Celtic Key Pattern Dice Vault
I was noticing that people were making dice using washi tape. They cast a “blank” (a smaller die with no numbers), wrap that in washi tape, then “shell” it by putting it in a larger mold of the same shape with numbers (and possibly a logo or other graphic). The first key pattern washi tape I made is pretty narrow (15mm). I wasn’t sure if it would work for that (spoiler: it turns out that, yes, it can work). I wanted to make other washi tape designs, including another key pattern. I made one of them extra wide (45mm).
A few dice makers are now using it to make dice! One of those, the wonderful Jessa at Silverleaf Dice, is celebrating hitting 2100 followers in Instagram with a big multi-artist giveaway. The theme is community inspiration, and she is making a set of dice with each of my washi tape designs.
I was thinking it would be fun to make a custom dice vault (a box sized to hold a set of dice) for those. I wondered about how I could echo the design elements of the washi tape on the vault. Watching a cosplay crafting video where someone was painting flex bond on EVA foam, I remembered that decoupage exists. After a couple quick tests, I determined that I could get the tape well adhered to wood with PVA wood glue and coat it with an appropriate sealer to get a nice finish.
This design adds some legs and a wood inlay lid with a different key pattern design.
There were a few small revisions as I built it. The first version of the legs had one part of the foot coming to a point. As I got to where I was ready to glue them on to the box body, I discovered that a point on one foot had chipped off. That made me realize it was probably too fragile, and I redesigned to make it less pointy and have a larger point of contact for the surface upon which it sits.
I primed the legs, but was not particularly careful or adequately slow and methodical with the metallic gold paint. I didn’t love the way they looked with the flaws. So, I made a new set and covered them with gold leaf. That was a lot more work than spray painting them, but they look great.
The spray version of the sealer for the gold leaf is just awful. It spits out in globs and makes an uneven mess. With a little fiddling, they still came out looking great. I got some of the brush-on variety for future projects.
The white oak and walnut key pattern inlaid lid is similar to some things I have done previously. I was surprised at how smoothly that went together.
The finished dice vault, paired with the matching set of washi tape dice, is going to one of the winners of the big Silverleaf Dice giveaway. If you are seeing this the first week of July 2025 and you have an Instagram account, go enter for a chance to win that or a number of other wonderful handmade TTRPG dice and accessories.
There is also an un-narrated 3.5-minute speed run video showing the process of making the dice vault:
Dragons Celtic Knotwork Map Compass Print
I have been wanting to design a Celtic art map compass that would be appropriate for fantasy maps. Entwined dragon bodies seemed like a good theme. The N-S axis is intended to be Gungnir, Odin’s spear from Norse mythology.
I made a laser-engraved rubber plate from my vector image, then printed on the new OpenPress Postcard Printing Press.
I made the print drying rack for an earlier printing project I haven’t gotten around to posting. It is a simple four-piece laser-cut design that comes apart for flat storage. I added the cutting files for the print drying rack to the Subscriber Archive as a free download, in case it is of use for anyone.
I made a 1-minute printing video:
Rechargeable Light-Up Icosahedron
I wanted one of the copper light-up icosahedra for the bookshelf in my office. I wanted to be able to leave it on to enjoy periodically without putting a bunch of the CR2032 coin cells in the landfill. I also wanted it to be easy to operate without using tools, and not super fragile.
After a fair amount of experimentation, I came up with this tiny 3D-printed light. It uses a rechargeable LIR1254 coin cell that can be easily removed (or swapped) for recharging in an external charger.
The bottom panel hinges open for access to the light. I used strips of foil made for EM shielding applications and tiny neodymium magnets to hold it closed.
I have been playing with it for a few days, and it seems to meet my design brief above. It runs for at least several hours on a charge (I haven’t yet exhausted a fully-charged battery with it).
I put the 3D model (STL) for the battery holder in the Archive for free download, in case it is of use to anyone. There is also a basic icosahedron pattern with the previous Small Polyhedra post.
There is a 3.5-minute video short walking through the design evolution and assembly.
Small Light-Up Stand
I was thinking about ways to get a little bit of extra light to the bottoms of some small objects I have been photographing recently (particularly dice), and to get light passing through translucent objects in a way that would highlight them. I envisioned something that used a piece of clear acrylic to transmit the light to the subject while not having an opaque base in the way.
This prototype is the result. The base is several layers of laser-cut walnut, glued together and finished. There is a cavity for the light and a lip that supports a piece of diffuser material and a 1-inch acrylic cube.
The electronics are pretty hacky. I recently designed some 3D-printed lights that hold LIR1254 rechargeable cells, a Chibitronics Circuit Sticker, and a tiny surface-mount switch for use in making rechargeable versions of my paper icosahedra. This is a variant of those with three Circuit Stickers (for more light) and the switch mounted upside down (for access through a cut-out in the base). This could be done more elegantly with a custom circuit board, but this seemed good for a prototype.
Since I have only made opaque Jesmonite dice to date, I used some resin dice sent to me by friends to try it with translucent objects. The darker purple one is from Rosey Cricket, and the lighter one is from Silverleaf Dice. If you like dice, you should go check out all the wonderful pieces they make.
Wood Inlay Floppy Disk Tack Pin
I made these little wood inlay save icon pins as gifts for April birthdays.
I traced a photo of a 3.5″ floppy disk in Inkscape, scaled it to 1″ (~24mm) square, then separated the pieces and kerf corrected them. I laser cut and engraved the pieces from 3mm thick walnut and oak. I assembled the pieces with wood glue, gave it a light sanding, then finished with wipe-on polyurethane (three coats, with a very light sanding between coats and at the end). The tack backing is attached with construction adhesive.
After consulting with a friend who wears a lot of pins, I got a collection of backings, including the traditional butterfly backs, rubber backs (softer and less irritating for skin contact), and locking backs (to reduce chance of loss).
There is a 2-minute making-of video: