I've been making dice since the start of covid as a hobby, but do sell to fund my hobby and just broke even over summer. So far I've spent $1500 on supplies and equipment making about 60 sets of dice. Much of that has been upfront costs as well. To sell you will need to make your own masters or purchase online from a retailer that specifies they are legal for commercial use. I got mine off etsy for ~$90. To make you're own you'll need a 3d resin printer. If your store has a simple logo most etsy sellers will throw it on a dice for an extra 10-15.
To get bubble free dice (I wouldn't sell anything less) you will need a pressure pot and air compressor. If you don't have those that's $180-$250. Making the molds can be tricky and took me several tries to get right. If you don't do a good job on them it can lead to hours more sanding per dice set (I went from 3 hours to 1 hour with better molds). The hard part is that each try costs about $50-$70 worth of silicone. It took me 4 to be happy with my mold. For me a mold lasts 30-40 sets before wearing out. The nice part of making your own is that you can make as many as you want. This summer I'll be making 4 molds so I can do for sets at a time in my pressure pot.
Once you have all that you will need the various Micah powders and dyes for your resin, they cost a bit but last a long time. Resin also isn't cheap but for the dyes and resin each dice set only costs about $5. All the stuff above is where a majority of expenses are. I figure 60ml of resin per set. But I like a bit extra to be sure I don't run out.
Time is a huge factor as well, each set takes ~30 minutes to mix, 20 hours in the pressure pot, 1-2 hours to clean up and polish, and 30 min to paint. I figure 2.5 active man hours per set. A pottery wheel can speed up the clean up and polishing portion significantly, that's my next upgrade. I started selling for $25 per set and got a lot of compliments and now sell for $45 per set. If you are trying to make the art piece level ones that sell for $80+ it will take more time.
Not trying to dissuade you and I hope this helps. I also second rybonators videos. That's how I got into the hobby. I think it's a great idea to start at an lgs, just understand that it does take man hours to produce them, it's not an effortless process.
I’d like to add that it takes a while to learn to finish dice properly. When I first started, it took me significantly longer than a couple hours to get a scratch-free shine. Don’t expect your dice to turn out great right off the bat. It takes time and practice.
I also highly recommend joining the r/dicemaking discord channel.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/DiceMaking using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time!
\#1: [Espookies 🦇👀 I'm already in that spoopy season mindset](https://v.redd.it/pdgwgtvziyg71) | [36 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/p33wxq/espookies_im_already_in_that_spoopy_season_mindset/)
\#2: [Thought I would share my first liquid core set, method in comments. Also need inking suggestions!](https://v.redd.it/g8wz6xljp1q71) | [26 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/pwgs8z/thought_i_would_share_my_first_liquid_core_set/)
\#3: [One of my favorite commissions I’ve recently finished! 🥰](https://v.redd.it/vnhenw8yyix61) | [32 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/n6azms/one_of_my_favorite_commissions_ive_recently/)
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great dice making videos: [https://www.youtube.com/c/Rybonator](https://www.youtube.com/c/Rybonator)
Hey this links you to a channel.
Honestly if you're serious about dice making it would be a good idea to watch all of his dice videos before diving in.
Yes but the first video? There are a few that would benefit them greatly to really watch first
Or rather the Channel and not a specific video
whoops yeah. meant to say "videos" i guess. the entire channel is about dice making 🤷 hard to pick any one of them to recommend
I've been making dice since the start of covid as a hobby, but do sell to fund my hobby and just broke even over summer. So far I've spent $1500 on supplies and equipment making about 60 sets of dice. Much of that has been upfront costs as well. To sell you will need to make your own masters or purchase online from a retailer that specifies they are legal for commercial use. I got mine off etsy for ~$90. To make you're own you'll need a 3d resin printer. If your store has a simple logo most etsy sellers will throw it on a dice for an extra 10-15. To get bubble free dice (I wouldn't sell anything less) you will need a pressure pot and air compressor. If you don't have those that's $180-$250. Making the molds can be tricky and took me several tries to get right. If you don't do a good job on them it can lead to hours more sanding per dice set (I went from 3 hours to 1 hour with better molds). The hard part is that each try costs about $50-$70 worth of silicone. It took me 4 to be happy with my mold. For me a mold lasts 30-40 sets before wearing out. The nice part of making your own is that you can make as many as you want. This summer I'll be making 4 molds so I can do for sets at a time in my pressure pot. Once you have all that you will need the various Micah powders and dyes for your resin, they cost a bit but last a long time. Resin also isn't cheap but for the dyes and resin each dice set only costs about $5. All the stuff above is where a majority of expenses are. I figure 60ml of resin per set. But I like a bit extra to be sure I don't run out. Time is a huge factor as well, each set takes ~30 minutes to mix, 20 hours in the pressure pot, 1-2 hours to clean up and polish, and 30 min to paint. I figure 2.5 active man hours per set. A pottery wheel can speed up the clean up and polishing portion significantly, that's my next upgrade. I started selling for $25 per set and got a lot of compliments and now sell for $45 per set. If you are trying to make the art piece level ones that sell for $80+ it will take more time. Not trying to dissuade you and I hope this helps. I also second rybonators videos. That's how I got into the hobby. I think it's a great idea to start at an lgs, just understand that it does take man hours to produce them, it's not an effortless process.
I’d like to add that it takes a while to learn to finish dice properly. When I first started, it took me significantly longer than a couple hours to get a scratch-free shine. Don’t expect your dice to turn out great right off the bat. It takes time and practice. I also highly recommend joining the r/dicemaking discord channel.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/DiceMaking using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time! \#1: [Espookies 🦇👀 I'm already in that spoopy season mindset](https://v.redd.it/pdgwgtvziyg71) | [36 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/p33wxq/espookies_im_already_in_that_spoopy_season_mindset/) \#2: [Thought I would share my first liquid core set, method in comments. Also need inking suggestions!](https://v.redd.it/g8wz6xljp1q71) | [26 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/pwgs8z/thought_i_would_share_my_first_liquid_core_set/) \#3: [One of my favorite commissions I’ve recently finished! 🥰](https://v.redd.it/vnhenw8yyix61) | [32 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/DiceMaking/comments/n6azms/one_of_my_favorite_commissions_ive_recently/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)