Custom Dice

My husband plays a lot of tabletop games, so I decided to make him some custom dice for his birthday and a personalized set for some friends who were getting married. While I was at it, I tried some cool alternate materials in some dice for myself. Sprinkles make great dice!

You'll need some sort of silicone mold making material. There are tons of different kinds. I opted for a two part pink product.

casting resin

die

spoon or other utensil for stirring

toothpick or other disposable stick for stirring

disposable cups

stuff to put in your dice

Mix up a small batch of silicone mold by the directions on the package. Whatever utensil you use to stir this material will be easily cleaned, so it doesn't need to be disposable.

Pour a small amount (1/4") of silicone in a disposable cup. I used disposable medicine cups and paper baking cups. If you have more than necessary for one mold, I recommend pouring a small amount in several cups so you can make several different molds.

Mix a fresh batch of silicone.

Pour a small amount of fresh mold maker over the dry silicone.

Place the die you want to mold in the center of the cup with the 1 side face up. Insert it at an angel so air doesn't get caught in the number depressions. Press it down so it makes contact with the dry silicone.

Fill the cup around the die with silicone, but stop at the top edge of the die.

Set aside to dry.

When your silicone is dry, remove the dice from your mold(s).

Mix up a batch of resin according to the package instructions with a disposable cup and stir stick.

Mix in your chosen items. I particularly liked the sprinkles and glitter. In these pictures, I used some small beads.

Pour the resin into your mold. Be careful to pour just enough that the resin is rounded on top and not concave. Don't put too much so that it spills out over the top of the mold either. You can dip your stir stick in the resin and add one drip at a time to the top if necessary. The resin will shrink a bit while it dries.

Pop your new dice out of your molds. The top will have no number depression, but you'll know that side is the 1.

If they dry and the top has shrunk and become concave, you can mix up another batch of resin and add a couple drops to the top.

To personalize the wedding dice, I drew the bride and groom's initials with a paint marker on a piece of clear plastic.

After pouring most of the resin into the mold, let the bubbles rise to the surface for a 10-30 min. When they rise to the top they'll pop.

Once you're happy with the lack of bubbles, carefully place the personalized plastic piece into the resin one side at a time like you would apply a screen protector. This will prevent new air bubbles from getting trapped underneath.

Gently pour the rest of the resin into the mold until you've got that nice concave top as described in past steps.

You may need to babysit the resin for a few hours. The center of the plastic kept wanting to bow up because it was thin, and as you can see in the image before it was placed, it was bowed up there too. When it would bow up, I would just use a toothpick to gently poke it back down. As the resin cures, it thickens and stops moving. Next time I'll use a thicker and flatter piece of plastic.

Use a permanent marker to color in the number depressions. Add a single dot to the flat sides of your dice. No, they are not perfect and surely would't be allowed in a Vegas craps game, but they're fun, easy, and pretty.