a great idea. And I'm sure, being in Los Angeles, I'm sure there are lots of meetups.

• 32:44Alex Cranz?

  I think you will have no problem finding a meetup. All right. Well, thank you again so much, Ashley. We've got one more episode of our Solo X mini-series. What are you gonna be talking about?

• 32:56Speaker 02

  I am very excited to say that I will be talking to the solo app developer responsible for Overcast, which is my personal favorite podcasting app. It is the one I use. And he didn't pay me to say that. Marco Arment is gonna talk to me about being a solo app developer and his journey into that arena and also the time he has spent in the space. And he's been there since pretty much the beginning of the App Store. So it was a really, it's a really good conversation.

• 33:27Alex Cranz?

  Oh, my God. I cannot wait to listen. Well, thank you again, Ashley. That's kind of it. This show is produced by Andrew Marino and Liam James. Brooke Menters is our editorial director of audio. And The Vergecast is a Verge production and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. If you've got thoughts, feedback, feelings, you can always email [email protected] or you can call the hotline. It's 866-VERGE11. Again, 866-VERGE11. Call us with any of your questions. We love to hear them. And we're gonna be back again on Wednesday with an all new episode of The Vergecast. So see you then. Stay classy.

• 34:14Speaker 06

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