Wishes and Washi Tape with The Dice Djinn
For more incredible photos, check out @thedicedjinn on Instagram.
Episode Summary
Hollie laughs "I have no style!" but with over 12k followers on Instagram and nearly 800 five star etsy reviews it's pretty clear that her fans disagree. Learn hollies secrets to sucess and why it's not all about getting new customers!
Episode Links
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[00:00:15] Speaker A: G'day, everyone, and welcome to the Talking Dice podcast. Whether you're a dice maker, collector or just a tabletop rpg lover, we've got you covered. I'm Aaron, the host of the show and author of the Crypt Maker Guide to Dice Craft, now available on Amazon.
Running a podcast in 2024 is expensive with hardware. Hosting, production and advertising costs us a large sum of money each month. If you like this podcast, please consider a one time donation via Ko Fi. Or if you love it, please consider supporting us on Patreon. For details, please check out our website, Talkingdice co. And on todays show were chatting with Holly from the dice gin. With a unique, eclectic style, beautiful photography and abundant Instagram photos, shes one of the uks most loved dice makers. Holly, it's an absolute pleasure having you on the show today. Now, Holly, you've been playing D and D now for over five years. You've played some incredible campaigns. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the character you're playing right now?
[00:01:10] Speaker B: I'm playing a Hexblade warlock. She's an asthma. She's. Oh, she's brilliant. So her patron is actually my first character from the game that we played before this one. So, yeah, wow. It was on a little continent before, like, it was like locked in and you couldn't get off and there was massive, like, time dilations and stuff, which that campaign, like, solved all of that. But my previous character sacrificed herself, but she was a bit chaotic and people thought. Some people thought she was evil, but, you know, it was all for the greater good. So to tamper her out, one of the other team, one of the other team members of the last campaign decided, like, the other gods decided that we needed to be brought together for balance because he was really good and I was very chaotic. So my character's patron at the minute is actually that person. And, like, she was a bit of an anti druid, so. She was a druid, but she had like a special pauldron that basically made her change into monsters and bees. What? Monsters instead of beasts. And it was brilliant. So, like, by the end, like level 20, she was like cracking it up and everything. It was brilliant.
So, yeah, my new character, she's a hexblade warlock with a few differences and, yeah, she's. She loves the stars, she loves everything cosmic. She's very, like, flirtatious. And because she's a warlock, I've really played on the charisma angle and she basically tries to get everything she wants, like a spell slinging bard yeah, essentially, yeah. So there's a lot of eldritch blasts going on, and a master of disguise, but, yeah, she's really fun to play. Again, she's very chaotic. I don't think I could ever play a.
What's it called? Lawful. A lawful character. I could never play a lawful character. I can do good, I can do evil, I can do neutral in between, but I cannot not be chaotic. And that is the same for my dice.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: And is that more of a reflection of you, Holly?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. I am a little bit chaos.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: Aren't we all? You mentioned your dice making there, Holly. So why don't you tell us a little bit about the dice, Gin?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: So I have a massive love for fantasy books and stuff. So I was reading the. It was the city. It was the city of brass I was reading at the time by Sa Chakraborty, and I just fell in love with the kind of arabian vibes of it all and the imagery and the story between the djinn and the deva and the marid and all that lot. And I just love it. And I know that Jinn are fiery beings. And my logo, my little djinn, is actually blue, but I didn't think the dice would really lend itself to being a flame. So I don't actually know how it got onto blue, really, like, more water based. I think I got that from the marid and maybe a little bit of Aladdin.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: I definitely get the Aladdin vibe there. So tell me, Holly, how long have you been making dice for, and how did you get into it?
[00:04:10] Speaker B: So my husband is notoriously bad to buy presents for. Like, it's really difficult. He loves everything personalized, and he loves things handmade, but most of the things he. He wants, he just gets himself. So it makes birthdays and Christmas very difficult. So a friend of mine had ordered the Sophie and toffee box, which is, like a resin box. And the one month special they had was dice molds. And I thought, ah, that would be an amazing present. You know, handmade dice. I'm a little bit of a dice goblin at the time. I'm collecting factory made dice. I didn't even really know handmade dice were a thing. And I mean, four years ago, they weren't really that much of a thing. And I thought, oh, that would be an amazing present, you know? So I said to her, can I borrow your set to make some dice? And I made these awful dice like they were half clear with gold flakes in, and half like this really nice sparkly red and they were made with uv resin. I don't know whether you've ever used an opaque material in uv resin, but it doesn't really cure.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Yep, yep, yep.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: So, yeah, I made these set of dice and the Sophie and toffee molds are not easy to use, but, yeah. And I made them and he absolutely loved them. And I thought, this is amazing. Like, I could, I could make. I could make dice. And then I found handmade dice, like, properly. And I was like, fine, right? So I got some chinese factory made dice. I drilled some holes in them, put toothpicks in, made my own molds, had no experience using resin or silicone before. Made my own moulds and then started to make my own dice. I didn't have a pressure pot of this. My dice came out looking absolutely awful and bubbly.
But, yeah. But then I thought, you know what, I really want to. I made dice for everyone in my party and I was like, you know what, I really want to step up my game, so I'll get a pressure pot. So I bought one of those paint spray parts and I converted it myself. And I remember the most stressful thing was trying to get that middle pole out of the lid of the pressure paint pot. It was awful.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: The answer to that is a hacksaw.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
Well, I ended up trying all the tools I had, which isn't very many. All the tools my friend had, which also wasn't very many. So then we ended up in Halfords, which is like a car part shop. And they took it into their, into their back room. They had like a big vice and they wrenched it off in their vice for me. So I was so thankful.
Yeah. And then I basically just prayed and hoped and watched about 5000 videos of, like, how to attach parts and how to do it and everything. And it worked. It worked. And I've still got it today.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: And does it still hold pressure for 24 hours or.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: No, it has to stay plugged in. And I don't want. I can't remember how I made it, so I don't want it to break because I'll have to figure out how to make it again. And I can't deal with it. It was so stressful. But yeah. So I spent so much money on converting that pressure pot, I probably spent more than I needed to because I just thought, right, I need all the bits. And I ended up buying more than I needed. And I thought, right, well, I've spent all this money. This is just a hobby. But now I'm going to have to sell some because I have to explain the thing. And then I never stopped. I did some, like, auctions on Facebook marketplace, on the goblin dice horse acquisitions and stuff like that. And stuff sold. And I was like, oh, well, people actually want my dice. This is amazing. This is humbling. So. And I set up my Etsy page, and it was four years in March. Just gone.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: That was the anniversary of setting up that page. So I'd started in November, which was my husband's birthday, the November before. And then by the march, I was full on Etsy shock. That just got so addicted. And then Covid happened from the April. So then I just found myself having so much time. Like, my day job, they were getting laptops out to everyone, but because I wasn't, like, a vital role at that point, they were like, oh, you're going to be the last one to receive a laptop. But I was like, well, what do I do? And they were like, whatever. Like, you can't do anything, but we're still gonna pay you. So I was like, oh, brilliant. So I had all this time to, like, just build that initial bit, and it was great.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: That's a terrible position to be in. You know, he will pay you and you figure out how to. How to use your time.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Well, yeah, but there's nothing I can do because all my, like, day job works on a computer. So, yeah, without my laptop, I was stuck. I couldn't go into the office, so I had a nice, relaxing time. It's brilliant.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: And just looking at Instagram, you got 12,200 followers who seem to appreciate your dice as well. So you've got quite a fan base there.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: It's really surprising because I don't take to social media. Well, I don't enjoy social media as much as I should.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: You don't? But you've posted 1251 posts on Instagram.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: But most of them are photos. They're not videos. I feel like to be in this game, you need to be releasing videos every five minutes.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah, look, I'm 100% the same. And not everyone likes just watching reel after reel after reel, you know, myself, I like long play content. I like. I like podcasts and YouTube videos and twitch streams, even, you know.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it just goes to show I've got 12,200 followers and I don't do that. So, you know, it does work. But.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: And are you on TikTok as well?
[00:09:34] Speaker B: I tried it.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: How did that go?
[00:09:37] Speaker B: I did try it. I gave it a good college try.
No, Instagram is the one where I go to. I cross post to Facebook, and that's where I've called it a day. I enjoy making dice, and that's, like, my hobby and all this other stuff. Don't get me wrong. I love talking to people. I love talking to people about dice as well. And some of the comments I get is so, like, humbling and it makes my day, you know, when somebody says something nice. And without social media, I wouldn't get that. So I. It does have. And, you know, I wouldn't get. I wouldn't get the success I get. I wouldn't sell my dice without social media. So there's definitely a place for it, and I'm very thankful for it and everybody that follows me. But it's just one of those things that it's so hard to get right, and it takes a lot of effort, and that takes me away from actually making the dice, which is the bit I love.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: It does. I mean, try running a podcast that takes a horrible amount of time. And look, you know, I've committed to kind of doing a weekly show on this, and it just, you know, it takes so much time. You know, we talk for an hour and a half. Takes maybe, you know, sometimes four or 5 hours to do the editing. And, you know, there's. There's a day go that's a lot. I kind of started this because I thought it's, well, one, it's a challenge because it's such a visual medium we're talking about. We're talking about, you know, dice. And dice is so inherently visual and beautiful, and, you know, everyone's so excited about that. But not everyone always gets to see or hear from Holly. And, you know, what. What makes Holly tick and all of that sort of stuff. So, which gets us onto the topic of style. So, Holly, is there a definitive the dice Djinn style?
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I have no style, really. Like, that sounds really bad, but, no, I don't have a particular style that I stick to, but I enjoy a very eclectic dice making thing. Like, it's very rare that I'll make more than one set of anything. And if I make a set again, I might make tweaks to it, but I love using different inclusions, so I love using feathers. I love glitter. Oh, my God, glitter. I love it. Like, you know, people would be really annoyed if they received a card or they opened something that was covered in glitter or, like, had, like, a glitter bomb. That's, like, my dream. I love glitter. I would cover every surface in my house if I had enough glitter. I mean, I do have enough glitter.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Probably every surface of your house is covered in glitter. If you used it enough.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But, yeah, I love glitter in everything, so. But yeah, anything. I love using washi tapes. I love washi tape. Like, it's such a simple way to do dice, but the art of the washi tape is just absolutely gorgeous. I love galaxy styles, as I say, my character in d and d loves space, the stars, and that's pretty much me. I love the galaxy kind of view of everything, but, yeah, so I'm very eclectic. I love trying out different techniques, different mediums. I've used jasmine night before, but if I can make a dice out of it, I'll try and make a dice out of it. Like, if I'm walking around on a day to day and I see something, oh, that's my main thought process. Like, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about dice. It's a bit weird.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: It's funny. George from Chicken wizard said exactly the same thing. He was telling me about a bee he found and he was so excited about the bee and, oh, yeah, you know, going to, going to put it in a dice. It was dead, obviously.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I'd be the same if I saw a dead bee somewhere. I'd probably try and, like, pick it up and put it in a dice. I've put, I've put wasps in dice before. Oh, really? I've put like, chicken bones. That's edgy in dice as well. Yep. And that was fun.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
I've also seen online that you can buy exotic feathers that have been ethically sourced and things like that.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Well, I do actually buy ethically sourced feathers, like parrot feathers. There's this one shop and they're brilliant. They've basically got an Avery and they wait for feathers to fall off and then they sell those as an extra bit. So all the parrot feathers that I use have been nicely collected from the bottom of cages and stuff. And you can tell the parrots are really look, well looked after because the feathers come in absolute pristine condition.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: They sound amazing and it's always good to find a supplier like that who, you know, does care about those sort of things.
Now, Holly, you've talked about finding inspiration all around you. Now, do you have any other background in art or have you, you know, done any kind of art education or anything like that?
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Yeah, kind of. So when I went to college, I did art and design, which was basically looking at all the different mediums of art and design. Like, we did a little bit of resin. I must admit I didn't click with the resin when we did it, but we did resin photography, printmaking, all sorts of stuff. And I loved it so much. Jewelry making, fashion, loved it. And then I went on to university to do interior design, and that was a lot of, like, planning out and drawing and floor plans and then making, like, little tiny models on, like, a laser cutter, which was really fun, and I enjoyed it. But then in my second year of university, I was kind of like, well, I don't really like the business side of this. So I knew it wasn't what I was going to progress in, but I've always tried to lean more towards creativity and stuff and the fact that now I can make a business out of my hobby, albeit not a full time business, because I'm not brave enough to take the jump.
But the fact that I can make a business out of something that I enjoy, and it's creative, an amazing outlet for my personality, it's brilliant.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Now, looking at your Etsy store, like, your customers seem to love it as well. You've got 1845 sales, almost all five star reviews. People just love what you do. And maintaining that star seller status is actually pretty complicated.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah. So every single month I have a sale. Every single month without fail. There have been a few instances where I've had to delay it by a week or two, but I pretty much always have a sale. And I think the consistency is key to having a successful business to sell dice. And also, I pride myself on customer service as well. Like, if you're not, if you've not got great customer service, then you're not going to sell any dice. Or if you do sell dice, people aren't going to come back. And I would say about 60 or 70% of my sales are repeat customers. And I love that people, like, come back, and they trust me with their hard earned money, especially in this, in the current economic climate, like that, they want to spend their hard earned money on my dice, and it's absolutely fantastic. And I take really good pride in the reviews I get. So I don't ask anybody for reviews. I know I've seen people that are like, leave me a review and they, like, badger you a little bit, and I don't do that at all. Like, if people are going to leave me a review, I want them to leave me a review because they want to. And I want them to be 100% honest. And, I mean, you can see for yourself the reviews I've got there. There are a handful that are four stars, but most of them are all five star. And I really pride myself on that. And the customer service and delivering a good product, that's the most important bit.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: You're absolutely right. And it's so important not just for the coveted star seller status, but something that's often overlooked is your existing customers. People are usually just so focused on new customers.
No, exactly. Exactly.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: No, it's those repeat customers that will keep it coming. And I would be nowhere without them. And they are amazing. You know, every order that I do for repeat customer, they get like, a free little dice. You know, I've got a pot of dice that are either, like, failed or, you know, they're not full set or, you know, they haven't sold. And I'll just chuck some free dice in and just to be like, thank you.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: And Holly, would you have any advice for anyone wanting to sell on Etsy in 2024? I mean, I know it's vastly different to that pre pandemic or during pandemic time.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Yeah. So the market is heavily saturated at the minute. So it is a little bit different from when I was doing it. But all I can say is shout about yourself like social media, as much as I begrudge it sometimes, is what sells. And, you know, not just Instagram, but use Facebook as well. Use like the Goblin dice hoard and handmade dice market. The followings that those two sites have got is incredible. And a lot of my customers have come from there as well because they don't use Instagram. So anybody who's trying to, like, set out in business, make sure you shout about your sales you post regularly and, you know, you do it on your main platforms and go to those Facebook sites. Because I know a lot of dice makers that kind of stay away from Facebook.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: And I get why Facebook is Facebook.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm one of them.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah. But honestly, posting in these groups, you need to be there. You need to do it. But, yeah, it's a confusing world out there. But, yeah, if you're gonna get into it business wise.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: I was having the same conversation with Doug from hedgehog rockworks, and he was saying, you know, get out there as soon as you possibly can. Like, start posting your failures, start posting your experiments and things like that. Start getting it out there and the community will encourage you and offer you feedback. And it's basically that engagement is so much more powerful than just those likes that.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. People love to see a human. They don't want to see a robot. They want to see someone, and that's so important.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: So at what point in your journey do you think you started doing that, that you started just trying to get your dice out there and get your images out there onto the socials?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I think I waited until I was selling. Oh, well, I waited until I got the pressure pot and then I started posting because I knew I was going to sell eventually, at least some of them.
So.
Yeah, I can't remember. It's so long ago now. But I didn't. I don't think I posted anything.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Pre pressure pile, I'm trying to see.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah, you'll not scroll to the bottom.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. I've been, I've been scrolling for a while.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: I've tried a few times myself. It's just not doable.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: And scrolling through your Instagram feed there, you know, I can see there's just so many different colors and inks and dyes and pigments. I bet you've built up quite a collection over the years, right?
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
Oh, I've got so many. I've got absolutely loads. And I still buy more. I still buy more. Like, when I was, like, brand new, I bought some, like, cheap, cheaper stuff, like, cheaper alcohol inks, and then I, when I eventually upgraded to the better quality stuff, and I thought, oh, I don't need these anymore. They're taking up room. I've just gone and bought some really cheap inks because I need them for a certain technique. And I'm so, oh, I've got these inks now. I know I'm playing. I played with Navy. Like, I haven't had that color before, and I've got Navy now, and I'm really excited. I love Navy, so, yeah.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: And it's like, you don't even need to buy the stuff. It just miraculously starts appearing in drawers.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. People want to give you stuff as well. So, like, all my friends and family, if they see something that would, like, look good in a dice or something and they pick it up for me, or, like, if they think that something would look good for the photos that I take, they, like, any props, they're like, oh, bought this for your photos. I was like, oh, thank you. So it just appears, and that's got.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: To really come in handy. And looking at the photos on your instagram, they're absolutely incredible.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: I can't take full credit for that. So there was a certain point where I gave up on my photography, and my sister in law actually does the photos for me every month.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: That's exciting. Yeah.
And, I mean, she does a really good job there. Look, I'm also a big believer in play to your strengths and get people around you who can offset that.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: And it's one of those jobs that I can do it, but I'd prefer not to. I was getting to like the end of the month and I had like 1520 sets to take photos of. And then, you know, you've got to edit them as well and it's just getting so, like, stressful. Yeah, so she does that bit. I also outsource the naming of my dice and on etsy, they have little descriptions, like little story descriptions. I outsource that as well, and my husband does that. So it really is like a bit of a family business at this point.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: That's awesome. So you can, you can really just focus on making the design decisions and.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Coming up with, yeah, it's brilliant. I do like the, I run the etsy, which is obviously not part of the design basis and all that stuff. And I do the postage and packaging. But yes, it does give me more time to cast and like, choose inks and all that lot. And I love that bit. I think my favorite bit of dice making is probably when they come out with the pressure pot, but it can also be the worst bit as well. Like, if, if you've had like a bad day when you're cast in and you take it out the pressure pot and you've just got like a, a bunch of bad ones, it's like the worst thing in the world. But once you get like a pot of absolute crackers, it's the best.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And I also find too, you know, when I, when I open up the pressure pot and there's just a whole bunch of bad ones, it's usually just been poor planning or I haven't kind of, you know, decided what I was going to do before I started mixing resin. But Holly, it sounds like that's something you actually thrive on, right?
[00:23:04] Speaker B: Kind of. So I plan pours to a certain extent. So I'll go in and be like, right, okay, today I'm making some cloud dice and I will make cloud dice. But the colors I might have like, oh, I'm going to do this color in this color. But then halfway through the thing I'm like, well, I've got, I've got ten moulds and I've got resin enough for all of them. So what other colors am I going to do? And that's when I start, like, just grabbing stuff from my shell and just mixing, like, loads of colors and just be like, oh, maybe this will do. This will do. I've actually got one that I pulled the other the day, and it's so, it's clouds, it's leftover bits of resin, and I also just, like, dipped in a bit of blacking. Oh, and it's got gold foil in there and it looks weird as hell. I've not put it in a full mold yet, but I'm really excited to see what it comes out with because they were just in blanks and they looked weird but cool. Like, I actually really liked them. So I'm hoping when they go into, like, their full mold and they come out, there's going to be, like, super shiny and just incredible.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: I'm pretty sure they're going to turn out amazing. Now, obviously, with so many repeat customers, do you get a lot of commissions and things like that?
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so I used to do it and I used to actually open commission slots, but I stopped. They were really stressful, and I very much like sitting in front of my desk and just going crazy. But I do still offer commissions to certain people. Like, I don't advertise it, and I actively say that my commissions are closed. If somebody comes to me and says, oh, do you do commissions? I say normally not, but give me your idea and I'll see if I want to do it. And more often than not, I do end up doing it. So I also do recasts as well. So if a design is quite popular and people ask for another set of it, I'll do a recast.
And I don't really treat that as a commission because, you know, I've already done it. But, yeah, currently I'm doing an art trade and I'm back on, like, a commission kind of style, and I love it. And basically, people can provide me with their descriptions of their character, their, like, art on mood boards or anything like that. Basically anything that gives me a feel for their character or what they want their dice to be. And then I'll look at it and I'll think, oh, well, that would lead really well to, um, some nail stickers that I've got with, like, a galaxy design inside or, um, oh, I think that would lend itself to some feathers. It's very angelic. So get some gold leaf in there, and I'll basically explain out what, like, I'm doing or, like, what I'd like to do for the set and see if they're happy with that. And then if they say, yes, that's like the road I'll go down and then any, any adaptations that they want to make to afterwards, I tend to do. I don't really have, like, a limit where I say, right, I'm gonna create you three sets. If you don't like it by the end of it, I'm not doing it.
I kind of just do it until they're happy.
I think there's only once where I've said no. I just can't get the effect that you're after. I'm sorry.
Yeah, so only one time. But then I say, so I'll do as many as you want, but any that you don't want will then get finished and put in my shop anyway, so it's not. They don't go to waste, which is really nice and most people are okay with that.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: And, Holly, have you had any unusual commissions that you'd like to chat about?
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Yeah, so the strangest commission I've had was actually a friend from work. He's massively into, like, lapping and stuff like that, and he asked me to put his wisdom turf in a dice so that he could make wisdom rolls because he was having it out. And I was like, yeah, sure, like, weird, but, yeah, let's go for it. I actually really enjoyed it. Like, don't get me wrong, I hate teeth. Like, just teeth somebody used to, but, you know, it was wrapped up. I had gloves on the whole time because, you know, it was resin and I cast it in a blank dice, so there was no, like, inclusion protrusion. And then in the main dice, and it was absolutely brilliant and it was great and he loved it. And that's by far the weirdest, probably most grossest thing I've put in a dice.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: But, yeah, one of my favorite dice makers in Australia, diafox, actually put prehistoric shark teeth in dice.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Oh, I think I saw those. They looked insane. They looked so gruesome. I loved them.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: And as gruesome as that is, it still probably feels better to me than putting human teeth in dice.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I get that now.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: Holly, I was chatting with Nichelle, the reliable rogue, and we were chatting about the UK dice scene. You know, is it, is it a large community? Is it growing? Tell us a little bit about dice in the UK.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: So there are two other dice makers I know of in the same city as me, which is great. I've met with both of them and they're absolutely lovely. And then there are dice makers all over the UK. Like, we've met. We've met up a few, like, a few of us have met up last year. Actually, it was amazingly fun. We stayed at a Airbnb and we played loads of board games. It was brilliant.
Yeah, it was amazing. But like, it is definitely not as big as it is in America. Like, I can't. I can't go to my local market and get anybody, anybody's interest in my. In my dice. Like, it's just. It doesn't happen. But I do do quite a few sales in the UK, but most of my. I'd say about 60% of all the dice I make are sent overseas and 40, 50% to America.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I think my book sales of the Crip maker guide mirror that exactly as well. So probably 40% to 50% US, 20% Australia, 10% to the UK.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: And, yeah, a few other small percentage points to some of the other nations.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: I love that you've made a book about it. I haven't seen it. I've been trying to find it and I found it this morning on Amazon and I'm very.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Yeah, you should, you should, you should. And if anyone's looking for that book. Yeah, it. It is available on Amazon. Or go and check out talking Dice Co. There's a link to it down a little bit, down the page. But apart from that, there's just so many great resources out there and it's so helpful having makers actually, you know, showing you how to do things and saying, you know, if you, if you do things this way, you're going to. You're going to at least get some, some decent dice out of it.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, when I started, like four years ago, there wasn't all of that, really. There was a handful of makers that were doing stuff and it was just trying to, like, stalk them and watch them and just drain all of their knowledge, like, if they would, like, talk to me. So, yeah, and like, using other resin techniques. I mean, rabbit holes I've gone down are nail, nail art techniques.
So, like the dragon skin dice that I do, that's a gel nail technique using like soap bubbles, which is incredible. But, yeah, that was so I went down a bit of a hole for that one.
That was fun.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: I love the idea of borrowing different artistic styles from, you know, different creative outlets. You know, things like nail art, miniature painting, you know, traditional resin art. It's just become so huge on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and all of that sort of stuff. And I. There's so much that we can learn from that, you know, and bring to dice making.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Yeah, you find this dice inspiration all over, like anything that you see. Dice inspiration.
Like, I'm still yet to make a dice blank with a bottle of Hendos. And I don't know whether you've ever heard of Henderson's relish. No, but it's made in Sheffield. It's. I can't even describe it. It's like this, like, have you heard of Worcestershire sauce?
[00:30:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: Kind of like that, but way tastier.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Right?
[00:30:58] Speaker B: And you put it on everything. It's great. And it's made here in Sheffield.
And I want to put it, like, want to put the sticker onto a blank dice. And I still haven't yet to do that, but I've got the stickers ready to do it from, like, previous bottles. So, like, I see things like that and that's, like, amazing. Like, Sheffield heritage. So I'm like, oh, I could stick that on dice.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: Now that you mention it, there's probably so many iconic australian brands I'd love to turn into dice. You know, like, apart from the boring vegemite, you know, Bundaberg rum or Bungie rum.
Now, something else you've been getting into a bit lately, holly, is stained glass. Do you want to tell us a bit about that? Yeah.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Yes. I am loving stained glass at the minute. It's a hazardous hobby. I didn't realize how much you would cut yourself from cutting stained glass. Like, you know, you talk about glass and, yeah, glass is glass. You know, it's going to hurt. But, like, watching all these YouTube videos because currently I'm self taught. Like, I've just looked on Facebook. I've looked on YouTube on, like, how to do things and, like, people's, like, how to videos and they make it look so easy.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, they do.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: And they never seem to cut themselves.
There was a week where I had basically a cut on every finger and trying to do dice because I use isopropyl alcohol to clean, like, to ink and clean my dice and stuff. And my. It was so painful.
But I haven't cut myself in about a week. And I am absolutely loving stained glass. Like, I'm starting with the sun catching, but I've got some, like, little daggers that I want to make. Everybody's getting stained glass for their birthdays and Christmas from me. Like, that's just. That's just happening now. But, yeah, I'm loving it. I've got a dragon to make as well. Like, a dragon's head, like, a big one. And I'm really excited for it. It's going to be great.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: First time I saw someone doing that, you know, like, apart from a professional. Was Evan and Caitlin on. On YouTube, like, one of my favorite, you know, maker couples, and. Yeah, and. And they were doing. Doing some stained glass, and I just went, and that looks so much fun. And then when I saw it. When I saw it on your instagram, like, I'm gonna have to try that now.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really good. I must admit, I wouldn't have picked it up if I didn't have the money from doing dice to back it, because it's a quite expensive hobby. Like, the glass is so expensive, but it's incredible. I've got most of the materials now to do it, so all the new materials. I've got a course booked in to actually learn how to do it properly in September. Not that I'm not doing it properly, but obviously you're self taught. And to actually learn things, it's great to get that firsthand from a professional, which is what I'm hoping to do. And the course that I'm going to go to also teaches the traditional stained glass. So that's with, like, the lead came and everything. So the ones I'm doing at the minute is plasters, Tiffany stained glass, and that's where you foil the edges in copper, and then you solder over those edges. But, yeah, it's really fun. And I am hoping to do more. I did try to do, like, a. My God, was that hard? Like, it is not neat at all. I had to walk away from it because I got really annoyed because I put it all together. And as I was putting it together, it was just getting more and more uneven. And it's just this. It's great. It looks brilliant. I've only used, like, scrap pieces of glass from it, and it looks impressive. But you hold. Hold it at the right angle. It looks great. Hold it at any other angle. But, yeah, hopefully I'm going to be doing some, like, three d t twenty.
[00:34:26] Speaker A: S. And I'm pretty sure your customers are going to be seeing a lot more of the stained glass coming up on your Etsy store as well.
And back to the socials for a second. Are there any other dice makers or artists that you think we should follow?
[00:34:39] Speaker B: For dice artists, though? I like to follow everyone, so if somebody makes dice, I want to follow them. So I've picked out three just to. Just to start with, because, yeah, so deep sea dice, they have the most amazing dice. And her galaxy sets are incredible. She actually does a how to of how to make her galaxy sets, and that's what that's where I've got my galaxy set from, like, designed from.
She's absolutely amazing. She captures the night sky in dice absolutely perfectly. Transmutation dice. She's got incredible textures in her dice, and there's stuff that I haven't seen anybody do before. It's incredible, some of the stuff that she comes up with.
And infernal foundry, so they're one of your fellow Aussie makers, and they're quite new. So infernal foundry have been using the necromancy style that was created by or that was coined by false life dice. And it's where you're using, like, clear. You drop ink drops in, and then you've got some, like, glitter, and it makes some absolutely incredible effects. And infernal foundry have been using that technique, and they have been absolutely smashing it. They look incredible. So I think they're definitely one of the new makers to keep an eye out for. There is another one that I really enjoy looking at, archival dice, and they make dice of polymer clay, which is that, like, oven baked clay stuff.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Oh, yes, they're absolutely amazing. And, you know, I'm gonna have to stalk all these people on Instagram now.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: Yes, please do. They're absolutely incredible.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: You know, and I'm such a fan of people who are making dice out of things other than resin. I mean, I love resin dice, but I was checking out Jodie's dice farm the other day. Absolutely incredible. Making dice exclusively out of Jesmyn.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Yeah. The iconus. I really like jesmonite as a media. I don't do it as much as I need as I should, really, but they. They are brilliant to use, but there are a lot more limitations with the design that you can do in jesmonite because obviously, it's completely opaque, but it's amazing. They do make.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I've had. I guess it wouldn't be too dissimilar to using, like, fast set polyurethane resin because that. That dries completely white, so you end up with, like, some really nice dirty pores and, yeah, things like that. But, yeah, a little bit harder for some of the really, you know, interesting and fun effects.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: But, yeah, so one of my favorite, like, designs is, like, the bloops and having, like, little windows of clear in color, and, yeah, that is incredible.
And you just can't do that with, like, opaque dice.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: It's been absolutely amazing. And, you know, thank you for those great recommendations.
Look, if people want to see more of the dice gin and see more of your incredible work, and you you know, hopefully buy some of your dice. What's the best place for people to look for you and to find out?
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Yep, definitely Instagram.
Definitely on Instagram.
Yeah, I'm easiest to contact on there as well, so I'll look at my messages really regularly on Instagram. You can contact me direct on Etsy as well, but the messaging thing on Etsy is not that great, so definitely Instagram.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Holly, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting with you today. Please go and check out the dice gin on Instagram. And Etsy, please buy her dice. They're absolutely amazing, and we really hope to have you back on another episode. Thank you so much.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: Well, thanks. Thank you for having me on the show. It's been absolutely. It's been exciting. I'm looking forward to it coming out.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: 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.
[01:39:42] Speaker B: Well, thank you for having me on the show. It's been exciting. I'm looking forward to it coming out.
The rest of the world wouldn't be able to tell the difference between.
Yeah, they are. Yeah.
But if you're hearing them separately, I. Hearing them separately, I'd struggle. I definitely struggle.
Yeah.
I.
I wish you luck in the editing. That's all I can say.
Oh, me. Yeah, you mentioned pen clicking.
Yeah.
I hope I haven't done too much fidgeting. I've got a really squeaky chair, so you might hear some of that, but, yeah, send me some. Send me some of your, like, graphics or whatever, and I'll share it on my social medias as well, just to make sure it gets everywhere.
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