Zen Pond III - Cherry Circle of Life artisan keycaps

Zen Pond III – Cherry Circle of Life artisan keycaps

In the previous chapters of Zen Pond in Eden, we’ve learned the very basics about Koi in the Eden world, their origin, and how they can reincarnate from carps, only to be born again in the form of Koi fish…

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Designs : Goshiki Ruby
Keycaps : 6.25u Cherry Spacebar
Clear Selection
Koi Fish Keycaps 1

In the previous chapters of Zen Pond in Eden, we’ve learned the very basics about Koi in the Eden world, their origin, and how they can reincarnate from carps, only to be born again in the form of Koi fish. They are seen as a symbol of the dragons’ calm after they finally gain a life purpose and quietly serve their lord. This mostly relates to the Zen status in the human mind when we look for peace and harmony in life.

eden is here to stay

All of that, is the Eastern myth. Here in the Eden world, things are a bit different. Or to be more exact, things just don’t stop there. As an extraordinarily divine creature in this magical world, Koi fishes can’t opt-out from being transformed into something even greater than they have already been. But the process only happens when these Koi reach 1000 years of age, a long enough time for them to fully grow and thrive on their body, soul, and mind. So when the time comes, a millennium has passed, Koi fishes are destined to be reborn into dragons with the supreme power to guard Eden in many essential ways. This is the true gist of Koi’s reincarnation into dragons living all together in a heavenly world.

two…is better than one

With that kind of power, there’s no denying that it will require an extensively large course of challenges for the Kois to take as a test of their potentiality. They have to prove whether they have what it takes to guard the Eden world in the name of mighty dragons, not under Koi fish anymore. But the quintessence here lies in the fact that these evolved creatures still possess the very powerful characteristics of perseverance in adversity and strength of purpose – traits that can only be found in Koi living in the Eden world.

we have 12 sizes in this collection

  • 1u – Cherry profile R4
  • 1.5u – Cherry profile R3 – “Tab” & “\
  • 1.75u – Cherry profile R2 – “Capslock
  • 2u – Cherry profile R4 – “Backspace
  • 2.25u – Cherry profile R2 – “Enter
  • 2.25u – Cherry profile R1 – ” Left Shift
  • 2.75u – Cherry profile R1 – “Right shift
  • 3u – Cherry “Spacebar” for “Filco Minila
  • 3u – SA profile “Spacebar” for “Filco Minila
  • 6.25u – Cherry “Spacebar
  • 6.5u – Cherry “Spacebar” for “Corsair
  • 7u – Cherry “Spacebar
Koi Fish Keycaps 6

challenges accepted

Last time we’ve learned that if a carp can swim upstream in the Yellow River and successfully make the jump through the falls at Dragon Gate, it would be transformed into a dragon. This river is indeed very swift. The waterfalls gate is also unquestionably high to make it more difficult for the carps. But when it comes to this ultimate reincarnation cycle, the challenges are much more wickedly dangerous, blended with hundreds of complicated traps along the way. The Dragon Gate this time is made from all the Zen energy in the Eden world, which means every single element needed for Eden’s vitality is a part of the gate: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. One just can’t simply swim through this gate, as it takes incredible wit and persistence to conquer the challenges representing each element and its most dominant nature.

rewards open at the close

However, the journey is worth it. Every step of the way. All the efforts will pay off, and rewards will come to those who genuinely deserve it. With such wildering challenges, very few Kois can make it over the Gate. But once they do, they will be turned into extraordinarily vigorous and gigantic dragons, more magically, spirited with Koi’s nature. Altogether, they own a blissful ability to protect and watch over Eden to keep it a united and prosperous world: fetch water to eradicate drought and provide vital sources to bring back life; swing their colossal tails to stabilize the weather, harmonizing the rains and winds; or chase away potential intruders so all creatures on Eden can have a peaceful world to live in.

…to a circle of life

As you can see, this circle of life has just repeated itself, but the changes are monumental. These 1000-year-old Kois have turned into more supreme living souls, born of unimagined magical power and also extraordinary responsibility that comes with it. All that’s left to say now is, Eden is more fulfilled than ever.

a side note about zen pond series to Jelly Key fans

eden effect – a totem to Jelly Key’s creation

Jelly Key explicitly prides on being the first keycap maker ever to create the Eden effect, after months of exploring and researching new effects bearing our own impression. Looking back, the team had made completely worthwhile efforts with the Eden effect being born, an important milestone for many of our keycap generations.

We have to say the Zen Pond series has received a fantastic reaction with love and support from all of you regarding the new launch this time. When the idea is here, and the resources are there, it’s time for us to put them together and roll the next version of this iconic series.

The Zen Pond III keycaps will be the largest collection ever with the most sizes and colored variants! We’ve created a total of 45 keycaps with 5 different colorways for you to choose from. More importantly, there are 9 sizes in this collection, all of which are the highest record we’ve ever made for a keycap series.

Speaking of sizes, to save the best for last, we are now telling you that this is also the first time in forever that we have created all Cherry profile sizes in one collection! How cool is that! Flashback to the last keycap collection – 8-bit series, we couldn’t forget that it’s the first time we tried to create a Cherry profile spacebar. Can you imagine it? After 5 years in the industry. That’s half a decade. It took us that long to think about and make the idea of a spacebar in Cherry profile come true.

Now you’ll have the chance to experience all shades of Koi wandering in the Zen Pond of the magical Eden world. So why the wait? Grab your own Koi now!

Koi Fish Keycaps 7

how we bring the keycaps into being: eden effect and zen pond III

Once again, Jelly Key is extremely gratified to take pride in being the first group of artisans to bring the Eden effect into keycaps. We have to say it’s been very encouraging for us to have received so much love and support from all of our treasured customers for this particular effect. This takes us back to the early days of 2018, the beginning of Jelly Key’s journey to discover a new effect that could represent our unique expression theme. 

Eden effect did not just happen overnight. It’s a dozen months’ worth of researching and exploring of the whole Jelly Key team with artisanship expertise and unwavering determination. Our team spent a lot of time producing the harmonious effects and colors on each keycap, but still guaranteeing the same shade. Each keycap would have a unique effect and imprint not to repeat on any other keycaps. The color rays that you can see on a finished product are a process of trial and error through different deposition times, awaiting temperatures, and color fusion. Well, old sayings are never wrong; hard work did pay off. The Eden effect was born, and that’s all we ever needed to achieve and bring to you the signature effect originally created by Jelly Key.

Fast forward to several months later, in August 2018, we introduced to the world the first handcrafting keycap collection delicately embedded with the Eden effect. It took the name of Zen Pond with a spiritual theme centralizing Koi fish – an iconic Japanese fish variety. We have been making the Zen Pond collection for quite a long time now, greatly inspired by Koi fish’s symbol of luck, prosperity, and good fortune; to be later transformed into Zen Pond keycaps under the meaning to bring peace and harmony in mind to whoever person that owns it. Creating such a collection with both magical Eden effect and beautiful living jewels like Koi fish is truly a phenomenal work of Jelly Key. The theme acted as a strong base for us to continue creating the next generations of this series, giving birth to Zen Pond spacebar/enter/shift artisan keycaps, Zen Pond II – A Story of Everything, and now, the latest collection – Zen Pond III: Cherry Circle of Life. Now, let’s find out how we made these cute little babies!

how small is it?

In this Zen Pond III collection, we created 6 different positions of Koi fish, dividing into 3 sizes of 6mm, 7.5mm, and 9mm. Don’t be concerned by this tiny scale because you can still recognize very lively details inside the keycaps just under the size of a pinkie tip. In particular, the Koi fins are especially highlighted on their bodies to make it most visible and animated, no matter their size. You’ll be able to see ultra-cute Koi fishies in a rounded shape with a unique chibi style!

coloring the kois – tough work!

Moving on to color and effect formation, again, it takes the Pouring Art of mixing alcohol ink with resin to produce this magical series. It conveys abstract and random aspects of expression. The reaction of alcohol ink in resin brings a hypothetical effect occasionally used in interior design for some specific purposes. Its elegant fluids play a crucial role in raising the power of imagination. In the collection, we applied 3 to 5 layers of paint for each keycap so the colors can have a certain thickness and be clearer to our eyes. More importantly, these color tones are entirely based on real Koi fish to increase their authenticity.

This is also the hardest thing we faced during the production of Zen Pond III. Koi fish molds in the collection are much smaller than the previous series of Zen Pond I and II, so it’s very challenging to paint the fishes and keep them spirited as much as possible. Not to mention that we also made Cherry profiles for the whole keycaps, which induced another difficulty in detail layout as the space in this profile is typically short.

One last important thing to note is that the Jelly Key team always tries to produce keycaps with authenticity as much as we can. This also means it is not possible to guarantee our designs’ color fluids will look exactly the same as shown in pictures on our website. More excitingly, however, each keycap will have its own unique and distinct fluid effect, so the only common thing they share is the color option. No single keycap will bear a similar look to any other ones with their signature color ray imprint.

bekko orchid

ghost asagi

infomation

specs

  • MX stem
  • Design and Handcrafted by Jelly Key

group-buy information

  • Open time: 9/15/2020
  • Close time: 9/21/2020
  • Starting to Deliver after Groupbuy: 90-100 days
  • We could close the GB sooner than expected. So take your chance as soon as you can.

what is in the box?

  • 1 Zen pond III  artisan keycaps by Jelly Key.
  • 01 Medal dog-tag with engraved unique series.
  • 01 Wooden box.
  • A unique serial number is at the bottom of the keycap as well.

sidenote

  • The keycap was made entirely by hand and tool. The final product may vary from the original photos but at acceptable aspect. We would love to ask you to tolerate any reasonable differents.
  • With each artisan keycap from Jelly Key, we offer you a one-on-one replacement if there is a fault that causes by our artisan team. Feel free to contact us.

goshiki ruby

doitsu arctic

ochiba emerald

Weight N/A
Designs

Ochiba Emerald, Bekko Orchid, Ghost Asagi, Doitsu Arctic, Goshiki Ruby, All designs

Keycaps

1u (Cherry R4), 1.5u (Cherry R3), 1.75u (Cherry R2), 2u (Cherry R4), 2.25u (Cherry R2), 2.25u (Cherry R1), 2.75u (Cherry R1), 3u (Cherry Spacebar), 6.25u (Cherry Spacebar), 6.5u (Cherry Spacebar), 7u (Cherry Spacebar), 3u (SA Spacebar), All sizes

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