Making Dice
It shouldn’t surprise anyone too much that gamers love dice. The idea of some sort of randomizer have been around a long time with some ancient dice said to be dated as far back as 2500 BC. I’ve been experimenting with making dice and thought I’d jot down some of my techniques for those who are interested.
The first thing you need when making dice is wooden cubes. You can buy these of various size at almost any hobby shop. Using my wood burner, I burn the appropriate number of pips on each side. I’ve played around with staining the die using coffee and wine. What??! Yes, coffee and/or wine. Unfortunately known for staining clothes, carpet, and teeth, both coffee and wine acts as a great subtle stainer for light woods. I usually stain the dice with few a few layers until I achieve the tint I want.
If you like hard edges, you can pretty much stop at this point, but I like to sand the edges to reveal the original lighter wood color. This lighter contrast accents the dice visually and gives it a nice round feeling in your hands.
The last step is to finish it off with a little coconut oil or beeswax. Coconut oil will darken the wood a bit more than beeswax but both work pretty well. Have you tried making your own dice? Do you have a technique or oil that you like using? Feel free to tweet me @richfamilygames with your input.