Have you ever tried metalworking? I have. It’s hard. So imagine the impressed look on my face when our social media guy, Kevin, showed me this:
This four-sided die was hand crafted by Aaron Besser of Hillsboro, OR. Besser has been tinkering with metalworking out of his garage as a hobby for nearly a decade. Two years ago, he made his own gaming dice for a friend’s tabletop game. The response he received from friends and the online community was so huge that he decided to take a shot at turning his hobby into a business. He and his wife converted their home into a proper shop and opened their business, Trayser Metal Works.
Besser uses a technique called lost-wax casting to create dice with jewelry-level fine detail and surface finishing. This allows for complex 3D geometries while simultaneously making the die easy to read and (oh my Sarenae!) I need these in my life right now! I mean come on! Look at this:
It’s a thing of beauty.
Currently, the Bessers can produce up to 200 dice per week. To increase production volume, the pair raised over $60,000 via Kickstarter to buy more equipment. If you’re just as excited about these dice as I am, then you can understand why they need the gear. The more money their raise, the more metals and shapes they can produce.
Check out the gallery below to see some of Besser’s beautiful creations!
Image credits: Aaron Besser