Liz Brager (AKA Alchemist’s Attic) casts incredible creations. Ultimately these will determine the fates and fortunes of heroes, but each one is a work of art. When she posted an incredible snake shed dice video, we just had to learn more. We reached out to find out how she got into dice making, and what advice she had for those just getting started.
How it all began
The year is 2020, and I’ve just graduated college two months into a global lockdown. I had quit my full-time job towards the end of the previous year to finish my bachelor’s degree in mathematics (and minor in fine arts), and now I was out of work and school and in an odd position to go job hunting. Luckily I had saved up some money from my previous job so I didn’t need to go back to work immediately. Instead, I started trying out some different hobbies, like taking voice acting classes via Zoom, and continued some old hobbies, like playing D&D with my family. One of these new hobbies was making resin dice for tabletop games.
A D&D buddy from before the quarantine had been talking about making dice and I had a little bit of resin at home from messing around making jewelry. So now that I suddenly had a lot of free time, it seemed like the perfect time to give it a shot!
Gearing up
I ordered some cheap molds off Amazon, watched a few videos from Rybonator on YouTube, and got to work. My first dice were full of bubbles and didn’t roll well, but it didn’t matter — I had fallen in love with the designing and pouring process. So I went out and bought the stuff to build a pressure pot (a pressurized chamber in which you let your resin cure) to get rid of the numerous bubbles (it squishes the bubbles down until they are invisible and makes your resin crystal clear).
I debated for a while whether I wanted to get master dice made (3d printed dice that you then use to make your own molds) because they were spendy. I never planned to sell dice anyway, so what was the point? Selling dice from cheap/mass produced molds is usually frowned upon because the dice designs are often stolen, and the dice made from them usually aren’t as high quality. But if you’re just making them for fun it doesn’t really matter as much. My brother finally helped talk me into it, and also helped me come up with a name for a hypothetical shop, Alchemist’s Attic, so that I could decide on a fun custom logo to go on the d20.
Getting big
Really, I never planed on selling them. It was kind of an accident. Sorta.
I already had an Etsy shop from a few years previous, where I mostly sold a couple bars of homemade soap each year to local friends and folks that had bought soap from me at the singular holiday bazaar I sold at every year. On a whim I put two dice designs up in my Etsy shop: galaxy dice and faux amethyst. I’d decided I’d make them to order, so I listed five available of each and then figured I’d leave them there for a while.
The Galaxy dice sold out in a week.
Everything just kind of snowballed from there.
A lot has happened in the four-and-a-half years since then. I’ve since left Etsy for my own website, and I’ve made and sold a lot of sets of dice. Some of them have been a struggle to get right, and some have ended up being my favorite things I’ve ever made.
Challenges
You’d think the most difficult dice would be the ones with all the moving parts and meticulously handmade little items to go in them. And those are difficult! But sometimes the hardest dice to make will surprise you. For example, I once got asked to make a solid caramel-colored die. Trying to perfect that color still haunts me. I never did get it exactly right!
I’ve also had some real wins. I’m still proud of the galaxy dice from when I first started. That design still gets brought back occasionally (although slightly modified because my polishing process has changed). I often cite my favorite set as being one of my early commissioned sets in which every die was different and bee-themed. That set is what really sparked my love for making mismatched dice sets where every die is different but based on the same theme. I haven’t made a lot of sets like that recently, but I really should — they’re more complicated, but they’re also a lot of fun to make!
Making it happen
If you’re reading this because you’re just starting out making dice yourself, or are thinking about starting to make dice, my biggest piece of advice is to try things! Treat every time you pour resin like it’s an experiment! Whether things turn out the way you expect or not, you’ll learn something for next time. Who knows, maybe you’ll make a surprising discovery that you never would have expected! Don’t let the idea that what you make won’t be perfect hold you back from making stuff. That’s something I have to tell myself repeatedly). Things are never going to be perfect the first (or even 400th!) time you try them. I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’m still learning from my mistakes all the time.
Seek out advice
I’d also say that if you’re not sure of something — don’t be afraid to ask another dice maker. In my experience, folks are very helpful and happy to help. When I first started out making dice, I messaged someone asking how they got a certain effect in a set of dice they posted photos of, and they wrote out a whole tutorial on how to do a dirty pour technique. That was more than 4 years ago now, but I was so touched by the gesture that I still cite that as one of the things that led to me making dice videos sharing the dicemaking process all these years later.
I actually reached out to a fellow dice maker buddy, The Lucky Merrow, when starting the snake shed dice I posted a video of recently, because I wasn’t all that confident working with the snake shed. I had used it a TINY bit before, but it had pretty much completely disappeared in the resin on my first few attempts. I knew she had worked with it a tiny bit more and reached out to ask about how best to color it.
Snake shed — when dragon skin is too hard to find
It was honestly pretty smooth sailing on the snake shed dice from there. At this point I have enough experience to know how resin tends to work, and snakeskin was similar enough in concept to cellophane sheets that I just treated it similarly when putting it into the mold. I had experience with doing what I call a mica drop (the technique that causes sparkly drips through the dice), and the colors had been decided by the person who commissioned the set, so it was overall a pretty straightforward set to make.
And the set got a great reaction from the person who ordered them! I actually reached out to them recently because I wanted to send over the video of making the dice, and apparently the person who they were for still uses them all the time! What a great feeling to know that you made something that someone cherishes.
Sharing is the reward
That’s part of the reason I do a lot of commissions. It’s so satisfying helping someone else take an idea out of their head and make it a reality. I also find that I get a lot of inspiration from people asking for custom items. I really enjoy making dice based on something, whether that’s a request from someone, different pieces of media (I was known for my Minecraft-themed dice for a little while there), or something from the natural world like space or the beach.
These days I’m focusing more on making videos than actual dice to sell (although I do sell dice), but I still love doing it, just like I did four-and-a-half years ago. If you want to come see what I’m working on next, be sure to check out my Youtube channel, online store, or come follow me on Tumblr, Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram.
I look forward to seeing what you make!
ADVERTISEMENT
