How to Make a Ten-Sided Dice
Making your own ten-sided dice is a good way to bring a personal touch to your role-playing games. It's also an inexpensive alternative to purchasing new ones every time a die is lost. Deciding how you'll make them will play a big factor in the time and cost involved in the project.
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Things You'll Need
- For polymer clay dice:
- Polymer clay
- Oven or microwave
- Plastic container with water (if microwaving)
- For cardboard dice:
- Cardboard
- Small amount of sand wrapped in plastic wrap
- Pen
- Glue or tape
Instructions
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Polymer Clay Dice
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1
Choose what type of material you're going to use. Polymer clay is a lightweight option that dries quickly in a microwave or conventional oven and comes in an endless variety of colors. If you're artistically inclined, you can even sculpt or mold the numbers directly into the clay. The drawback is that you have to be very precise when fashioning the dice to avoid loading them, or shifting the weight to one side so the die has a much higher probability of landing on a certain number.
Cardboard is much lighter and cheaper and is the fastest option. But folding or cutting cardboard can be difficult when you're creating a complex geometric shape, and you'll have the opposite weight problem with the dice being so light when you roll them that they may not have enough momentum to roll correctly.
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2
Mold a pair of dice in the shape of a pentagonal trapezohedron, which is made up of two pentagonal (five-sided) pyramids whose bases are facing each other. It's difficult to find a mold specifically for 10-sided dice, although you may come across one at a specialty gaming shop. Flatten each side with a smooth object, or on a table (with no texture on its surface) to even out the sides. If they're still uneven you can fine-tune it with your fingers until each side is uniform to each other. The points don't have to be sharp, as you're going to be rolling the finished product. Round the edges evenly and keep the length of the sides equal to each other.
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3
Number one die from 0 to 9, and the other in tens (0, 10, 20, 30) up to 90. Depending on your preferences, you can carve the numbers into the clay directly, or apply a different color clay to each side; if you choose the latter, make sure the clay doesn't stick out of the die's surface to negatively affect rolling.
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4
Bake the clay in a conventional oven according to the instructions on the polymer's box. You can also microwave the clay for a shorter period of time by placing it in a plastic container and pouring in enough water to cover the dice. Be careful not to overheat them or you could ruin your work.
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5
Leave the dice on a tray until they're cool enough to handle.
Cardboard Dice
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6
Cut out 10 pieces of cardboard to form the pentagonal trapezohedron (five-sided pyramid with the bases connected to each other). You don't need to cut out a base for each pyramid since they're going to be connected, and the extra cardboard may throw off the weight when you're trying to balance it. The sides need to be completely identical. It may help to cut one side out and use it as a template.
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Attach the sides to each other with a strong glue or tape so there are no gaps. If you use glue, make sure it doesn't stick out to negatively affect rolling.
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8
Fill the cardboard with some kind of weight, like a bit of sand wrapped in plastic wrap. If you don't add any weight the dice will not roll objectively. The sand needs to be evenly distributed to avoid loading the dice.
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9
Number the sides as laid out above with a pen.
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Tips & Warnings
Never bake polymer clay in the microwave with a ceramic container. The gases that could be released from the ceramic will negatively affect the chemical makeup of the clay.
