Silent Dice Tray

My wife and I are big fans of board games with more than 10 years of experience :)

Several years ago, the first baby appeared in our family. A couple of months after his birth, we started meeting friends to play board games. And there was always a very acute issue of noise when throwing dice.Most often we tried to throw them on the playing field (as a rule, cardboard, but in different games in different ways), it partially dampens sounds, but this is not very convenient: sometimes the dices dropp figures or move some tokens, and sometimes the cubes ran off to the table or even fell to the floor. And so you sit and listen with bated breath to the sounds behind the closed door, because there is a child sleeping in the next room ...

And now a couple of months ago we had another baby :)

This time, we decided to thoroughly prepare for the gaming tabletop season. So that the dices no longer rattle, do not run away anywhere, so that you do not have to worry about every unsuccessful loud throw in a small apartment, we came up with a way out!

It was decided to make small beautiful trays specially for throwing dicess into them. A soft, stable base will dampen unnecessary sounds, the sides will help the cubes not to run away to the floor or far to the table. In general, adult life requires new solutions, and I believe that we have coped successfully :)

You can choose any shape, we took a couple of different ones for an example to show how it will look in different versions. Leather as a material is also not important, if you liked the idea, but you have never worked with leather, you can use felt or some kind of very dense fabric.

You can simply take this idea as a basis and successfully transform it for yourself and your reality, as it is more convenient for you :)

Good luck with your dice experiments and success!

Step 1: Tools & Materials

First, it is worth deciding which of the proposed options you will do :)

We will need:

1. printed pattern
2. duct tape
3. sharp knife
4. awl
5. punch round 2mm
6. creaser
7. glue for leather
8. thin foam approximately 1.5mm thick. You can take EVA foam.
9. rivets with a head 4-5mm
10. finish for leather edges (Tokonole or edge paint). I used Kenda Edge Paint
11. thin lining leather
12. leather 1.5-2mm thick
13. threads
14. sewing machine, although you can sew by hand, but this will turn out to be a very long seam.

An important clarification: if you decide to sew on a typewriter, do not use waxed thread.

Step 2: Making a Pattern

Print, glue and carefully cut the desired pattern. The pattern has stripes for easy alignment of parts.

In this case, A4 sheets are used. If you have an A3 printer, then you don't have to glue anything.

Step 3: Transferring the Pattern to Leather

When transferring a pattern to the skin, it is very important to transfer the following parts:

• outer loop
• centers of all rivet holes
• corners of the central gray area

The corners of the gray area need to be pierced through! You can even mark them additionally on the inside of the leather for convenience in the next steps.

Step 4: We Leave Only the Blank

Trim off any excess skin, but leave a margin on each side.

You don't need to be too greedy, my experience suggests that you should leave at least 10mm on each side. This will make life much easier during the bonding phase.

Step 5: We Repeat

If you are making a bat, then repeat the previous two steps for the second pattern.

Step 6: Soft Base

Mark only the gray inner areas of the patterns on thin foam.

These will be the inner bottoms, which will dampen the clatter of the cubes, and also add stability to our dices trays.

Step 7: Cut Out

With a sharp knife or scissors, cut out these soft, quiet bases.

Step 8: Marking the Indent

With the help of the creaser (I have 2mm) mark the indent on each side of the base.

Step 9: Reducing the Soft Base

We cut off the soft bases along the lines marked in the previous step.

This will help to avoid problems when sewing the bottom and will allow the walls to bend more easily and evenly.

Step 10: Glue the Indoor Soft Base

If you've marked the corners of the gray area on the inside of your skin, it will be much easier for you!

It might be worth doing it now :)

Glue the base, try to place it at an equal distance from the marked points.

Step 11: Glue the Lining

Do not be greedy, stick the lining to the leather blanks. Anything that is superfluous will be cut off later.

Step 12: Cutting Out the Workpiece

Use a sharp knife to cut the workpieces along the marked contour.

You can use sharp scissors.

Step 13: Marking the Seam Lines

Each piece should have two seam lines.

The first line is the perimeter of the bottom. We have already marked the corners of this area, it remains only to connect them with an awl

The second line is the perimeter of the workpiece, it is most convenient to mark it with the help of a creser.

Step 14: Sewing

As I already wrote, I decided to use a sewing machine.

The seams are very long, but if you don't have a tool, you can do it by hand. I sew on a manual sewing machine, which is more than 100 years old.

As a last resort, if you have glued everything well, then you need not sew at all :)

Step 15: Finishing the Edges

Coloring the edge always adds a lot to the appearance of the product, makes the appearance neat, while the thing looks complete, beautiful and of high quality.

Carefully process the edges with a special paint, and then polish with a slicker or sandpaper with a very high gritness if desired.

Step 16: Holes

Punch all the marked holes. Diameter 1-2mm.

I chose 2mm as it is easier to insert rivets into.

Step 17: Assembly

I recommend choosing rivets with a sufficiently long stem.

I chose a leg that was not long enough, and the process of installing rivets became akin to a competition: either you have time to rivet the rivet, or it will have time to fall out :)

There are many different ways to install rivets. I'm using a hand press. But you can also use a hammer or even pliers!

Step 18: Finished Goods

And this is what our beautiful dice trays look like in the end.

For the cat, I chose a beautiful nubuck of a bright color on the outside and bright contrasting threads for stitching along the edge. For the bat I took the traditional black leather.

Well, I took the inner layer of a very unusual blue lining leather with a black speck (polka dot pattern if that) with an unusual lurex sheen.

Step 19: Enjoy the Game

Well, now is the time to call your friends, stock up on delicious food and drinks, open your favorite board game and indulge in hedonism :) And no longer worry that the cubes will fall off the table, drop figures or knock loudly on the table, making everyone nervous.

Well, and, of course, it's time to show off to your friends a cool new little thing, made with your own skillful hands :) Enjoy your time and great victories!

P.S. If you are curious, there are 2 board games in the photos: "Mice and Mystics" and "Eldritch Horror" in the universe of Howard Phillips Lovecraft :)