D20 Chonks from Scratch

42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in two shades of blue swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic copper, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in pink and brown swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic gold, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in pink and brown swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic gold, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in pink and brown swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic gold, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in pink and brown swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic gold, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in a rainbow of orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic silver, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in a rainbow of orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic silver, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in a rainbow of orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic silver, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in a rainbow of orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, swirled together, the numbers painted in with metallic silver, sitting on a purpleheart stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in peach and bright green swirled together, the numbers painted in with white, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in peach and bright green swirled together, the numbers painted in with white, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in peach and bright green swirled together, the numbers painted in with white, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite chonk in peach and bright green swirled together, the numbers painted in with white, sitting on an oak stand.
42mm Jesmonite 20-sided die glowing in the dark with an organic stripey pattern of dark green and glowing orange.
42mm Jesmonite 20-sided die glowing in the dark with an organic stripey pattern of dark green and glowing orange.
Top view of a green and orange 42mm Jesmonite 20-sided die with the numbers painted in yellow on a walnut stand.
Top view of a green and orange 42mm Jesmonite 20-sided die with the numbers painted in yellow on a walnut stand.
Two 42mm Jesmonite chonks. One is lavender and white with the numbers painted metallic gold. The other is mostly a dark purple with a little bit of red swirled in, also with metallic gold numbers.
Two 42mm Jesmonite chonks. One is lavender and white with the numbers painted metallic gold. The other is mostly a dark purple with a little bit of red swirled in, also with metallic gold numbers.

I kept thinking I wanted to get a little more experience with mold making and casting. I have nieces, nephews, and friends who are all playing various tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons regularly. Dice would make great gifts for all of those people. I have also been enjoying the work of some of the resin artists I have found making dice. I didn’t really want to do a bunch of resin casting in my home studio, but had become aware of some less-toxic stone-based “eco resin” casting materials like Jesmonite.

Back in March, I started working on making a big 42mm 20-sided die (a D20, in TTRPG parlance). I modeled it in Blender with a font I like (and have properly licensed), and set about 3D printing one from which to make molds. Although I have been knocking out all sorts of perfect models on my resin printer, there were some issues with getting my Anycubic machine to produce a flawless D20. At first, it was mechanical. It took me a bit to realize the plate had worked itself loose in a way apparently isn’t expected, then a bit to get it fixed correctly. Minor issues after that were eventually resolved by choosing the right resin.

From that print and a printed mold form, I made silicone molds, eventually coming up with a slightly-modified cap mold style that seems to work pretty well.

Triangular plate that attaches to one side of the 20-sided die to elevate it for the modified cap mold.
Triangular plate that attaches to one side of the 20-sided die to elevate it for the modified cap mold.
Modified cap mold for a 20-sided die.
Modified cap mold for a 20-sided die.

I cast a bunch of dice in Jesmonite, playing with various mixing and pouring techniques, different pigments, and various approaches to keeping bubbles and voids from ruining the casts. I mostly settled on using an old dental vibration table, some tapping and stretching of the filled molds, and a pressure pot for the later.

I have been painting in the numbers with acrylic paint, and finishing by polishing with bees’ wax.

There are a lot more finished dice than I am showing in this post.  I haven’t managed to photograph all of them yet.  I may add more in the future.

Once I had some big dice, I decided I needed to make some cool gift boxes for them. That’s for another post, though.

I made a video walking through the journey of getting some finished Jemonite chonks:

You can also watch some of them spin in the demo short:

Godar Blot Skull Pins

Godar Blot skull pins – hardwood inlay skull pins from white oak, walnut and, padauk. The white oak is dominant on one pin and the walnut is dominant on the other.

I didn’t post the wood inlay Mastodon logo pins I made a couple years ago but, they came out so well that I periodically think of other things that would make good pin designs. In the spirit of the season and, since I rarely get around to the “spooky season” projects I envision these days, I made some skull pins inspired by my old Godar Blot design.

There are two variants: one where white oak is dominant, with walnut for the eyes and nose and, padauk for the spiral on the forehead and, another where walnut is dominant with white oak for the eye and nose and, padauk for the spiral.

I was making these for friends and family but, I ended up making a few extras. They are up in the shop, if you want one (light or dark).

Godar Blot skull pins – hardwood inlay skull pins from white oak, walnut and, padauk. The white oak is dominant on one pin and the walnut is dominant on the other.
Handmade wood inlay white oak, walnut and, padauk hardwood skull pins with some Celtic style.
Godar Blot skull pin – white oak skull with inlaid walnut eyes and nose with a padauk spiral on the forehead.
Handmade wood inlay white oak, walnut and, padauk hardwood skull pin with some Celtic style.
Godar Blot skull pin – walnut skull with inlaid white oak eyes and nose with a padauk spiral on the forehead.
Handmade wood inlay white oak, walnut and, padauk hardwood skull pin with some Celtic style.
Godar Blot skull pins – hardwood inlay skull pins from white oak, walnut and, padauk. The white oak is dominant on one pin and the walnut is dominant on the other. A bottle cap slightly smaller than the pins is provided for scale.
Handmade wood inlay white oak, walnut and, padauk hardwood skull pins with some Celtic style. Bottle cap for scale.
Godar Blot skull pins – hardwood inlay skull pins from white oak, walnut and, padauk. The white oak is dominant on one pin and the walnut is dominant on the other. A bottle cap slightly smaller than the pins is provided for scale and, the light pin is held between an index finger and thumb.
Handmade wood inlay white oak, walnut and, padauk hardwood skull pins with some Celtic style. Bottle cap and fingers for scale.

Two minute making-of video:

Jack-O-Lantern

Render of a jack-o-lantern with wild eyebrows.

A quick jack-o-lantern modeled and (vertex) painted in Nomad Sculpt on the iPad, animated in Blender.

No-Sew Felt Tray

Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray

I wanted to make something to contain my work hold-down pins for the laser cutter. I had seen some simple felt trays that were formed from squares with the corners pinched and sewn together. It seemed like a no-sew technique might work well for that and, it did!

Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray (Blue)
Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray (Blue)
Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray (Blue)
Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray (Blue)
Laser-Cut No-Sew Felt Tray
Tray cut from 3mm 100% wool felt on the Glowforge.

For assembly, I push a pair of small 5″ needle-nose pliers through the slit and, pull the mushroom-shaped tabs through.  If you want more guidance, I made a quick video showing production and assembly.

 
 

Update: I made another felt tray in “peacock” blue.  The edges did not char evenly, which looked a little odd.  Light application of a fine sanding sponge removed most of the edge char.

 

If you would like to make your own no-sew felt tray, you can use the pattern linked below. I am releasing this under a Creative Commons license.  You are free to use and modify this pattern for non-commercial purposes.  If you make changes to the pattern, you are encouraged to release your changes back to the community.

If you want to do something else with it (like make and sell felt trays), please contact me for separate licensing terms.

 

Attribution-Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlikePattern:

FeltTray-1.2.svg

Tools and Supplies:

5″ Needle Nose Pliers

3mm 100% Wool Felt

Sanding Sponge

Glowforge