Anarchy and Tech in the UK with Chicken Wizard Dice

5 Jun

Written By A.J. Weatherall

For more incredible photos, check out @ChickenWizardDice on Instagram.

Episode Summary

We had the pleasure of chatting with George from Chicken Wizard Dice, a master of the Petri method known for his vibrant, graffiti and punk-inspired dice.

In this episode, George shares his journey into the world of dice making, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially a hobby, his curiosity and love for dice transformed into a thriving business.

Before diving into dice making, George was a screenwriter, a pursuit that honed his storytelling skills and creative thinking. This experience undoubtedly influences his approach to dice making, where each set of dice is infused with its own unique story and energy. George's dice are not just visually stunning; they also carry a distinct post-punk vibe, reflecting his love for messiness, high energy, and anti-establishment. This aesthetic is evident in his use of bold colours and chaotic patterns, which evoke a sense of excitement and rebellion.

We also delved into the technical aspects of dice making and 3D printing and the joy of connecting with customers and fellow RPG enthusiasts through his commissions. George spends a lot of time in the experimentation phase, only occasionally falling back to his old favourites on rare occasions.

If you're interested in learning more about George's work, you can find him on Etsy and Instagram. He'll also be showcasing his dice at several conventions in the UK this year, including the UK Board Games Expo and Dragonmeet. Don't miss the chance to see his incredible creations in person!

Tune in to this episode to get a behind-the-scenes look at the world of dice making with George from Chicken Wizard Dice. Whether you're a seasoned dice maker or just curious about the craft, this episode is packed with inspiration, creativity, and practical tips.

And if you enjoy the episode, please consider supporting our podcast on Patreon to help us continue bringing you amazing content. Listen now and let us know what you think!

Links for ChickenWizardDice

[00:00:15] Talking Dice: G'day, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Talking Dice podcast. Whether you're a dice maker, collector, or tabletop rpg lover, we've got you covered. I'm the host of the show, Aaron, author of the Crit Maker Guide to Dicecraft, now available on Amazon.
Running a podcast in 2024 is an expensive business with equipment, recording software, hosting providers and more costing us a huge sum of money. We're looking to you, our listeners, to help support the show. We've just launched a Patreon with tiers from just a couple of dollars a month and plenty of bonus content coming soon. If you're interested, check out patreon.com talkingdice. In today's show, we're going to be chatting to George from chicken wizard dice with incredible splashes of color, graffiti and punk vibes. George is an absolute master of the Petri method. G'day, George, and thanks for being on the show today.
[00:01:01] ChickenWizardDice Thank you, George.
[00:01:02] Talking Dice: Before we chat about the fun stuff, let's chat about some of the fun stuff. I haven't chatted to too many dice makers recently who don't play some kind of role playing game.
[00:01:10] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I imagine it's probably like sacrilege if you're making dice and not playing some kind of role playing game, it doesn't have to be d and D. I play D and D. George, before.
[00:01:20] Talking Dice: We dig into that too much, I think the question that the listeners really want to know is, do you play with your own dice?
[00:01:25] ChickenWizardDice I play with the dice. I don't want to sell because they're not good enough. So, yeah, all my players think I make crappy dice.
I'm just like, yeah, this problem I just can't use. It's rubbish.
[00:01:37] Talking Dice: I've had the same conversation with my friends. They're like, Aaron, you're a dice maker. Where are all the beautiful dice? And we play online and they're, you know, playing with incredible dice that they've purchased. And here I am just clicking on buttons in D and D beyond. Now. That's sacrilege, right?
[00:01:53] ChickenWizardDice It is.
I'm always like, oh, I make a set. And I'm like, yeah, this is like the best set I've ever made. I'm going to keep these ones. And I'm like, oh, maybe next time.
[00:02:04] Talking Dice: In our chat before the recording, George, you mentioned that you were dming a game.
[00:02:08] ChickenWizardDice Yes.
[00:02:08] Talking Dice: Are you in the forever DM category or just part time?
[00:02:12] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, like 50 50. Really. So I started as a player, as most DM's would anyway. But then my, my DM just got a bit, like, wiped out by it. So I just said, yeah, I'll do it. So I've been doing it for, like, about two years, two to three years. But he says he wants to, like, take turns with me, so that's okay. I love playing as well, obviously, so. But I've really, like, hit my stride with dming, though, at the moment, so I'm really into it.
[00:02:34] Talking Dice: It must be hard crossing the fence sometimes between DM and player.
[00:02:38] ChickenWizardDice It is a bit. I was a massive, like, rules lawyer anyway. Like, as soon as I started, I only started playing D and D about five, six years ago. And as soon as I started, I was just. I got all the books and I just, like, sat there and read them, like, every night, learned all the spells, everything, got completely obsessed with it. So, like, I felt kind of ready to DM because I just knew most of the stuff. Yeah, I was super into the idea.
[00:03:02] Talking Dice: And what sort of campaigns are you dming at the moment?
[00:03:05] ChickenWizardDice Well, I'm doing two, so I'm running Curse of Strahd. Strahd's an amazing villain. I think he's like the archetypal, like, classic villain. Terrifying. My players are terrified of him, but I'm quite, like, daft as a DM.
[00:03:17] Talking Dice: But that's the classic meme, isn't it? What players expect is this dark, edgy vampire story and what they end up with is, you know, Monty Python versus what we do in the shadows.
[00:03:28] ChickenWizardDice Yeah. It's not just me who's daft as well. It's the party.
[00:03:31] Talking Dice: I think that's pretty much every D and D group in existence.
[00:03:34] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, that's the joy of it. As well as a DM, like, you never.
It never, ever, ever goes as planned and it's always some crazy stuff that someone's just come up with and you're like, yes, you know, roll, roll and see what happens. But that's the joy.
[00:03:52] Talking Dice: It's probably time we chat about dice, George, and I'd like to know a bit more about you as an artist, what your background is and how you got into dice making at all.
[00:04:01] ChickenWizardDice I used to write a lot and I kind of took a break from it and I find myself incredibly bored during COVID And, like, just before that, I'd recently told my wife, I was like, listen, I love dice and I'm going to collect them now. That's just what I'm going to do was I get a car with her driving somewhere. So I got into collecting quite quickly. But then, yeah, during COVID I just thought, well, why not? Why not? If I love him so much, why not start making him?
[00:04:25] Talking Dice: And so at that point, was it just a passing interest, or were you actually considering making a business out of it?
[00:04:30] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, like, it's just, it was just sheer curiosity, for sure. I never expected to make it. Like, it was never a plan to make a business out of it at all. It's purely just going to be a hobby.
[00:04:42] Talking Dice: And speaking of business, the name chicken wizard, dice, how did that come about?
[00:04:50] ChickenWizardDice Sadly, it's not the most interesting part of my business. It's kind of just that I really like chickens, and I like wizards a lot.
My mates have always just known me to like chickens. It's just like my weird little thing. I just think they're hilarious. I mean, the wizard is definitely the fantasy part of it, but I just love wizards. I'm wizards. Great. Like, if I could be anything, I'd be a wizard.
[00:05:13] Talking Dice: And it's funny, you know, I've said the name of your business to numerous people, and I've seen the logo quite a few times. But it wasn't until I saw on Instagram a large picture of your logo that it's. It's actually a chicken wizard inside the anarchy symbol.
[00:05:27] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, that's right. But you're not the first to not know that it's a chicken wizard to look at it, which concerns me slightly.
Yeah. Also that my brother designed the logo. He's a designer, so I'm very lucky to have some really creative family, but I made a really basic one, and then he just turned it into this other one. And another friend of mine who's a designer, also helped with it. So it's very collaborative, which is super cool.
[00:05:51] Talking Dice: So it sounds like you've got a few artists around you in your social group.
[00:05:55] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, that's totally like, yeah, my social circles, musicians and artists, that's the type of people I hang out with for sure.
[00:06:02] Talking Dice: And mentioning that, I can't help but think about my home city, Melbourne. And there's a huge amount of, you know, art and music types around, and there's also a huge amount of street art and graffiti. And I can't help but when I look at your dice, getting a real feeling of that, that inner city grunge type vibe.
[00:06:19] ChickenWizardDice Well, yeah, like, Liverpool is a super creative city as well. It's really known for its music for obvious reasons, like the Beatles, but it's just not even people who aren't my friends. Like, you walk down the street, you're gonna bump into like, five artists and musicians. It's just the way it is, so, yeah, it's part of the culture and I think, yeah, like, I'd feel weird not doing something creative. Sadly, though, I wouldn't say there's a lot of great street art. Like, there's not a lot of great graffiti in Liverpool. There's tags, you know, which aren't super interesting. There is, like, some banksy stuff, which is, like, you know, I love Banksy. I think, you know, he's an excellent social commentator, but it's not really visually gripping, I guess so, yeah, I guess, really. Like, it's more from, like, fantasy and, like, imagination that my, um, my style comes from. I think. Just, like, I've always loved reading fantasy novels. It's just that arena of the mind where you just, like, envisage these spells and everything. That's just. Yeah, that's really always what grips me. It's just like, you know. Have you played the new Baldur's gate?
[00:07:20] Talking Dice: Yeah, I was actually playing that today, so.
[00:07:24] ChickenWizardDice Good, isn't it? But the cut, like, the way the spells look in that, like, they've really captured, like, how I love thinking about spells, and I think it is more just because I'm a big fantasy nerd that I get all these colors in. It's like I'm creating little spells, you know, in my dice. Yeah.
[00:07:38] Talking Dice: And I love that idea of using that as inspiration. I mean, you know, what does a poison cloud look like? Or, you know, how do I. How do I turn eldritch blast into a set of dice?
[00:07:48] ChickenWizardDice Yes. Or, like, a potion of haste or something, you know?
Yeah.
[00:07:53] Talking Dice: Looking at your dice and the anarchy symbol there, which now I know is a chicken wizard, I can't help but get this whole post punk vibe from your dice, and I don't know whether that's musical inspiration or just, you know, the environment around you.
[00:08:08] ChickenWizardDice It's definitely quasi. Well, you know, I'm very left wing for sure, and so, like, I'm sadly, we've got the fairly the right of wing government at the moment, so anti establishment is definitely on my mind a lot.
[00:08:22] Talking Dice: Yeah.
[00:08:22] ChickenWizardDice So, yeah, like, I do, you know, I do love, like, the punk attitude, for sure. Like, I like. I like messiness. I like aggressive, like, throwing things at the wall and just kind of seeing how it goes. Just like, you know, high energy, for sure.
[00:08:37] Talking Dice: And that 100% comes through in your dice. I love the chaos and the excitement in them.
[00:08:41] ChickenWizardDice Thanks.
[00:08:41] Talking Dice: But, you know, back to that concept of just throwing things at the walls and seeing what sticks. Do you tend to plan out a set of dice before you go into it, or do you just start throwing color at it?
[00:08:52] ChickenWizardDice It's definitely, like, yes and no. Like, it's. It's definitely both. Like, I have, like, a, like, long term projects, like, techniques that I'm working on with every iteration. Like, well, most with a lot of iterations. So I'll be like, I'm trying to learn a new technique. I'm trying to, like, get something down. And often that just, like, results in beautiful dice that, uh, that I can, you know, that aren't quite what I want, but still look great. So even, like, in fact, yesterday I nailed a technique that I've been working on for about two years. It's not like they're not ready to sell yet, but, like, a dripping technique. I've just been trying to figure out. I literally just figured it out yesterday, and I'm very excited about that. So there's gonna be more of that coming up, which is great. It's a lot of work, but it's cool. But, yeah, like, also, like, you know, I I do have days where I just want to chill out, and I'll just use certain styles that I like and some colors I like and just like, yeah, be like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Watch, like, a movie or something and just chill out with it. But, yeah, there's lots. Most of the time, I'm experimenting, I think. Yeah.
[00:09:52] Talking Dice: And I love hearing that. I think that's so key for dice makers, especially when you're trying to find your own expression and style. And I talk about this quite a lot in my book, and people will often ask, you know, what's the perfect way to do the petri method? And the answer is, well, yeah, there are some basic techniques, but it's really going to depend on, you know, your resin, the temperature, the types of alcohol, inks you're using. And at the end of the day, you've got to figure out what's, what works best with those variables and with your style as well. And I'm guessing that experimentation's not something we often see on Instagram. I assume they're not always as perfect as they look on there, right?
[00:10:28] ChickenWizardDice No.
Well, we were just chatting briefly before the podcast, and I've made some really tired dice last night. Like I said, I cracked a technique, but that was something. Yeah, I just used some pink alcohol ink, and it's just browned load. Looks like a little poo.
Shiny poo. Who wants to buy a shiny poo? If I polish it for you.
[00:10:52] Talking Dice: Hey, put it on Instagram. Someone might.
[00:10:57] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, well, I've got like two bin bags full of them in my attic.
[00:11:01] Talking Dice: Now, George, you said earlier that you kind of jumped into dice making during the whole Covid thing. But are there any other mediums you've experimented in the past? Any other artistic background apart from that?
[00:11:12] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I was a screenwriter to little success for quite a long time. So I used to be a writer. Yeah, theater of the mind. Such, so I, yeah, spent a long, long, long time doing that, trying to get into cinema.
Got a few contracts, but nothing particularly exciting happened with that. But otherwise, like I said, my brother is a designer and he's always been like, I've just been like, oh, that's cool, like, but never, like, I've never done much art in school, so it's a weird, it is a strange transition from, like, a very purely mental creative pursuit into something that's totally physical. It was a real, like a refreshing change for me.
[00:11:56] Talking Dice: And I completely understand that, you know, myself moving from a corporate job to a much more creative one. And I find when I'm making dice or doing anything artistic, there's a real zen to it. And you get into like a, quite a flow. Do you find that in your own work as well?
[00:12:12] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I live for the flow. That's like the best place to be. I do, like, there's nothing more satisfying than that creative spark, you know? And when something, something just makes sense and it kind of be. And, you know, dice is simple. I'm not, not doing anything, like, amazing. I just, but like, I just feel so good. Like, I couldn't live without doing something creative. Like, I live for that feeling. It's like a total high. And that's what I got from, from writing for a long time. But it started to make me feel a bit crappy as well. So I was like, okay, I'm going to choose something that's more kinder to me, you know?
[00:12:43] Talking Dice: But I'm guessing now your d and d group are really taking advantage of that writing background there with your dming, right?
[00:12:49] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I do love writing because you only do about 50% of the book when you're running a campaign. The rest is you and that moment where everything comes together and you're coming up with these funny little ideas and it works with the group and the group bring more to it. I absolutely love for that. Yeah, I love it.
[00:13:07] Talking Dice: And yeah, I was chatting last week with Andy from fighting Chance Studios, and we were talking about the fact that, how incredible it is when people see your dice and their eyes kind of light up and there's that connection, and they realize that these are the dice for me or these are the dice that best represent my character.
[00:13:24] ChickenWizardDice Yeah. People are so sweet. It's very rare that you get.
I can't recall having an unpleasant customer or commissioner. People are so into D and D. It's just such a wonderful part of their lives. There's not very much bitterness with it, and they're just wanting to celebrate it when they buy some dice. It's just there's not a lot of paraphernalia for D and D either, which I'm sure wizards of the coasts absolutely hate.
I know they do, but so it's like, it's one of the few things that you can really be like, you know, this is a special treat for me. So people get really excited and say really lovely things, and, you know, I do lots of commissions as well. And, you know, a lot of the time, people would send me, like, a picture of their character and just be like, they're like this. They, you know, they dance around, like, this way, and I'm like, oh, cool. I'm like, we'll just have, like, this crazy back and forth where I really get to know the person who's buying the dice, and we just get some lovely communication. It's just a little peek into their lives and what they love, and it's just I always find it really sweet and lovely.
[00:14:25] Talking Dice: And speaking of commissions, do you get any interesting ones that you can talk about, you know, without offending anyone or anything like that?
[00:14:32] ChickenWizardDice For sure, all the time. I had a really good one recently, actually, where someone asked me to make the filipino flag with my style, and I was like, yeah, why not? Like, it's just totally unique. It's hard to see how that would work in D and D, but I was just like, absolutely. It's like, nice, bold colors, and you want them in my style, that's absolutely, totally fine. You know, you get some other requests that are tough, and I've had to, like, turn down, like. Like, people's, like, uh, pets and stuff like that. Like, ashes and things, and they mean.
[00:15:03] Talking Dice: So much to people, too.
[00:15:04] ChickenWizardDice I know I couldn't. I, like, that's. I just didn't. If I messed that up, I'd feel like I'd hate myself, you know?
So I haven't done anything like that personally. But, like, I get it. Like, it makes sense to, like, keep this wonderful little item, you know, as.
[00:15:22] Talking Dice: Long as you get enough of it to mess up a set if you need to.
[00:15:25] ChickenWizardDice I don't know. I feel weird. I just. I just found a bee and I feel weird with that. Yeah, I was just like, oh, it's perfectly intact bee. I'm going to put that on in one of my chunks.
[00:15:37] Talking Dice: I'd probably make a great necklace or something, for sure.
[00:15:40] ChickenWizardDice Resin is just as great for that. Like it. I mean, like I said, I'm thinking of also getting into jewelry making. I think that might be a big part of it, too, I must say.
[00:15:49] Talking Dice: I have tried my hand at making pendants, and it's a lot more complicated than it looks.
[00:15:54] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I did a silversmith in class and that. So that was interesting. It turned out that I'm probably. What I'm probably going to do is 3d print the base and just get the silver casts made.
[00:16:06] Talking Dice: Oh, that's awesome. And I think that's something I've wanted to get into for a long, long time, which is that that lost wax cast. But, you know, to be honest, I think I've got every tool in the shed in terms of 3d printers, laser cutters and, you know, all of the resin gear. And I think to a large degree, you know, that technology has been responsible for the rise of dice making in general. Right.
[00:16:28] ChickenWizardDice For sure. Like, that's quite new, isn't it? Just like the whole dice industry exists because of 3d printers, essentially, doesn't it? Being able to make your own masters is a big deal. Yeah.
[00:16:38] Talking Dice: And I think the printing technology is getting better and better. The resin printers are now up to 14k, which is absolutely amazing. And even the FDM printers are getting so much better with, you know, brands like bamboo Labs, which can print dice quite adequately, but aren't quite up to printing the details, like the numbers and the finer details.
[00:16:56] ChickenWizardDice That's interesting.
[00:16:57] Talking Dice: And far less cleaner.
[00:16:58] ChickenWizardDice Yeah. And the horrible toxic chemicals.
[00:17:03] Talking Dice: And I guess, like a lot of dice makers, you've had a tough time printing masters on your resin printers, right?
[00:17:08] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, they're tough. I mean, I, like, I've thrown so many hours at blender and at my printer, and you get so many failures. Just eternal. Like, I'm still not happy 100% with my masters now. And, like, I think if something's handmade from the ground up, the consumer, the customer knows that there'll be certain flaws. But, like, I'm striving to make the best possible product I can make, you know? And so I'm always constantly revising, uh, my masters and my molds and everything, all these little things. I'm just trying to do better and better, but it's like an eternal thing.
[00:17:43] Talking Dice: And I think we've all been there. You've spent, you know, hours and hours on a set of masters and you've looked at them and gone, oh, they're amazing, they're perfect. And then you've been at a show or something and looked at one of your dice and gone, oh, that corner's not as straight as it could be, right?
It's like, it's like an 8th of a millimeter off.
[00:18:01] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, well, I just like a D six as well. With like an on formlabs resin printer is an absolute nightmare to make. Like, you have to recalibrate your printer just for a D six.
[00:18:14] Talking Dice: And you mentioned the formlabs printers. And I think they're making a big wave in the dice making community because, you know, for a five year old printer, the formlabs three, it's probably starting to come down in price in the secondhand market. You know, this is a printer that's 6000 australian dollars new plus, you know, dollar 400 for a bottle of resin. But the dimensional accuracy is incredible and you don't have to worry about things like the silicon inhibition and all of that sort of stuff. I think most dice makers have probably considered it at this point.
[00:18:43] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I think it's like I'm at the point with my career. I think it's worth it to pay premium for a perfect product. I'm thinking of doing it. Yeah, I've got a convention up at the end of the month and I'm probably going to use the proceeds to just commission a perfect set of masters. And I can just never think about it again. And that would just be magical.
[00:19:08] Talking Dice: That's the dream, isn't it? Now this is a spoiler for next week's episode, but I was having a chat with Doug from Hedron Rockworks and he's an incredible lapidarist and hand facets, all of his dice. And he was kind of saying that, you know, 3d printers are great and all of that, but nothing can beat the accuracy of hand faceted dice. And it kind of got me thinking whether that might be the next, you know, the next big thing in the dice making community. But obviously the cost of that is also incredibly prohibitive and it takes up a huge amount of space as well.
[00:19:39] ChickenWizardDice I mean, I'd love to get some equipment like that. I would kill for it, but I just don't have the space.
We were talking about it for the podcast.
I really want a big workshop now. That's definitely where I'm at.
[00:19:52] Talking Dice: Yeah, I think every dice maker is in the same position. And I'm also wondering too, as the industry evolves, whether we might see more dice making co ops where people are hiring out large spaces and getting together to actually sharing that equipment and sharing that space, you know, so that we can all kind of make the best work. But, yeah, that's probably. Probably a chat for another episode. Any other great dice makers you follow on the socials, George, that we should all go and check out?
[00:20:18] ChickenWizardDice Well, dice makers for sure. Like, one of my favorites is probably Yanir.
I don't know how you say it.
[00:20:29] Talking Dice: I think something like that. I actually chatted with Yanir when I was writing the book and there is an artist spotlight in there with some of her work. It's absolutely stunning.
[00:20:37] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, she's great. She's been great for a long time as well. Well, ahead of my journey as a dice maker. I only feel like I've kind of really gotten good. Maybe like a couple of years ago, and before that I was just like, what am I doing?
But she's like, ever since I've started looked into dice, she's always been fantastic, I think. I love the dice gin, who's a UK based dice maker. Yeah, she's really good and she was really lovely. She's very, she was very sport like, helpful when I was starting out too. She actually bought one of my early D 20s, like, right at the beginning, which is very sweet. I mean, it's quite cool looking, but, like, not nearly as good as hers were at the time. And so she was really helpful and, like, got me invited into, like, a UK dice making group as well, which is very nice. Malevolent dice, they're amazing. I was talking about, like, a little drip technique that I'd figured out. Like, it's not the same as theirs. I wouldn't rip them off.
Like, you know, you get inspired by people and you try stuff.
[00:21:34] Talking Dice: Absolutely. I think that's probably the most important thing. It's like celebrating their work. I love this. And here's my take on it.
[00:21:42] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, it's always going to be your take on it. That is exactly it. Like, I think it's really difficult to replicate someone's dice exactly. I know, george, I've tried, but, like, you, inevitably, if you keep trying, you're going to come up with your own flavor and that's the best, best way to do it anyway. But, yeah, also malevolent dice does these super cool, like, little d six liquid core potion bottles.
[00:22:06] Talking Dice: I've seen them, they're incredible.
[00:22:07] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, I think they're amazing. I've done some liquid core stuff. Yeah, I really like them. And, yeah, another one. I like dice of the Seeker as well. Another UK based.
She's great. Does these, like, big, chunky D sixes.
[00:22:19] Talking Dice: So I love dice of the Seekers. She was showing off an incredible red.
[00:22:22] ChickenWizardDice Dwarf dice the other day with Starbuck in it. I was like, yeah, my wife is, like, completely obsessed with red Dwarf as well. Like, half of her life is just red dwarf quotes.
[00:22:31] Talking Dice: Yeah, there's probably a lot of listeners in the US wondering what the heck is red Dwarf?
But they did a pilot of it in the US in the early nineties and it was absolutely terrible and they.
[00:22:43] ChickenWizardDice Cancelled it the first time, I guess.
[00:22:47] Talking Dice: Classic british comedy. Now, George, would you have any advice for anyone wanting to get into dice making? Maybe do what you did and just throw yourself in at the deep end.
[00:22:56] ChickenWizardDice I think everyone in the industry knows Ribonator. He's just does this exceptional YouTube channel, which that's how I got it. He really helped me understand the basics and the best thing about him, apart from him being really friendly and nice vibes, is that he's willing to show his mistakes along the way, which just really helps you understand how it works. So, yeah, that would be my first thing with advice, definitely. But like I said, I didn't get into it because I wanted to make money from it or anything. I just did it because I really loved it. I think that's a super important part of it, is that you've got to be passionate. And like I said, as well, I was like, I just want to collect dice. I'm a magpie. And so it got to the point where I was like, this is really expensive, so I'm just going to do it myself. And ended up making it significantly more expensive anyway.
[00:23:52] Talking Dice: It does initially. I mean, you got to think about the investment for the return, you know, like. Like, yeah, I spent a little bit of money and I end up with a printer.
[00:24:03] ChickenWizardDice Sorry.
[00:24:05] Talking Dice: Yeah, like a formlab.
[00:24:07] ChickenWizardDice I probably need a really good graphics card for blender, you know?
[00:24:10] Talking Dice: Yeah.
Hey, George, before we finish up, did you want to tell us a little bit about your experience with blender? Is this something that you've been working at for a while or a new thing for you?
[00:24:20] ChickenWizardDice No, it's all new. Yeah, I did it. Like, there's lots of great little engines you can use to do your dice now. Like, you can go on, like, a website or whatever. I can't remember what it's called, but it's really good dice gen. I think it is. Like, you just put your font in there and your logo and it just does it. But I started before any of that was really about, so I just did all from scratch.
Like doing booleans, changing svgs into somethings.
I'm not very technically minded, I'm afraid.
[00:24:55] Talking Dice: No, I just appreciate the interest. Like yourself. I got into fusion 363 D modeling a while back when I realized that those tools were kind of limiting what I could do. And I wanted to try out some more new and exciting things. But there's just such a learning curve with any 3d modeling tool.
[00:25:13] ChickenWizardDice It is splint, but there's so much. I mean, like anything, YouTube is just the fount of all knowledge of mankind.
[00:25:20] Talking Dice: What did we do before YouTube?
[00:25:22] ChickenWizardDice Libraries.
[00:25:24] Talking Dice: Probably showing my age there, George. But I do remember the days before the Internet. I'd kind of beg my mother to take me to the library where I'd sit in front of a shelf about, I don't know, lasers or whatever.
[00:25:36] ChickenWizardDice I think I'm the same. Similar age to you. Yeah, I feel your pain.
[00:25:40] Talking Dice: Yeah. Apart from that, you'd kind of just have to figure it out, right. It's. It's kind of life changing now that you can jump on. And there's such great resources, you know, like. Like Ribonada. Dreamy dice is another one. I love watching her videos.
[00:25:51] ChickenWizardDice Yeah, it's. I mean, the part. Yeah, it's the most, like one of the most important.
[00:25:55] Talking Dice: George, I've had a great time chatting with you today, and I hope you have too. For all of our listeners out there who might want to, you know, reach out to you or learn more about your dice, what's the best place for them to contact you or see some of your latest work?
[00:26:08] ChickenWizardDice Just my etsy really is the easiest way. I don't have my own site yet. I keep meaning to do it, but Etsy or my instagram, you can just get in touch with me, that's fine. And I'll be doing a few conventions this year as well in the UK, so the next one's UK board games Expo. I'm doing Dragon meet in November as well. I'm hoping to do a couple of comic Con like manias as well.
[00:26:34] Talking Dice: Any shows planned in Australia, aka the down underdark?
[00:26:38] ChickenWizardDice I wish.
[00:26:39] Talking Dice: I say exactly the same thing about the UK. I would love to do some cons.
[00:26:42] ChickenWizardDice I'd love to go. I've never been to Austria. I'd love to go.
[00:26:45] Talking Dice: And you absolutely should, George. We'll have links to the chicken wizard socials and Etsy below. Please give him a follow. And if you can, please buy his dice. They're absolutely phenomenal.
[00:26:54] ChickenWizardDice Thank you.
[00:26:55] Talking Dice: Thank you, George. It's been an absolute pleasure.
And if you're hearing this message, you've listened to the entire episode of Talking Dice and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Please give us a big thumbs up and leave a review. And don't forget to check out patreon.com/talkingdice if you'd love to help us in the best way possible, and we'll catch you in the next episode of Talking Dice. Goodbye.

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