Dice, Dice, Baby (a thread about collecting, making, rolling)

[Dr_Dave]

Maybe my search-fu was failing me, but I couldn't find a thread specifically about DICE. Seems about time for one!

 

Does anyone have a grand and pretty collection to share? Any favourites? Anyone into making dice?

 

I currently play no regular games, but I've always been obsessed with these tiny geometric oddities. So, in the midst of the lockdown, I decided to learn how to make them.

 

Like any craft, it has turned out to be a real money-sponge, especially since I've got serious about quality. Big purchases have included a 3D printer, a pressure pot and compressor, abd so many fancy "nail art" decorations that my Amazon recommendations are a real mess at the moment... But I've finally started to get some good results. Here are a few sets:

 

 

This one was the first complete set. Made with clear resin to test the moulds and inked blue because it reminds me of Foxes Glacier Mints.

 

 

This set was the first time I tried to get a specific effect - in this case, I wanted blood splattered white marble. It kind of worked, though the "blood" is a bit more pooled than it is splatty. Still like them though.

 

 

I was going for something a bit classier for this set. I love the gold effect inside. It's the kind of set a highborn cleric might use.

 

 

Finally, this set, which is basically unusable due to the black-on-almost-black inking, but I love the look of it. It was intended to evoke a burning city, the air tinged red with dragonfire, dancing with motes of ash and flame etc. etc. I guess it kind of does!

[And]

Those are really cool. How do you emboss in the numbers? In fact - just how?

[therearerules]

Oh man, quick question- how long does it take, and how much does it cost to make per dice? I know how much I spent on prototype dice, and I'd rather have given that to a forumite. Additionally, I get asked occasionally where people can get prototype dice in the UK from. Not that you're a business, but I'm amazed that it's something that can be done 'in house' to that level essentially.

[Dr_Dave]

1 hour ago, And said:

Those are really cool. How do you emboss in the numbers? In fact - just how?

 

It depends on how involved you want the process to be. At its easiest, it is:

 

1) Buy some moulds on Amazon and some resin (and whatever you want to use to colour them)

2) Mix and pour the resin into the moulds.

3) Wait.

4) Remove and polish.

 

Inking the numbers is a case of painting over the numbers roughly, then wiping off the excess with your finger. Works well.

 

This will give you results, but not very satisfactory ones. The resin will likely cure with air bubbles, so you won't get perfectly clear dice, and you won't have much control over look and shape.

 

The full version is more like:

 

1) Design master dice in cad software.

2) 3d print.

3) Sand and polish to a high standard.

4) Use the masters with silicone to make your own moulds.

5) Repeat steps in the quick process but use a pressure pot to cure air bubbles.

 

Then take lots of Instagram photos! 😀

 

I'm out and about tonight but I'll post some process photos tomorrow if you're interested.

[Spatial]

Amazing dice - those marble and the red ones are lovely.

 

I love me some clicky-clacky rocks. This a crap photo of my current temp dice jar (till I can find something more decorative that I like).

 

 

There's a load others, but they're just in storage in plastic bags at the moment.

 

Then I have my Elder Dice which satisfy my cosmic horror urges (this is an old pic, there's more now!)

 

 

And then there's my rag tag assortment from loads of old games. I think there's some Advanced Heroquest dice in there, a lot of chunky old style Games Workshop dice and the real shabby looking in the bottom right are actually from my brother's days of playing 1st edition D&D so they're a bit older than me!

 

 

 

 

[moosegrinder]

I see shit like this on TikTok and it's roper ASMR loveliness. Very nice.

[Dr_Dave]

A couple of new sets from the pot this week...

 

 

This set (which is the grey dice - I only included the pink one to show that it wasn't a photo with a b/w filter applied!) was intended to be something different. But the resin gods weren't smiling on me and some of the white mixative ended up clumping and settling on the bottom of the moulds. I was going to bin them, but ended up not since they kind of remind me of a cold, bleak, winter night, driving snow and little hope of salvation.

 

 

I also love the traditional D4 in this set... it alone had the exact grey marbled effect I was going for! Might have to revist this later with a different mixative.

 

 

This one was a test set for some new micro-fine glitter I picked up. In a certain light, they shimmer all kinds of colours, but it's really difficult to catch on camera.

[Kzo]

I don't really know what to say about this but I came across it on reddit and felt the need to share

[Spatial]

Jesus Christ! 

[Dr_Dave]

Oh god, they're amazing! I wonder if they're using real beans or a resin facsimile? If real beans, how do they affect the resin cure? So many questions...

 

On the subject of food-based dice, I just finished this set:

 

 

It's a dice set with tiny hot dogs inside! Supposed to be a tribute to the "Epoxy Hot Dog" from reddit, which I find more than mildly compelling. And I spent way too long on them, including time taken to model the tiny hot dogs, print and paint them. Here's the results of the modelling, on a banana for scale:

 

[jonamok]

Just bumping this wonderful thread, which I’ve only just spotted.
 

Firstly, those are incredible dice @Dr_Dave. Bravo.

 

Also, having been rolling the polyhedra for 35 years, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a none tetrahedral D4. Weird.

[Dr_Dave]

I've been quiet recently as I've spent the last few months on an ill-advised project to make dice sets to give to friends for Christmas. This was way more work than I thought it would be, and required lots of repours to get to where I wanted to be. Well, I'm done now and taking the rest of the year off! 

 

Anyway, here's the dice (apologies for all the images).

 

This is a set for a pal who has a weird obsession with weather and a general sunny disposition. I wanted a set that looked like a sunny day:

 

 

This set is for a friend who is obsessed with the colour orange. I tried to include as much orange as I could. And some oranges:

 

 

This set is for a friend who is into Synthwave:

 

 

This is a set for a Green Bay Packers fan. The colour matching was the real struggle here! Lots of "not quite right" attempts:

 

 

Next, a set for a friend who is mechanically minded, always up to his elbows in car guts:

 

 

Finally, and my favourite set of all, a set for a geologist. I was going for a kind of lava feel here:

 

 

So, basically, if you know me in real life, you're getting dice for Christmas. Even if you don't play DnD. Dice for all!

 

 

Oh, and the Christmas tree got a new bauble. Merry Dicemas, everybody!

 

[revlob]

You're a wonderful friend, @Dr_Dave

 

Those are fantastic, well done!

[Dr_Dave]

We also did the "Great British Ghost Hunt 2021" back around Halloween, in which crafty folks made ghost related things and left them around the place for kids to find. Great fun! My contribution was these glow in the dark oversized d20 ghost dice.

 

 

 

Rather than leave large chunks of resin around for dogs and badgers to swallow, we ended up giving them away on Instagram to nerdy crafters.

[jonamok]

I wish Dr Dave was my friend lol. They are all absolutely superb. The orange and cog ones are particularly ridiculous.

[Kzo]

On 28/11/2021 at 08:51, Dr_Dave said:

ISo, basically, if you know me in real life, you're getting dice for Christmas. Even if you don't play DnD. Dice for all!

 

 

 

 

Hey its me ur friend

[Dr_Dave]

Some finished sets to start off the year...

 

 

The prompt for this set was "cosy", so I tried to create some dice in autumnal colours. Quite happy with how they turned out. They also got a cosy crocheted dice bag!

 

 

A Valentine's Day set:

 

 

Finally, a set made as a gift for my old Quake 2 clan (who haven't played games seriously for about 20 years, but still hang around in Slack and natter the day away):

 

[Kzo]

Those are really awesome 😍

[ScouserInExile]

How does one go about making these dice? Are they moulded or are they 3D printed or what? 

[Dr_Dave]

25 minutes ago, ScouserInExile said:

How does one go about making these dice? Are they moulded or are they 3D printed or what? 

 

Both of those, if you're going full end to end.

 

Basically, you start with some 3D printed "Master" dice (don't have to be 3D printed, you could use an existing set). Here's some that I did last year:

 

 

The fin supports are to ensure that the dice edges print perfectly straight.

 

You then spend a lot of time sanding and polishing these dice so that they're as shiny as you can get them, then you make silicone moulds from them. Here I'm making individual moulds:

 

 

This particular type of mould is called a "cap mould", where you pour the silicone in two halves. First with the dice flat on the bottom, then again to complete the mould with the first half flipped upside down. Here's a multi-dice slab mould ready to pour the second half:

 

 

When you separate the halves and pop out the dice, you're left with perfect imprints of all the faces. The pink bits here are blobs of plasticine that I use to form "registration keys" to ensure that the two halves align properly - basically, you dig out the plasticine before pouring the second half, so that the negative space is captured in the other half and the two bits lock together. 

 

When you have your moulds, you can then make dice! This is done by pouring coloured resin into the mould and putting it into a pressure pot at about 40psi for 24 hours. Finally, you pop them out and give them a sand and polish, then ink them by basically covering a face in paint then wiping off the excess with your finger.

 

Then you're done!

 

[ScouserInExile]

This is going to sound really sarcastic, but that's fascinating. 

 

Do you sell them or is it just a bit of a hobby? 

[Dr_Dave]

15 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

This is going to sound really sarcastic, but that's fascinating. 

 

Do you sell them or is it just a bit of a hobby? 

 

Hobby at the moment. I've mostly been making them for gifts. I'd like to start selling them on Etsy or somewhere eventually... if just to reduce the amount of sets of dice we have cluttering up the house at the moment

[jonnyalpha]

2 hours ago, Dr_Dave said:

 

Hobby at the moment. I've mostly been making them for gifts. I'd like to start selling them on Etsy or somewhere eventually... if just to reduce the amount of sets of dice we have cluttering up the house at the moment

Can we all have first dibs? They look amazing and I'd like to buy my stepson a set of quality dice. 

[moosegrinder]

On 03/03/2022 at 17:48, ScouserInExile said:

This is going to sound really sarcastic, but that's fascinating. 

 

Do you sell them or is it just a bit of a hobby? 

 

No, I was going to say the same thing. People making shit and how they go about it fascinates me.

[Dr_Dave]

A winter themed set.

 

 

[moosegrinder]

Ooooooh, minty.

[jonnyalpha]

They look amazing. 

[Dr_Dave]

Another week, another set. 

 

I'm trying to get into the habit of completing a full set each week, but sometimes it's difficult to come up with new ideas. So on weeks where I can't think of anything, I just redo the last set with different colours. This week I used the same technique as with the ice set from last week, but with darker colours (a hint of violet and lots of black). The result is a lot more menacing.

 

 

I love the set, mostly, but the lower sided dice look a lot better than the higher dice. The more sides, the less black is needed, otherwise it tends to overwhelm and you lose the effect. They tend to look good up close, but inky black from a distance.

 

 

[moosegrinder]

Yeah that's really nice.

[Dr_Dave]

Covid knocked me off my game for a few weeks, but I'm back on the dice train with this fiery set.