A Sinister Touch: Acrylic Dice Stand with D20
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    In Acrylic
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    A Sinister Touch: Acrylic Dice Stand with D20

    I made this heat-bent acrylic dice stand and 42mm Jesmonite D20 for an Instagram giveaway intended to bring awareness to the harms being caused by generative AI systems.

    I drew the design for the stand up in Inkscape, cut a cardstock prototype to double check the size and general design, then laser cut it from black acrylic.

    I made a bending form by laminating five pieces of 6mm thick MDF together with cyanoacrylate glue. I miscalculated the desired bend diameter a little, and ended up winging it to get it to the right shape.

    Bending the stand was probably about half an hour of patient work with the heat gun.

    I paired this with one of my Jesmonite D20 chonks, an orange and copper one with the numbers filled with extra-dark black paint (Black 3.0). It got a final seal and polish with some coconut-based Jesmonite sealing wax.

    If you are reading this in early November 2026, you can check out and enter the giveaway on Instagram. In addition to A Sinister Touch, there are some very clever pieces from other folks.

    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the wrist against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the thumb against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the thumb against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from above looking down towards the thumb against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the palm against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the backs of the fingers, rotated towards the pinky, against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from three-quarters above looking towards the backs of the fingers, rotated towards the index finger, against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die
    A flat piece of 6mm thick black acrylic has been cut and bent into the shape of a six-fingered left hand bent backward to form a platform. A 42mm orange and copper 20-sided die with dark black numbers sits on the hand. View from behind looking towards the backs of the fingers, rotated towards the index finger, against a brushed silver background.
    A Sinister Touch Acrylic Stand with 42mm Die

    There is a 30 second video of it spinning:

    There is also a 1.75 minute un-narrated making-of video:

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    Great Dragon Jack-O-Lantern Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
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    In Printmaking
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    Great Dragon Jack-O-Lantern Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    With everything going on this month, I didn’t get to making a 3D modeled jack-o-lantern before Halloween. I did manage to design the face for one, though. So, I carved a last-minute eraser stamp from one of the little square Milan erasers.

    This did double-duty as a match for the final #PinkEraserArtober prompt for October of 2026, “Dragons.”

    A rectangle of paper imprinted with a stylized orange face with three eyes and a toothy grin. The hand-carved stamp that made the impression sits face-up on upper right corner of the print.

    There is a quick impression-making video on YT, too.

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    Ranger and Paladin Inks
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    In Other Projects, Tools
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    Ranger and Paladin Inks

    I spotted someone else online swatching this Paladin ink from small artisanal ink maker Penultimate Inks (also: Instagram), and thought it looked pretty neat. I decided to order some to add to my growing collection of fountain pen inks. Due to the arcane calculations of free shipping, and a perceived hole in the range of greens I had available, I ended up adding some of Penultimate’s Ranger to my order. They have a whole line based on common TTRPG class names, all of which look pretty cool.

    These are both really great inks. I enjoyed adding them to my apothecary-themed swatch book. I made a short of the swatching process, and tilting the cards around in the light to show off the color and shimmer.

    View angled down at a well-worn translucent gridded cutting mat. Two rectangular cards punched with holes at the top have images of potion bottles on them. The one on the left is filled in with a shimmery blue-grey ink. The one on the right is filled in with a shimmery forest green ink. Behind the cards are two dark bottles labeled Paladin and Ranger.
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    Conceal Pop Up Orihon
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    In Electronics, Origamic Architecture
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    Conceal Pop Up Orihon

    This year’s #LightUpPopUptober project was an adventure! The prompt for my day, the 17th, was “conceal.”

    I generally don’t cut things as close to deadlines as I did on this one. This has probably been the most #OverwhelmedOctober to date. I got everything worked out in time, and while I can see places that could use a little more polish, I think this is solid.

    This got a little hectic building the final piece. I think I have everything for a making-of video, though. That will likely be forthcoming after I recover a little.

    While there are some photos here, you really have to see it in operation to understand how it works. There is a short one-minute video showing me operating the orihon and cards.

    A pop up card of four hexagonal panels leaning together. The faces have spirals cut out and backed with translucent vellum. A white LED lights the pop up from the inside. The places where the panels were cut plus an extra spiral on each side are visible in the base of the card. The card sits on the panels of an all-black orihon (accordion book). Angled view from above.
    White lit spirals hex pyramid
    A pop up card of four hexagonal panels leaning together. The faces have spirals cut out and backed with translucent vellum. A white LED lights the pop up from the inside. The places where the panels were cut plus an extra spiral on each side are visible in the base of the card. The card sits on the panels of an all-black orihon (accordion book). Angled view from above.
    White lit spirals hex pyramid
    A pop up card of four plain hexagonal panels leaning together. A red LED lights the pop up from the inside. The places where the panels were cut on each side are visible in the base of the card. The card sits on the panels of an all-black orihon (accordion book). Angled view from above.
    Red lit hex pyramid pop up
    Closed view of the orihon (accordion book) from above. The orihon sits on a surface of crinkled purple paper (momigami).
    Closed orihon
    View of the black orihon (accordion book) open but with the pop up card inside closed. Facing the hinge of the pop up card from above. The orihon sits on a surface of crinkled purple paper (momigami).
    Switching mechanism for the pop up in the orihon
    View of the black orihon (accordion book) open but with the pop up card inside closed. Facing the opening of the pop up card from above. The orihon sits on a surface of crinkled purple paper (momigami).
    Switching mechanism for the pop up in the orihon
    View of the black orihon (accordion book) from above, open but with the pop up card inside completely closed. The switching mechanism for the card's electronics is visible. The orihon sits on a surface of crinkled purple paper (momigami).
    Switching mechanism for the pop up in the orihon
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    PinkEraserArtober x Witch Hat Atelier Crossover Stamp
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    In Printmaking
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    PinkEraserArtober x Witch Hat Atelier Crossover Stamp

    I needed a break from another project I have been working on last night. I keep noticing some of my previous eraser stamps fitting the daily prompts for #PinkEraserArtober2026. Yesterday’s prompt, “spell,” matched one on my to-do list. So, I thought it would be fun to give it a go.

    The ink jar is a variant of the ink jar I did styled after the Witch Hat Atelier anime recently. The circle in the upper left is for the “forbidden glow” spell Coco tries when she is first discovering magic.

    I did most of the carving with a narrow v gouge, with a little bit of craft knife work around the star shape in the glyph.

    Before printing, I painted the paper with UV-reactive ink. So, it glows under UV light.

    A lino-cut-style stamp carved from a pink eraser depicts a pot of ink, a pen or brush, and a circular spell glyph sits face-up on a print made from the stamp. The print is signed with an A and is sitting on a background of dark green crepe paper (chirimen).
    Spell Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
    A lino-cut-style stamp carved from a pink eraser depicts a pot of ink, a pen or brush, and a circular spell glyph sits face-up on a print made from the stamp. The print is florescing under UV light.
    Spell Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp (Glowing)
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