Clacksmith

My youngest wanted to make dice as a yule gift. We got the dual effect by using geode inserts for the clear with red swirls and then filled the opening with a translucent light blue.

This was then cast in a clear shell and the numbers done in silver.

I'm no dummy. I made them do all the painting, sanding, and polishing.

Rule #1. PPE. Every time. Always. Even if you're just moving the chemicals, you're touching them and need PPE.

I was reorganizing my resin dyes and one of the bottles (Ultramarine Blue) had cracked on a seam due to age.

This picture is after multiple attempts at cleaning it off. Thankfully, it was just dye and not something worse.

Made these for a friend. I've already been asked for two more sets.

A small kickstarter campaign reached out to me and ordered 20 sets of rpg dice and 100 custom d6. I’ve been working on this for a while now and they are almost ready to bag and ship.

Technically, these are the second set I've done like this. I forgot to take pictures of the first set due to a time crunch.

To make these, I fill my blank insert molds about halfway with clear resin. I then fill them as much as possible with cherry wood curls/shavings. I let them sit a few minutes before topping off with more resin and try to cram some more wood into the mold.

I had attempted this with redwood shavings, but lighter woods are almost transparent once the resin goes into the pressure pot.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/52934932

I know WHAT it is, but I dont know why it exists, what use it has, or where it may have come from. All sides are identical, its translucent green. The pips are scalloped, not painted on, and are otherwise unremarkable. Help me out here, its definitely my favorite d6, but I am struggling to figure out a purpose for a +5 dice.

...I mean, aside from that I need a +5 weapon, clearly.

I had offered glittery red, but they passed on it.

Just pulled these out of the pot and awaiting full cure before I can polish.

I am thinking of doing glittery red high values.

Finally got back into the swing of things after a busy busy busy few months. These are just neon orange and slightly transparent.

I’m also working on a set that will include coal taken from Centralia Pennsylvania, the town that inspired Silent Hill. I recently had an opportunity to visit and there were bits of coal all over the place and there are still places where hot air is being vented from the coal fires deep underground. I’ll post them in a few days.

So I found a decent work-around for cure inhibition. SiliNOT! is a reusable silicone substitute for mold making.

It melts at temperatures above 130°F (54°C), but they suggest not going above 150°F (65.5°C), as the material breaks down at 180°F (82°C). It can also be thinned with a small amount of water for detailed parts (I add water as it begins to melt and stir in as it melts further).

While it is only good for 1-2 pulls, the material is re-meltable to re-cast as needed. I use it for recently printed SLA masters, as I am too impatient to wait for photoinitiators to "burn off" and waste way too much silicone.

Commemorative set for one of my Starfinder players after a 2 year campaign. They played a samsaran so I used shades of pale blue and did swirls in transparent blue to represent their reincarnation lore.

They had a runin with a bodysnatcher slame that became a recurring character/gag so I made a small green dice snatcher slime to go inside their D20. Even managed to get the numbers to line up.

Red swirlled into clear with just a touch of red shimmer powder to catch the light once in a while. Fresh from the mold they still need polishing and inking.

The last time I made these I tried a black swirl in the middle and used gold and black foil in the resin. This time I did it a little different and they came out better. I put a bit of black in the bottom of the mold, added cellophane, the poured in the resin with just gold flakes. The picture doesn’t do them justice, they came out way better than before and this time I’m happy with them. They are in the pile to get resin inking and full polish.

I’ve started work on the project that got me into dice making in the first place. My friend Dom died earlier this year and his wife asked my to use his ashes in a set of memorial dice. We talked about it for a bit and settled on several things.I am making her a very large die, 100mm, that will encase a few small personal items of his, a 60mm die for his ex who was still very involved in his life, and several sets of standard dice for them to use. All of them will incorporate his ashes in some way. I’m also printing an insert for the 100mm die to make a base that his personal items will rest on.

This is my first test print for the 60mm die and there are some issues I have addressed for the second print which, barring any issues will be the one I polish and use for the mold.

I learned a lot since we decided on this memorial project and one of those things was CURE INHIBITION. For that reason, the mold will be tin cure silicone instead of platinum cure when molding 3D printed dice. I will also need some deep pour resin to make the 100mm one.

I dont always use UV reactive pigments but when I do I find out when Im curing the numbers 😵

I've been making "stained glass" dice ever since I got blank inserts for my molds. The trick is to leave some panels clear so untinted light can show through.

This time I'm using some inserts from Druid Dice that have geometric patterns in them. I've painted the lines in silver and am using sharpie markers for the tiny panels.

I have found that, while it rarely happens, it is good to clear-coat these inserts to prevent any excess ink from coming off in the molds.

I will likely use a pearlescent white for the numbers, though may go for sage green if the white isn't readable.

On Reddit, I would bang on about under-coating numbers on clear or translucent dice to prevent "color bleed". This set was designed to use the effect in a positive way.

I cast a clear set of dice and first painted the numbers in ROYGBIV, starting with the d4. I then painter over all the colors with gold. I have polished the set to a matte finish to increase the effect.

Here is a close-up on the d6 to better show what's going on.

This will still darken a clear die, even if you use a bright silver or white, as it stops light from coming through those areas. I do find it preferable to color bleed, however.

fresh from the pot and Im super happy with them.

I wanted to try inverse clouds with black instead of white. It really muted the blue color and darkened them more than I expected. I don’t think they look bad but I’m kinda surprised at how much attention they are getting from people I show them to.

Sadly it is just barely larger than my normal d6 insert.

These were donated for a Child's Play auction.

To get the effect, start with an opaque blank insert (I find black works best). Have at hand a disposable spoon and a smal, sealable container with some dish soap and water you can agitate to make tons of bubbles.

Using an aplicator (I use a flat silicone brush), apply a very thin layer of UV resin. Use the spoon to scoop the soap bubbles onto the resin-coated surface. Quickly put it under a UV light to cure the resin. I clean any overspill with a craft blade to keep it neat.

Once all facets are done, brush the mica powder of your choice onto all the surfaces and cast in clear resin.

Slimes come in all shapes and sizes, this group snuck into my bag and ate my dice :( well, I guess I can use them as long as they keep their shape and don’t eat my gold.