valraev

[valraev]

Growing Pains and Learning Lessons

I failed my first set of dice.

I've heard of people dusting the inside of the mould with gold flakes or mica powder, and I've done a reverse petri effect by dropping a single drop of alcohol into the mould before pouring, so I thought I could paint the inside with acrylic paint and get a cool effect too. My acrylic paint is the Arteza pouring paint, so it's very liquid and made a cool effect inside the mould too, which seemed exciting.

When I pulled the set this morning, they looked like Swiss cheese, with the bottom numbers half eaten away by the undried acrylic paint. I don't know if having let it dry a little first would have helped, but I doubt it; it might just have stuck to the inside of the mould.

So here's my lesson of the day: don't coat the inside of your moulds with acrylic.

Oh, and another thing I think I've finally learned is: the Jacquard Piñata alcohol inks are extremely saturated, and more than you think. If you're looking for more desaturated colours, that's something to take into consideration.

[valraev]

My second set of dice give me Loki vibes, my father-in-law his dragonlance high lord vibes, and my friend perfect druid vibes. My first set sold the day after I pulled them (yesterday), and there are already people asking me to sell these ones. What a day.

I don't remember exactly what started me off on this journey. It was probably an Instagram post. A realisation that I could make beautiful things myself. That I would rather pay for the materials to make my own visions come to life than pay other people for my addiction.

But I can tell you what resources I started using.

First, I found a bunch of dice-makers on Instagram and saved the ones I loved in their own folder so I could easily find them later.

Then I started watching YouTube videos. Some of my favourites are made by Dreamy Dice, who taught me how to make the kind of moulds I use, the vented squish moulds. Rybonator is an incredible fount of knowledge and isn't afraid to experiment in his videos to show off the things that can go wrong. Wisdom Check Creations has a wonderful video showing off the polishing process. Those are my go-tos, but there are plenty of individual videos showing off the different techniques people use, and if you like the final look of a die in the thumbnail, odds are it would be a great instructional video.

Finally, I went on Reddit. It has the Discord pinned, which was one of the first things I clicked, and wow, what a change that made for me. Knowledge-sharing and a place to ask all the questions you have (and trust me, there will be many, and they will seem silly, but we've all been there or are still there -- you never stop learning) is priceless. They also have quick overviews of different processes pinned in the resources channel.

So if you're considering starting out, those are my main sources of information. I'll go into detail with what materials you need to get started in the next post and how I decided what I wanted.

[valraev]

Yesterday, I pulled my first ever set of dice. I'm not sure this is where this blog should start, but it is.

In November 2022, I somehow realised that I could make my own dice. It became an instant fixation: I would watch youtube videos, create long lists of materials I needed, canvas masters makers. I thought I knew so much.

And in July 2023, I finally decided it was about time. Gearing up to starting this hobby, I joined the Reddit Dice-Making Discord server and promptly learned how little I knew. And I am still learning every day.

From trying to make sense of all the names for moulds (sprue, cap, squish, vented, slab etc.) to hyperventilating in the garage when testing out my air compressor and pressure pot for the first time because I knew all the ways it could go wrong, it has been an incredible journey, and I want to share it.

In case there's anyone out there who's going to go through the same questions and struggles I did. In case there's someone out there who wants a frame of reference for how they do or don't want to do it. In case there's people who really enjoy going through a learning process vicariously.

This is my blog to document my process of becoming a resin dice-maker. It'll be ugly at times, but it'll always be honest. Everything I do is still in the ugly phase while I learn how to make my visions come true.

Hopefully, it educates, entertains, and helps.