Lots of good information here. Thanks for the comment and helping folks out!

@@DruidDice There's probably a lot more I could add... If you don't have a pressure pot then you need extra steps and techniques to get the same results. Resin has a casting depth (or pouring depth) and that is the depth that the resin will naturally release bubbles to the surface. Dice makers like to use a surface coat style of resin because it cures more quickly and it typically has a casting depth of 1/8" (~3mm). What that means is you need to pour a shallow layer and let it cure until it gets to the "set to touch" stage of the cure (it's very sticky and the resin is solid enough that it takes and retains shapes that are applied to it - this is the stage that applied numbers will be retained, the prior stages just want to self-level) then pour another layer. A standard Chessex set ranges from 16mm for the d6 to 20mm for the d20. What that means is that you need to pour upwards of seven layers without techniques before you can apply the mold cap with that size of dice, with techniques you can get it to 3-5 pours. You also want cap molds for dice of the same size (or same pour) so they can all be capped at the same time. If you try and pour without doing it in layers you'll notice that you'll get bubbles on the numbers at about 1/3 of the way up the dice and you'll have bubbles underneath the cap or along the sides of sloping dice (e.g. d20). A pressure pot won't necessarily fix the bubbles at the numbers, so that's something you'll have to fish out when you see deep bubbles while using a pressure pot. Mixing resins - Pour the hardener in first and the resin on top of it. I gently stir for a 20 count (~10 rotations around the cup in that time) and scrape the sides and repeat until I don't see streaks (which is usually 9-10 times, 3+ mins). I've found that if you mix this way you can scrape the sides without issues (bubbles or incurable resin). If you are using a pressure pot then this doesn't matter as much. The topic that everyone gets excited about is colorants. In resin, the saying is "embrace the unexpected" because you just can guarantee anything will come out the way you planned. So to get the best results you need to know a bit about how colors interact. The first thing and this is key, is the ratio of colorants shouldn't make up more than 1/10 of the resin, going beyond this will get weird results, but with experimentation, it could be exactly what you want. So if a set of dice is 40ml, then no more than 4ml should be colorants. There's some room to flex on that rule but that's an advanced subject. There are three main types that dice makers use, alcohol ink, pastes, and dry pastes (this includes mica powders). Quality is important with colorants, or you have to use a lot of the colorant to get the result you want. In the end, it comes down to who makes the best color that you want to use if you don't want to make it yourself. I recommend getting primary colors and mixing your own colors. Art is as much about exploring as it is about expressing yourself, but time is money so figure out what works for you. Colorants also have different weights and that affects how they interact with each other. Some colorants are specifically designed to sink or float. Alcohol inks are common, easy to obtain, and used with multiple other mediums, they come in opaque or translucent. If you use too much alcohol ink the resin cure time will change - and sometimes drastically. The quantity of alcohol ink will determine how light or dark the color will appear and colorfastness can be an issue, but there are special inks designed to deal with these issues. These are considered lower quality than the other types of colorants, but there are some good varieties and everyone has their opinions on which is best. Just remember to shake them vigorously before use. Alcohol inks can have a shelflife, but it's more dependent on how long you leave the caps off. These tend to be more neutrally buoyant unless you get too heavy-handed with the inks. Pastes are very vibrant colors and they don't have the same colorfast issues that alcohol inks have to deal with. Pastes tend to go a lot farther, meaning a small blob on a toothpick is enough to color 4oz, and using more or less won't necessarily change the color. These are made from dry pastes. Make sure the containers have had time to settle if you've been moving them around because they have a tendency to stick to the lid. Pastes need to be stirred before use (1/day is good). Pastes have a shelf life of about a year before they start to dry out (they start getting chunky before they go dry), but they can be reconditioned. Pastes are made to both float and sink, and they will often be marked as such in various terms (base/top coat, cell, tint, etc). Dry pastes are vibrant colors with great effects and they last nearly forever. They can be made of natural or synthetic materials. People that make their own colorants usually start making dry pastes. It's not uncommon for people to get a particular shade of dirt/clay, rock, dried vegetable matter, glass, etc and then go from there. Dry pastes are usually heavier and sink, but it does require experimentation to be sure. I've gotten Petri-style results using mica powders on top of clear resin and alcohol inks, but if you use too much it'll sink right through to the bottom of the die. Dry pastes can also be used to dry brush molds or even the top of resin at various stages in its cure (use a silicone brush). Other things can be used as a colorant, it's all about experimentation. Spraypaint works well, small amounts of oil paint can as well (too much and it'll cure as slow as an oil painting), various calligraphy inks, glitters and crushed glass are also popular, and inserts are getting to be more common (but they need to be coated in resin or lacquer prior to insertion to avoid bubbles - I recommend putting them in small cabochons and then putting the cabochons in the dice, it's a nice control mechanism nothing more). Two things to note... First, if you are selling your dice and you add foodstuff, vegetable matter, scents, makeup, or any other kind of allergen to dice then make sure you list what you put in them for people that have allergies. Second, resin doesn't interact well with water (it'll become slime that won't cure correctly), so acrylic paints are to be used with caution. I advise playing with new materials in small batches before putting them into a mold because some things can destroy your molds and silicone is more expensive than resin. That's my extra 2-cents.

Gonna be honest Joshua. Odds are high you know more about mold making and casting that 95%+ of dice makers on youtube. The biggest con of the dice making community is that techniques for making dice are any different than any other kind of casting or mold making. If it is a valid technique for a coaster or a miniature, it is probably valid for gaming dice too.

@@JoshuaCairns I read your full posts and am very impressed. Please take a second look at your calculations for depth of pour. There are too many examples of dice moulds functioning with single pours.

@@sp10sn What I was trying to portray was bubble management in pouring, and it looks like I didn't portray it well. There are a lot of ways to pour when you don't have a pressure pot and I definitely have poured in shallow layers for certain effects and at different stages of curing. You can pour all at once, but if you don't manage your bubbles you'll have a repair-heavy mess on your hands and you'll be limited on the type of effects you can portray. Ultimately, you need to be aware of your bubbles and how they are going to release, whether it's through your resin's natural release mechanisms or through other means. Alcohol inks/dyes or small amounts of high concentration isopropyl alcohol can be added to increase the bubble release, but too much can cause cure inhibition (or at best, weakness and or sponginess), and when you de-mold, flash curing as the alcohol gases release - so don't forget to give your resin a chance to breathe for at least 3 minutes before you add your cap/close your mold. You can also add small amounts of alchol while mixing the resin as well - again letting it breathe before adding alcohol-based colorants. Letting your resin de-gas in a wide shallow container for a few minutes can also help release bubbles naturally. Pouring later into your pot life can also help and/or add effects (that's how I get dice to look like old-fashioned ribbon candy, but I'm into the gel state when I pour). Always pour on a guide stick or on the top surface of your mold, and if you pour into the mold, pour into one area to avoid trapping air under the resin (it's the same with silicone). Adding vents into your molds can help dice to release the trapped air, or allow you to add more resin, YMMV (do some homework on mold making - not exclusively from dice makers either). Experiment like crazy and have fun. Let your mistakes become success as you discover new ways to do something. There are people that discovered how to use water-based colorants in resin without problems. For a while, I was intentionally putting too much alcohol into my resin bound for dice molds, and when I would de-mold a void of alcohol gasses and resin would pour out and create a waterfall effect - the void had to be repaired but it gave a very interesting effect that I can't replicate in any other way. Making dice without a pressure pot is rewarding, but it requires more care and additional steps to be successful. I relate dice making without a pressure pot to candy making without cornstarch, it's more than possible but precision is king, and planning the extra steps is vital to avoid making a mess.

Because most UV resin has on the thicker side, it's really hard to get it into the super tiny little holes that you can get. I've had success repairing backholes but it's the teeny tiny ones that are just about impossible. I'll do a little bit of research and testing and see if I can't find something out!

As for pressure pot, I got a cheap 10l vevor pot for £75 (UK) and for around £20 parts to convert it to be used with a floor pump that you use to pump up bike tires, takes under 10 mins to get it too 65psi, the pot is rated at 80psi max, so although still not exactly cheap but definitely the cheapest approach.

@@Stu81please explain how you did that I’m so curious and the price is a massive problem for me too

That's awesome!

@@DruidDice if I can’t afford the pressure pot listed, what would be one under 200 that you would suggest?

That's a great point. Thanks for sharing!

I'm going to be redoing this test using a bunch of different resins to see which one works best for non-pressure casting! Should be ready in a couple weeks

Thank you!

Thank you for your kind words ♥️

Happy to help. I can't help but be silly, especially with such a big information dump. Got to break it up with a little bit of levity every now and again ❤️ thanks for the order and can't wait to see what you create!

Lol your right 😂

Yes you shave off a bit of pot life due to jump starting the curing process

@@DruidDice Guess im gonna have to watch this video a few more times with glitter as well as petri when i do it again and again

Small tears are not a issue as the silicone self seals back. You should be getting 10+ pulls before any tears, then you get 30~ before number tear out. The heat from the resin curing degrades the silicone over time. The molds I use are all pretty old tbh!

You want to avoid clamps for any excessively heavy object because it can deform the silicone and cause your dice to become misshapen. You could also cause unnecessary squeeze out of the resin leaving with voids.

On a budget and don't mind tinkering, go for harbor freight. You can get a 2 and 1/2 gallon and modify it for under 150 bucks. Don't want to mess with the crap quality, hit and miss reliability? Go for a California Air tools pot. You can usually find them for around $300. Price is more but the quality and reliability is worth it. "Buy once cry once."

I'm not tried that but that's an interesting idea to help keep the resin thing in debubble while in mold.

Totally would be you don't need to really go any higher than 30 PSI for most resin casting

A pressure cooker won't work because it uses water +heat to create pressure and it also only does maybe 10 to 20 psi. That's why you see people using the industrial ones as you mentioned. Harbor freight has a $99 one that you can retrofit for 10 or 15 dollars it'll work but after about 6 months to a year of use at most the aluminum parts on it start to fail and so does the gasket you don't have to end up buying another one anyway. You could also DIY one using PVC but if you've never used it before and they're not familiar with that I wouldn't recommend it. Better to get one that's made and tested then mess around with creating high velocity shrapnel.

On average, you should expect to get about 20 to 30 pulls before major rips and tears, I know a few people who have gone 60 plus! The stress of the heating and cooling of the resin during the curing process, the molds start to deteriorate. So at the very least, after about 30 poles, depending on how hot your resin gets, you'll start to notice they're not quite as shiny before any post cleanup.

That's what I do. I only use the vacuum chamber for silicone, but then I also put it in the pressure pot as an extra precaution. Resin I only do in the pressure pot and skip the vacuum chamber.

Not at all in any statistically meaningful way!

what is it called?

@@anonymousonyx7755 got it from Amazon and it's like a blue and purpley red bottle. Lemme get it for ya

@@anonymousonyx7755 Teexpert Epoxy Resin Crystal Clear: 64OZ Epoxy Resin kit Fast Curing Heat Resistant for Casting Coating Art DIY Craft Jewelry Wood Table Top Flower Preservation- 2 Part(32OZ Resin and 32OZ Hardener)

@@anonymousonyx7755 Amazon and their long names.

Lolol The patron saint of dice casting of course!

It's a jomez pro stamp Follow flight DD felon

@@DruidDice Thank you. I love me some DD plastic and the boys at Jomez are the best.

Yay typos 😄

@@simulatedfish1995 That's awesome! I also lowkey respect the self insert.

@@MySqueezingArm whoops not sure how that happened but here we are 😂

@@DruidDice hahahaha. Great video btw. Thanks for putting it out there.

Thanks for the great feedback 👍

@@DruidDice Ok I was being mean but now I feel bad. It's just that I try to keep perfect corners even after dice processing. When selling to people it's important to give them the quality you would like to receive. It just makes me sad that people priorities time saving and profit over the quality they offer.

I only use are b grade and really old molds for my personal casting. I promise this doesn't reflect our quality. But it's a fair point that I should showcase our best. There wasn't a focus on the dice set as much as the process for this video so I didn't pay it much attention.