Digging Too Deep with R.G. Dice Boutique

12 Jul

Written By A.J. Weatherall

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

Episode Summary

“I want to see how deep I can dig into my craft.. I will find a Balrog one day!”. Raquel is a multi-disciplined artist. A painter, sculptor, illustrator, story teller and deep-down nerd who fell into dice making… and we’re all glad she did! Raquel shows us the true meaning of functional fine art through her incredible stained glass and sculpted dice.

Episode Links

[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.
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And in today's episode, we're chatting to Raquel from RG Dice Boutique. Raquel is a true artist, oil painter, sculptor, illustrator, and maker of some of the most incredible stained glass dice you'll ever see. Raquel, it's so good to have you on the show today.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Now, Raquel, before we start talking about your art, you were telling me you prefer being on the DM side of.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: The table, mainly because it's a lot easier to get people to come to you if you dm.
So if you really want to play, you gotta be like, okay, I'm just gonna be the one to bake the cookies and see who comes. And then you get to play a bunch of different characters and not worry about figuring out the problems. Cause you are the problem.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: And have you been doing that for long?
[00:01:32] Speaker B: On and off. I've done it for a few years. I generally do one shots or something that'll maybe take one to two sessions because with just the time, life allows. But the only reason I can do it is because of this life flourish late. See? Dungeon master stuff that has. Oh, my gosh. It's like when people buy waffle mix, right? You could do it all from scratch. But look, this is so much easier.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: It absolutely is. Are there any themes that you really enjoy playing or.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Accidentally? There are. I tend to do a lot of things that involve food.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: My players have noticed because the first thing I did, there was a little fruit festival, and then the fruit was evil. Next thing I did, there was also food involved because it started in a bakery. I did one where it was kind of candyland themed, but then one of my players decided to be a giant gummy bear because I let them go wild. You know, it's a one shot, so come at me. Let's do this. So he was a giant gummy bear, which really ruined the whole premise of turning into candy being a bad thing. So when they went into the gumdrop forest, or whatnot. I decided to make the entire forest be made out of the same exact type of gummy as his flesh. So I turned it into a flesh forest for his character and made him do a bunch of sanity checking.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: That is disturbing. So it turned into, like, a psychological thriller, I'm guessing.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I messed things up real bad. And then I had them come back for a sequel that was actually set in town where they weren't stuck in the Candyland thing. Cause that was actually a display case in a bakery.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: But now one of them owns the bakery and operates it. And then there were murders around town, and everything was themed after breakfast cereal mascots.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Oh, no. Wow.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a bit of a.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Sounds a bit like a twisted adventure time type.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Oh, no. My genre has been described as whimsical horror or, like, murder muppets.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Wow. There's a real niche there.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: I'm a dark, twisted mom, you know? So this is.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: And I think you said when we're chatting before, you were playing with some other moms in a group.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah, there was a couple of times where I've gotten to actually just play as a player. And one of those times was where a friend of ours Dmed, and he said it was like the. His name was Daniel. He's such a sweet guy. And it was Daniel and the moms. That was our group chat, and he ran the most fun little one shot for us, and we all, you could tell we're cooped up. All our characters were just these twisted, wonderful creatures. I was a college of whispers Bardeenen, who was just dark as heck, and it was great.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: There's a bit of a theme there, Raquel, but, Raquel, tell me, how long have you been making dice for?
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Since the summer of 2019.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: You've been at it for a while then.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: So what got you into it? How did you get started?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: I got started because I was falling down a YouTube rabbit hole one day, as you do while on bed rest. So there was really nothing else to do. I'd exhausted everything, and I came upon one of Ribinator's videos.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: That's a common story.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Basically, I share the same origin story as most second generation dice makers. There was the first wave, and then the second wave was kind of like 2019, and a lot of us were like, oh, yeah, I saw ribinator stuff, but I had seen really cute dice on Etsy from.
It was cozy Gamer, and now it's Fennec and Finchley. I was like, oh, my gosh, people make cute dice because my husband told me, you should just play d and d. You like thematic games. So then I was like, well, maybe I should get some dice if I'm going to try and play that game. And then I saw through the Ribinator thing. I was like, wait, people. Human beings in their homes can do this. It's not just big factory things. So then, you know, it's like the bait was there and I bit. And then I started going down that rabbit hole. And five years later, here I am today. But I just had all these tiny paper sculptures that I was making, and I couldn't figure out what to do with them. And I thought, if I put them in dice, then I'm combining a new hobby with a current hobby, and at least dice are practical and functional, so maybe I could fit them in a shoebox and just give them away when I accumulated too many.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Practical and functional. That's exactly why people collect dice, right?
[00:06:08] Speaker B: I've learned a lot since then.
I had big dreams.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: We all succumb to becoming a dice goblin at some point, right?
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, uh. It's been interesting. I feel like I've turned into more of, like, a Moria style dwarf than a goblin because I don't collect, really. I'm bad at it. I don't do it. I'm just not interested. But I want to see how deep I can dig into my craft. Like, I. I will find a Balrog one day.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: I was gonna say, you gotta be careful.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Actually, I just did a dice that is fire themed. Fire and weapon themed. So I literally probably just crafted a balrog dice.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: But do you still like to play with dice? I've spoken to a lot of dice bakers recently who are like, oh, I just, you know, I tend to just roll in D and d beyond now or.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: I always roll physical dice.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Right, okay.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: But I roll poorly. Doesn't matter whose dice. All my luck goes into crafting, and I have none left, right?
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But I'm sure your customers are probably, you know, rolling twenties every. Every second attempt, right?
[00:07:18] Speaker B: I mean, if anyone ever rolls them, I've learned a lot of people, if they own my dice, they are very, very carefully handled. And so I'm not sure how many of them actually get to roll.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: That's a shame. There's that beautiful practicality about them as well. Right?
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Even when I pick my inking for the numbers, there could be something that would make it look like a jeweled treasure. But if it's not legible, then I don't choose that color, I want it to be functional. Like, I want it to be functional, fine art.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: And I've got to say, the older I get, the more I really appreciate those, uh, contrasty dice, too.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like you need some pop in in those numbers.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Oh, 100%. Now, raquel, before you started making dice, what else were you doing? What other artistic pursuits were you involved in? In our chat, before you were talking about painting and, you know, all of these other artistic pursuits, it feels like, you know, dice making is a culmination of a journey, maybe rather than the beginning.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: It's probably just a transition period. I gotta be honest. You know, I don't know how long I'll be here doing this. I love it. But my first love is still probably where my heart lingers in painting. I went to school for fine arts. I focused in painting and portrait work. So if somebody asked me how I would identify myself as an artist, I'd say, well, I'd say I'm a portrait painter who fell into dice making because I really missed that. I love the way that you can take a moment in somebody's life from any kind of photo. You can learn about them from people. Like, I like doing memorial portraits. Not because I like painting people who are gone, but you find these people who are, you know, it's part of, like, what we do in d and D and stuff. You're building up a character, you're building these memories, and there's just something that goes with it. Like, people like to have dice palettes. So when people ask for a memorial portrait, for instance, I get a paragraph or so of stories. I get a picture to them that just says, this is who they were. And then you get, like, five to seven other pictures so that you have references visually. And then you try to combine it all using that one photo that resonates with the person, and then everything you've learned about them. So it's like you tweak colors, you tweak light. You're trying to find a piece of who this person was and a piece of this life and bring it back to somebody who's lost them. And that's. So that's why no matter what I do with dice, like, I would probably give dice up tomorrow if it meant I couldn't do that anymore. But I do love dice, but that's. That's where my heart is.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: But that's the important thing. And that's why this podcast is what it is. It's, you know, shining a light on the artist behind the dice.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Bunch of squishy feelings, that's what.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
Now, you're mentioning before that you feel like the dice get a lot more views and plays than the oil paintings.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Right?
Sorry. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can spend 40 hours. Actually, the longest I spent on a painting was 90 hours, and I put that on instagram. It was up there, and 47 people were like, hey, good job. You, way to paint for 90 hours. My first dice, where I threw some paper sculptures sloppily inside of it. I had to clear coat it with nail polish because I didn't know how to sand and polished. And, you know, it was just like this turducken of learning. And all of a sudden, my account gained 200 something followers, and everyone's like, are you gonna make these and sell them? And I was like, but what about the art?
You know, I always. My classical art was just something I had always wanted to be. Like, I always wanted to be a classical painter. And, you know, the ladies in the film noir, where they're just classy and quiet? I was like, yeah, that's gonna be me. But I opened my mouth, and I'm Dee Dee from Dexter's laboratory, and I feel like that happened with the dice thing. It's like, oh, everyone, like, the world just knows that deep down, I'm a big dork and a nerd. And I was like, but I wanted to be classy, but it's like I found a home.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: But, I mean, it's what people wanted. Look, I was looking at your instagram, and the first reel you've got is like a legends of Zelda oil painting.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: Or something like that that you were doing there. But it has, from what I could see, one play, maybe, I don't know. It could be wrong, but it's. It's absolutely gorgeous. And then, you know, the next. The next one. The dice, 2337. And then you did get a fair few on one of an oil painting there, which was absolutely gorgeous, by the way.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: You need to post more of those.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: I do. I needed. I need to do more of them too.
I like them.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Do you have a separate account for painting work or anything like that?
[00:12:15] Speaker B: I don't, because it's so intermittent. If I was to divide my time between the two, I would just be a ghost.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I guess. They're both quite solitary art forms, aren't they? Both require you to disappear for, you know, periods of time and put your heart and soul into it. But I think the painting, much more the dice. Although looking at your dice, they're so, they're so intricate. I'm guessing that they take a huge amount of time as well.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they kind of come from the same area in a way, because I started doing them because of growing up with a bunch of heavy Italian Catholic. So I grew up staring at stained glass windows for hours, and then I saw people dice colored resin. I was like, I wonder if I could do stained glass. And then as the tinkering evolved, I finally figured it out. I've spent, I think, my record on a single d 20 is like 25 hours because you have to work in layers and you have to not screw up your lines.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Wow. I mean, and that's not even including the, you know, the boring stuff like sanding, polishing. Right.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: That's the worst part. But then there's the designing. You know, you spend 40 hours designing something, and then you're like, okay, how many of these do I have to make before I've made up for that time that I've invested?
[00:13:33] Speaker A: I was going to ask if you designed the stained glass yourself.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: I design everything.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Okay. Nothing I put out did not come from my head. It's like creative Tourette's sometimes, but other times it's very thoroughly thought out before it touches paper.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Tell me about the inspiration behind it. How do you go about getting started with a new dice pad, a new window type or whatever? What goes into the inspiration behind that?
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Well, an idea basically out of the blue is almost always the kickoff. I will be doing the dishes, and, like, a bubble will hit the light and it refracts in a certain way, and it makes me think of something, just the most random starting point. And then I just have to scribble something down on paper so that there's an anchor, and then there's about ten drawings after that. I actually have templates now where I, I have these blank mappings, and I've reorganized the mapping in a way that fits my design style. So I will scribble out my designs there, continuing to develop them, seeing how I think they'll fit, given what the line weight is of my designs, seeing if that looks too busy, if I think that'll block out too much light when it's painted in stuff like that, then when it goes into my digital formats and I'm making my vector files, that's when I really get that hard black and white, and I can see how the lines really work. And sometimes, like, that's too busy or, that's beautiful. No way it'll print.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
I've been down that rabbit hole.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's. It's kind of a. You know, it's like the tide, right? There's this initial splash. The idea is soaking in. And then I kind of have to, like, go over it a few different times before we finally get it right.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: There's some beautiful classical looking designs, but I. You know, then you've also got some geeky ones in there, and, like, this one with different drinks and things like that. Like, I love that.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: That's my love letter to my work wife. That's what I call it. My friend crown and bow dice. She made these glorious tavern sets. We actually became friends over dice, and I'm going to keep her. And I just loved the colors and the vibrancy, and I. You know, the taverns and D and D are so intertwined. I was like, would you mind if I made a stained glass dice based off of, like, the whole tavern thing that you did? Because I just. I loved it so much, and she's like, go for it. And so I did. So that's like my nerdy friend love letter.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Yeah. I love those dice. They're absolutely amazing. The colors on them are just absolutely incredible.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and that's part of what takes a lot. That's part of, you know, any of them that have a bunch of different colors. Certain colors are actually much harder to capture in the first place, so certain hues, you have to do three or four different layers of different colors. It's kind of like watercolors, the way I work, because I can mix things. Okay. But if I'm working in an area and I mix a color, and then that color dries, I don't want to have to trust my mixing abilities to be able to capture it perfectly somewhere else. And you don't want to glob things on to have an intense color, because that can affect things, too. You're painting this thing that's going inside of another shell. You want to be able to sand and polish, because if you burn through your shell, it's all for nothing, and you've killed it, and it's happened, and it hurts so bad.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: I bet it does.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: It's soul crushing. These are all pieces of my soul.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I've chat about it. I've chatted with some other artists about this, and, I mean, the problem with doing shell casting is, you know, they take an unbelievable amount of time, and you have one shot, like, you can't.
You can't screw it up.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: It's terrifying. I've gotten over the anxiety every time I put one in a mold, but there's always that thought in the back of your head. Hope it's okay.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Oh, I can only imagine.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: But I plan things out pretty meticulously at this point. I make little coloring books of my designs, see if I think that my gradients will work and my colors will balance well. But even when I do that, when it gets into the transparencies, you still have to make sure that the way the light refracts and everything doesn't have your contrasting colors, making the dice look like a shiny, glittering ball of poop.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: I think all dice makers have had a poop dice at some point. I've had a couple of dice makers now proudly showing off their poop dice.
It's a good one for the people getting into it, as well. Out there, you know, everyone does it. It's getting past that. That's the key.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Right, which I've gotten better at. But there was a poop dice once, and it's gone. Nobody ever saw it.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: I see a lot of D 20s. Do you ever do full sets of dice?
[00:18:22] Speaker B: I do, but very rarely because those are generally a minimum of 30 plus hours, so.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: And I'm guessing when a lot of people see your dice, they may look at the cost but may not understand the sheer hours and time that go into each one of them. Do you find a lot of the comments on Instagram kind of focus on that rather than the sheer amount of effort that goes into it?
[00:18:50] Speaker B: There's a lot of really kind people that say, I couldn't afford that, but I really appreciate getting to see it. And in truth, I love what I do, but I'm not into dice enough that I would pay for what it takes for me to do what I do with everything, with every trade. Right? I love stained glass. Actually, dice was kind of because I wish I could do stained glass, and I thought I could mimic it, and that's why I'm here.
But while I would love to have a big stained glass window in my house, I'm not at a point in life where the cost would fulfill me even if I got my hands on the piece, you know? And there's that balance for people. I can only make what I can make with the time I have and the things I make take the time that they do. And if somebody is willing and wanting and can happily invest in that, then, you know, fantastic, and we're both happy. But I've been at a convention, and somebody was looking at, like, a $950 piece, and they're like, oh, and their friend's like, don't do it. I'm like, listen to your friend. If they're looking out for you, like, don't. Don't buy something that you're gonna feel bad about later. Like, I don't want that. I will. I will lay on them, other than the d four s like a dragon, and be happy to. I don't need to part with them. It's just organically turned into this, and I'm happy to share it, but at the same time, I don't want anyone to make bad choices.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: Yeah, but I think that sentiment applies to any art, right? I mean, art is generally a luxury for people. And, you know, it's not just a case of if they can afford it, but, you know, can they afford to have it in their lives and all of that sort of stuff. And, you know, I think that's, that's such a, you know, that's such an important thing about art. And artists usually are like that. They want to, you know, they want it to go to good homes. They want it to go to people who enjoy it, you know, and are willing to pay for it and all of that sort of stuff. I think that's. That's how art has thrived over the, you know, hundreds of thousands of years of us, you know.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Putting anything to paper, you know?
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. You know, and I feel really glad that I'm in a place where I have the luxury to make them, because if I was. If I was trying to do this full time, it would have. It would be such a different kind of balance of things. And I don't think that I could focus on the artistry of the big pieces that I do. On the other hand, I am working on some more accessible. I use quotations because it's always based on people's perspective. I'm working on some more accessible design ideas and versions of painting, some of my existing designs, because I would like to share with people more. And if I've got the time and I can think of some things that would be nice to make, you know, I'd like to do that. But, you know, it's just kind of one of those things where I'm really happy to always refer people to artists that I think do amazing work. If my stuff is outside of that ballpark, I want people to feel good about where they land with their. With their dice, even if it's not my dice.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Now, Raquel, we've talked a lot about stained glass, but, you know, are there any other types of dice that you like to make.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I started in the paper sculpture and whatnot. So what I was originally known for was I make these little sphere biomes.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I can see them on your Instagram page.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: You'd have to go way back on Instagram.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: But they are there. So I made a wizard's desk. So I hand sculpted these tiny little wooden planks on a sphere. I made water lily ones where I hand sculpted tiny lily pads. And then I paper sculpted my water lilies, and I would put those in. D really do miss those, because the sculpture and the painting of the sculptures is also part of what I love. Ive thought about bringing those back every now and then just to refresh my soul, but I think you should.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: I think thats the joy of it, all right. Is coming back to what inspires you. And I think, you know, at the point where you're at now, you've got, you know, nearly 30,000 followers, and I'm guessing, you know, like, a fair few recurring customers. You know, I think they probably want to see what, you know, what's in your soul right now, you know, Cheetos.
[00:23:04] Speaker B: Look, there's a cheeto in a dice. I'm like, you guys wanted to see my soul? I really like, this is what I got. And it's like a cheeto from under the car seat.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: That might be the next release, you know?
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Stay tuned for the Cheeto drop.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Cheeto drop 2025.
Stay tuned.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: It could happen.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Yeah. But actually, you know, that's kind of why when I got the printer this last year, it was so that I could kind of crank out designs that were a little more of a fleeting.
Just like a fleeting thing. It's like, I don't have to only make designs that I think will have some sort of reoccurring success or draw. I can make a design where I'm like, hey, guys, I know that this is silly and a bit backwards, but it's also me. So here we go. Um, stuff like that. It's a little bit, uh, empowering in a way, but I do want to bring back those circles. I just need to upsize them because I want them in my 25 mm d 20s, not the little 20 ones. And I just never got around to resculpting those bases.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Well, I mean, if you can do that with a 25 mil, you should try doing a 90 mil or, you know, one of those mega chunks or something.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: No, it ruins it.
[00:24:27] Speaker A: So you haven't. You haven't attempted any, like, I mean, I was looking at your dice going, wow, they must be huge because they're so detailed.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: You can see the ridges of my fingernail if I don't wear gloves. Like, there's some. Like, there's some cuticle horror on my instagram.
But, no, I mean. So basically, since my final dice are about 25. Mm, my inserts are around 23.
My whole goal was to make something that didn't feel awkward in the hand.
I didn't want people to worry about a thunk when they rolled the dice. Like, I mean, chonks are cool, but I just.
And I also. I don't like to work with that much resin, so the most resin I work with at a time is 60. So those are, like, my biggest batches I ever mix, which keeps my. Keeps my area pretty easy to.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Well, I mean, and it's a bit of a technicality, but when you get to those big ones, you got to start worrying about things like flash curing, and no one likes to come back to a smoking dice mold, you know?
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and then they're just so big. So if you're doing art for that big thing, like, technically, it could be easier to paint, but you're using so much more materials, and then there's more surface area to paint. And depending on your detail level, and some of us might, you know, sacrifice their mental and, like, orbital health to hyper focus on what they're painting, which is something I will raise my hand on if I grow bigger.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Waving your hands here?
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Yeah. We're all like, hey, if I go bigger, I'm just going to go harder. I can't afford to go harder.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: You know, you're doing an awful lot of stained glass dice now. I was chatting to Holly from the dice gin, and she's gotten into stained glass making. Have you. Have you given that a go?
[00:26:27] Speaker B: I. I've come very close to pulling the trigger a few times.
I was going to start actually in December, but then a couple unplanned surgeries and stuff, and I've been set back a little bit, but it's still on the horizon. It's part of why it's like, well, you know, I don't know how long I'll be in dice, but I. I do want to move forward into that. And we're getting rid of all of our baby stuff this summer in the garage, so the workbench is going to be cleared off, and. And I. So I think this next December, I'm. I'm going to elevate my tinkering game.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: But Holly's been loving it, and, you know, she's also trying to channel the geekiness into that as well, and, you know, find different, different ways and finding different artists who are doing that as well.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: So I've thought I want to actually turn my stained glass dice designs into lamps. Yeah, do actual stained glass lamps. I thought that would be fun.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. And I think seeing some of your designs in that kind of format would be absolutely incredible. I can imagine a lot more of the color coming from the glass combinations, you know, than any actual painting, but, yeah, I think that would look incredible.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a whole new uncharted world, so I'm hoping I get to dive into it this year. Yeah. Just kind of a big. It's a big step because I don't.
I don't practice moderation very well. I did it with dice a little bit. I was kind of like, okay, I'll try uv resin and a small, little curing thing and just make a few things, and then.
Yeah.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: How many pressure pots do you own now?
[00:28:09] Speaker B: Only one.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Only one. Wow. That.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: That's only one. And I downsized recently.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: That is moderation.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: Well, it's because I don't like to use a lot of resin at a time, because with the stained glass stuff, there's so many crevices that I'm very, very focused on. Whenever I find, do a final casting of something, I don't ever want to risk leaving the resin out too long so that it doesn't, you know, pressurize and, like, kill the bubbles properly. So my paranoia is what holds me back.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: And speaking of paranoia, how do you feel about, you know, time saving devices like vibratory tumblers and, you know, things that some dice makers like to use?
[00:28:49] Speaker B: When I've the results I've seen from them, I'm sure some people get them great, but the results I've seen from them, there's always some sort of dimpling on the surface. Yeah. And if I'm going to spend, like, ten to 15 hours on an insert, I am pot committed to perfection. So it's like, I'm not going to let something like that be automated and that there's a lot of things where I feel like something could be good enough, and I go, you know, seven extra miles, because I know that most of my, like, clientele, or most of my customers, they are collectors. And if. If I am making something that they want to, you know, enjoy and obsess over, well, I'm going to obsess over it to make it worthy. Like, that's what I want. Like, I want to make things that are worthy of the enthusiasm that I have seen goblins bring to the table.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: And that's another business slogan right there.
But around the socials, Raquel, Instagram, you know, YouTube, TikTok, all of that sort of stuff. Who are the people that we should be following? Who are the people that get Rochelle excited when their work pops up on her feed?
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Well, definitely crown and bow.
Crown and bow is, you know, watched crown and bow from the get go. Just amazing artist. Also obsessive. A lot of people might already know alchemical gems, but that was the very first dice maker I followed and is also a bit responsible for me being here in the first place. Yeah.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: And, you know, alchemical gems is amazing.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: Yeah, she's, she's really talented. She. It's actually her fault. She shared my very first, like, dice that I put stuff in, and that's why things started. So she was that snowball that caused this avalanche in my life. Yeah. So I'm like, she. It's her fault that I'm here. But, yeah, she's. I love every time she posts, you know, everybody knows ynir, but there's a decus dice. Oh, it's decuss workshop now because they're geniuses and do a bunch of other stuff too. And they make really good tea. They make really good tea. I'm not even kidding.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: As you can tell by the fact that my intensity went up to eleven just now.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: So you're not kidding?
[00:31:02] Speaker B: No. I don't kid about my tea.
My children know this. They play kitchen. They bring me a matcha latte. Okay. Their warlock tea is so good. And you just put like, a teaspoon of sugar and just like a little bit of whole milk, and it's like you can pick up the, like, floral notes in ithemenous and you just want to sit at a sunrise with it and plot world domination. It is so good.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Andrew Kell. What about outside of Dyson D and D, like, painters, oil or acrylic or otherwise, that we should be following?
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, there are so many painters, I don't even know where to start. James Musil is probably my favorite landscape artist, who just every time I see his paintings, it just makes my day.
And even though I work in oil. Yeah, he makes me want to work in acrylic more.
[00:31:57] Speaker A: Yeah, his paintings are gorgeous.
And not being a painter myself, is there much of a difference between working with oil and acrylic? Really?
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Like, people can achieve visual similarities they can, but the medium itself works much differently. Acrylics are drying at rapid speeds.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: I was going to say my only experience is back, you know, back in high school or whatever, and finding that I'd always smudge oil paintings with my hand, like, constantly.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And most people don't have to try and use, like, a retardant with their oil paints, because oil paints take so long to dry. You can work it. It's really hard to not gray and muddy your oil paints. A lot of times, people will add different mediums to try and speed up the quickness so they can build their layers if they're not doing everything alla prima. But then you see acrylic artists, and the trick with them is having everything not be kind of dry and chunky and lacking that, like, buttery artistic blur that you get with oil paints. And so when you see somebody like James doing this kind of a vibrant but surreal and soft acrylic, he has so many hard edges, and you can see his brush strokes, but it just kind of captures that whimsy that more impressionistic painters have with oil.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: And his use of color is absolutely incredible.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: Oh, right. Well, and then the undertones that he uses, so they shine through the gaps. I used it on a portrait I did of my son when he has just, like, a bright blue sky behind him, and it worked so well. And I did that one in acrylic, kind of just watching his videos for how to not make it just look chalky and dull and, yeah, he's just a really inspiring painter. Probably one of my favorites that I followed since the early days of me having an Instagram.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: You were talking before about the difference in views. But James Musil has 458,000 followers.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Because he's a genius.
I'm a tinkering hag in my upstairs room that used to be a nursery. This.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: Man, your paintings are incredible.
Don't undersell yourself. Don't undersell yourself. They're amazing.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: But, you know, it's just, like, there's people like this in the world that just make me so happy, because I feel like art is never gonna be dead, you know? And it's neat because, like, he'll sell prints and whatnot. But the hard part is, which ones do you choose? And that's the only hard thing.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: I think I'm gonna have to go and watch some of his videos. He's got some great reels there.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: It's addicting. It's addicting.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: But in fairness, I used to watch a lot of it's gonna be the.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: Next hour of your life and you'll never regret it.
[00:34:46] Speaker A: In fairness, I used to watch a lot of Bob Ross videos, too, so I love him.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: I did, too. I watched so much Bob Ross growing up. My nona would put it on and none of us were painting, but we would just watch Bob.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: It was so relaxing. But I read recently that he used to be an air Force drill instructor.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: What?
[00:35:08] Speaker A: And when he got out of the forces, he just wanted to, you know, do something less angry.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: What would that be like if you're somebody who knew Bob Ross as a drill instructor and then later in life, you watch his craft and his channel flourish in such a way and you're like, I never knew that Mandev. Or was he like that when he wasn't instructing? Like, was he really chill off the drill.
Now I'm curious.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm sure. I'm sure anything his recruits were doing was never a happy little accident, you know?
[00:35:44] Speaker B: But now I want an NPC based off of this. See, this is why I like being a DM.
I want an NPC based off of.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: Bob Ross, the relaxing one, or the drill instructor, or a bit of both. But without giving away any of your big secrets, Raquel, is there any tips that you would have for anyone wanting to get into dice making?
[00:36:08] Speaker B: I would think that.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: No, don't do it.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Running away is a good first step. Secondly, I think just people need to understand that failure is built into any kind of a creative learning curve. Just number one, also, do your research first. Understand the safety equipment you'll need. Understand what all of the little bits and pieces of the materials that you will need to achieve what you are trying to do are going to cost, because I've seen a lot of people pick it up and then within a year or two, it's not a sustainable thing. They're getting rid, like, they go in hard and they go in fast and then they burn out, you know, and if you really want to try it and you're doing it for you and I'm not going to regret this, then absolutely. Great. I just. It makes me sad when I see people that. That burn hot and burn fast and then they burn out.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: You know, like, I. I think it's a really beautiful craft. I really do. So I would recommend people just doing their research and easing in as much as they can.
Get a feel for it. Give yourself room for forgiveness. Don't make it a thing where you feel pressured to be this successful pinnacle of a dice maker when you're just starting out. A lot of people shame themselves on their work. So this might be a little bit of a tough love. But, hey, if you're learning a craft, don't boo hoo about not being as good as people who've been doing it for years.
Admire what you're doing and what you're achieving.
There's a lot of times, right, I've met people and they're like, oh, well, it's nothing like. Like this or nothing like that. I'm like, who cares? You're you. This is great.
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Are you going to take your own advice there, Raquel? Because we had the same conversation about. About painters. So what do you mean?
[00:38:02] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know what this. I don't know what this parallel you're trying to draw might be fair.
Ah, darn truth. Call out. So. But anyway, back to the whole dice maker thing. I just think people need to, you know, not me, but people need to appreciate their skillset for where they are and just, you know, enjoy the craft and enjoy that. That journey, because I think there's way too much self deprecating in dice and probably other areas of life, hypothetically.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: And, Rickel, what's the best place for people to reach out to you and, you know, buy your incredible artworks? I'm going to call them artworks. I'm not going to call them dice. They're artworks. They're beautiful.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: You mean the shiny pieces of my soul?
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, where can people buy shiny pieces of Raquel's soul?
[00:38:59] Speaker B: They can be found on my website, which is just rgdiceboutique.com. i have a contact form, so if people don't see what they want or they want to do a commission thing, I don't have a commission form, but that's the best place to reach out to me for any interest whatsoever. And Instagram is okay, but things can get buried far too easily. So I highly suggest email, but I will not ignore Instagram. It just might get lost at some point.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: Raquel, thank you so much for being on the program. I've had such a blast chatting to you, and I'm sure our listeners have really enjoyed it as well. Please follow rg dice boutique on Instagram. And if you're a collector, please check out our website, buy her dice. They will be the absolute highlight of your collection. And that's all we've got time for today. So thank you so much for listening to talking dice.
[00:39:50] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:40:00] 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.

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