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It's a second-hand lapidary wheel (and disks from a lapidary wheel) that I attached green zona paper to with some spray adhesive. I just pull the zona off and glue some more down when it starts getting too worn. I just use it for the initial sanding and then move over to 1000, 2000, and 3000 grit sand paper by hand before tossing them in my polishing tumbler.

@@alchemistsattic I’ve been using a small pottery wheel. I’ve been running it for the zona paper but I like to do the actual sanding by hand on a sheet of tempered glass. I run them through 1200 / 1500 / 2000 then move to the wheel for initial polish with a tumbler for a couple days before hitting them 1 last time with the white zona and some polishing compound. If there is a defect I can sand out I’ll start with 1000 grit. Thanks for the reply!

An alcohol ink, or just plain ol' isopropyl alcohol? I spray most of my dice with the plain alcohol before putting the lids on because it helps pop bubbles on the surface of the molds. Chances are, these dice DID have some alcohol on top of the mica :)

@alchemistsattic I was thinking regular isopropyl, since as far as my uneducated butt is aware, they're functionally the same. Are they, in fact, not the same?

@@AlexanderTheAverage10 alcohol inks come in different colors and are used for dying/coloring things. They have an alcohol base like isopropyl alcohol, though :) I wasn't sure if you were wondering how adding another color would look, or wondering if plain alcohol would do anything to the effect.

@alchemistsattic Gotcha. In this particular case, I was indeed wondering if regular alcohol would do anything to the end result, assuming by diffusing the mica more into the resin. Of course... then it would probably be more uniform, whereas the point of designs like this are for the stark contrast between colors and unique individuality of each pour.

@@AlexanderTheAverage10 I added a bit of alcohol to the top of the dice (I just didn't show it in the video) to pop bubbles on the surface. The resin is thick enough that it doesn't do much- it mostly just sits of top before evaporating.

The glitter and mica settle, but the liquid itself stays pretty consistent, in my experience.

@@alchemistsattic Cool! Thanks!

The clay and paint are pretty similar in density to the resin, so they should be pretty well balanced- no die (including a mass produced die) is going to be perfectly balanced, but I try to make all of my dice as balanced as possible so that they can be used in tabletop games and the like.

For regular liquid cores I fill the spheres entirely with a mixture of water and glycerine and a tiny amount of alcohol. This set had cores that were half that mixture, and half mineral oil.

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing

The pressure pot (slightly different than a pressure cooker- it doesn't have the heat or moisture) is just to get rid of bubbles, so if you don't care about tiny bubbles it's not really necessary. That said, if you don't have one, there's things you can do to mitigate bubbles, like giving your resin a little bit of time for the air to escape before putting the lids on, using a thinner resin, or warming your resin to make it thinner. Using sprue molds/molds with holes in the lids might help prevent bubbles as well, because air will then be able to escape while curing. The pressure pot does a lot for getting rid of the bubbles, though, so it would be difficult to get dice that are as clear as mine without one.

The dice felt almost bloody or magically ominous, I thought, so I tried to match those vibes with the music :)

It was meant to be, lol. Maybe I'll do hermitcraft inspired dice at some point, hmm...

I leave mine in a LOT longer than other people, but I sand them to 3000 grit and leave them in the tumbler for 2-3 weeks.

I think it just comes down to personal preference, really. I did ask around and it sounds like the rounded edge dice are more limited in the kinds of molds you can make, which may be why there's more sharp edge handmade dice.

The blue one? It's a shell casings tumbler with hardwood cubes and plastic polish :)

@@alchemistsattic thank you 😊

I just saw I hit 3k! Woo!

Happy to help! Hope your project goes well :)

Glad to help! There's definitely a reason the handmade ones are expensive (I'm sure you will soon discover how long they take to make), but making them is a lot of fun, and it's really cool to me able to make dice that are completely unique and custom :D

@@alchemistsattic Absolutely... to those new to purchasing it's hard to find stuff actually hand made, and seeing all the work that goes into it is definitely eye opening.. can't wait for your next video to come out!

I let my dice cure under about 35-40psi of pressure.

I'm not sure. I honestly haven't tried anything like that because I don't want to accidentally pull the UV resin off- it's not really on there SUPER strongly. You could always try it out and see how it goes, though :)

The spheres I use inside the dice? I got ones like these off of Amazon: www.amazon.com/PH-PandaHall-Bottles-Spheres-Crystal/dp/B0C8NHLL7L

I, uh, don't really do a good job of that. I just have a space that I only use for resin and wear a respirator in there while I'm working and things are curing.

Glad I could help!

No, I haven't. Is it like a pigment paste where you mix it with resin before pouring, or do you just use it directly on the resin?

Amusingly, my favorite purple alcohol ink is from this cheaper alcohol ink set: www.amazon.com/dp/B07YLJTHGT Both the violet and the lavender are quite pretty purple colors, imo. (the other "purple" colors in the set tend more towards pink, though).

I just found them on Amazon, like these ones: www.amazon.com/PH-PandaHall-Bottles-Spheres-Crystal/dp/B0C8NHLL7L

If your problem is not having enough resin for the final dice, a couple things you might do are 1. let the molds sit for a little bit before putting the lids on to give bubbles time to rise to the surface and pop, and 2. make sure you have some extra resin around the top to fill in those gaps made while curing. That could either be done by over-filling the molds a little bit (dome the tops), or by having some sort of well that feeds into the top of the mold.

Depends on what you're trying to do, and what your masters are made out of. Different kinds of silicone have different pros and cons. Some silicones react poorly with some 3d printed masters, there are different hardnesses which may make a mold that is so soft it doesn't hold shape, or so hard that it's difficult to remove the dice. Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to personal preference.

@@alchemistsattic ok. I was just curious. Thanks

I'll be honest, I'm not the best at hand polishing, so I'm probably not the best person to ask. That said, I'm mostly just circling it a good number of times, while looking for it to be smoother and not have any major scratches/uneven bits.

Not 100% sure yet. The clear ones with the colorful drips I think maybe a white color. Any ideas for the glittery ones?

@@alchemistsattic I think the rainbow ones would look great inked in gold. For the glittery ones, maybe a bluish gray?

@@alchemistsattic and the last set that's rainbow and glitter would look good with hot pink numbers!

@@it_buddyOoh, good ideas!

Oh, you will really appreciate the upgrade to the small CA air tools compressor! Sooo quiet you can have a normal volume convo standing over it.

The whole time it's curing, so about 24 hours for my resin.

It gets rid of all the bubbles in the resin :)