Table Top RPG Creators Corner — Dice Maker Lauren Of ‘Busy Wizard Dice’
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table.
For this installment of Creators Corner, I had the chance to sit down with Lauren of Busy Wizard Dice.
Anton: Hello Lauren, I appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk with me about your craft. Between your TikTok, Instagram, and Website there is no shortage of amazing dice to be seen. Before we dig deeper into the craft of dice making , tell us a little bit about the creator behind the product.
Lauren: Hi! I’m Lauren and I live in St Louis Missouri with my husband, toddler, and two cats. I have my doctorate in physical therapy and specialized in working with preschoolers with special needs and developmental delays, but after I had my daughter at the beginning of the pandemic, I decided to pursue dice making rather than going back to PT.
Anton: Are you a full-time dice crafter?
Lauren: I am! I have been fortunate enough to be able to transition to doing dice full time for about about 8 months now (after doing it as a hobby/side hustle for a few years) and it’s been going really well.
Anton: Recently you announced you had a “go-to” 3D printer for items that go into the dice. What has been your favorite object you have had put in dice?
Lauren: My go-to is Vanessa from Scale Grail on Etsy. She is a master at perfectly printing anything I throw at her, in very small scale. I recently did a set with tiny toilets in them, which I thought was hilarious (the story behind it is too long to share, but made it even better).
Anton: Now the “Blackest Black” with the “Glowest Glow” set has come across my desk a few times in the last week and I must say it is one of the coolest sets of dice I have ever seen. Can you tell us a little bit about the duo set you created?
Lauren: This idea for this set actually came from the person who commissioned me, who found me through my IG. This is one of my favorite parts of my role – I get to be a bit creative, but really it’s a community-built thing and tons of my favorite dice were ideas brought to me for a commissioned set. In this case, I was really excited to work with these pigments and very happily took on the work. I love the contrast of the glow and the black together and love that they have captured other people’s hearts as well!
Anton: And from idea to completion how long does a set of dice typically take you to make?
Lauren: That depends on whether or not I need to order extra items from other makers. Right now I have a set that requires handmade inserts from a sculptor who lives in Italy, so I have to wait an extra 4-5 weeks just to even start that set. In general, it takes me about 3-4 weeks from pour to inking for each set. This is because I bounce between pouring, sanding, inking, content creation, and packaging, depending on how many sets I have that need each step. It’s a little unstructured but it works well for me and my process.
Anton: What would you credit as something that inspires you to create?
Lauren: For me, a lot of my inspiration comes from trying to figure new things out. Whether it’s a new technique or how to achieve a desired effect, or how to use a certain inclusion best. And as mentioned above another inspiration is really the people who reach out for sets – so many incredible ideas come from that, and it’s often a partnership approach to figure out how to bring a concept to life!
Anton: How long have you been active in the Table Top Community?
Lauren: I first started playing D&D in 2016 and have been consistently at it since (although more zoom based these days as pandemics and children have become more prevalent in my life).
Anton: I have seen recently that you set to run a 5E module for a group of level “5ish” players. Have you decided what you are going to run and if so… what and why?
Lauren: I run one-shots for my family whenever we get together for a holiday, and it’s pretty much the only time most of them get to play. I picked “the barber of silverymoon”. It seems very straight forward and should only take about 2 hours, which I know is a little boring of an explanation but my family are all pretty novice players and we have to play after all of the kiddos go to sleep, so our time is a little limited. Honestly, they are complete chaos monsters as well, so I try not to run anything that involves too much sleuthing or intrigue, as they tend to be a little more murder-hobo-y than my usual gaming group.
Anton: I really appreciate you taking the time to sit and speak with me. Would you mind telling our readers where they can keep up with you and follow your work?
Lauren: Of course! I am BusyWizardDice on all platforms, and you can find my shop with available sets at BusyWizardDice.com. Thank you so much for speaking with me!
Until next time, may your dice roll in the most spectacular ways!
