Dragon Eye Dice

Manufacturing and Samples
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 12:38:56 AM

Hi Folks,

Apologies for the delay in getting you some professionally shot dice samples, but the factory where our dice are being made had to close because of a covid outbreak. Happily it has reopened and production is continuing.

We are still looking at completion at the end of the month but we have asked our manufacturing partners in the US to confirm with their factory and as soon as we have concrete completion dates we will let you know. 

In the meantime we have received these shots from the factory (please be aware the lighting is terrible) showing us the sets that are on their way to the photographer in the USA.  They are going via air and so should be in Portland late this week or early next. As soon as we have some professionally done photos we will be sure to release them here. 

We have also included a lovely short video, again, shot by the factory showing the amazing process of etching the 'pips' on the front of the dice.

Just to reiterate, these are photos taken in a factory setting and are not meant to showcase the dice. If you are thinking of changing your colour choice, please wait a week or so until we have the professionally taken photos as these will depict the final product.

Thanks Jon & Oliver

& the Spidermind team

More pics... remember convention lighting is HORRIBLE
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 09, 2022 at 02:20:07 AM

Thank you to everyone who has come over to say hi and to check out the dice in person. Here are some more pics for those who have asked.

For those worried about the grey 'smoke' in the Black Dragon dice, this is entirely created by the shade of the gem stone in the middle. The darker the stone the more cloudy it looks. This is a natural effect created by the refraction of the light and looks amazing live and in the flesh. 

Equally Exciting News.

It was lovely to speak to the folks at Zatu Games, buyers from the UK as well as the folks at Asmodee, as it looks like the dice may be heading to wholesale later in the year.  It's early days but It was great to speak to everyone at the convention and if you can, do come and see us at booth 2840. 

Jon & Oliver 

and the Spidermind team

Latest production run available for inspection at GenCon
over 1 year ago – Sat, Aug 06, 2022 at 01:59:46 AM

Hello backers, 

If any of you happen to be in Indianapolis / GenCon, we have the latest production run of the Dragon Eye Dice for your inspection. 

We are very happy with them all and have given our manufacturers the go ahead for the full production run. It has been a delight to see many backers passing through and giving us the green light. Hopefully we'll see some comments below. 

The manufacturing process should take 6 weeks, after which they will be on the water and on their way to us as quickly as possible. This should see fulfillment commence mid Oct. 

Thanks for your patience and support

More soon

Jon & Oliver 

and the Spidermind team

New Production Photos
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 12:29:17 AM

They are here folks!

And whilst they are not the final final backer ready copies, they demonstrate just how far we have come with our new production process.

New Moulds

Let's start with the dice, newly poured and popped out of their mould.

The left hand shot shows dice that have been made the traditional way. Once the resin has been cured, the dice are popped out and then the polishing begins. The cloudy effect is due to the rough edges of the previously used, mass mould. 

The right hand shot shows a goddess dice popped out from one of our new moulds. The cloudiness has gone and the overall quality of the dice is already significantly improved.

The newly moulded dice then has the sprue shaved off and the final face polished before it is ready to be painted. Throughout the process each dice is kept separate to keep the surfaces of each dice protected.

Dead Centre (2.0)

Now with the new curing process the initial results are very promising and we are currently producing 1,000 dice, of different colours and finishes to ensure consistency.

Resin Quality

As well as upgrading the mould, to ensure a more perfect finish, we have also upgrade the resin to ensure an overall better quality of dice. Here are two examples, before the 'pips' are etched onto the surface and before the numbers are painted, to show the clarity off in full.

Dice Numbering

As part of the tumbling process in the traditional manufacturing method, the dice are placed in a large drum with small pieces of soft wood. Whilst this technique rounds the edges that we are all used to, it can smudge and damage the newly painted numbers, leading to a rough finish. 

To ensure our numbers stay sharp and easy to read, we have etched deeper numbers with a more pronounced font. We have shown below a finished rounded edged d12 against a new sharp edged blue d12. 

As soon as the new dice are ready we will show the final version up here, painted and in their respective boxes as soon as they are available. 

Production and Delivery Timings

Having created a brand new production process for the Dragon Eye Dice, the new timelines that have come from the factory are as follows:

1) Final approval of production process (1-2 weeks)

2) Production of the full order (5 weeks)

3) Delivery of finished dice to Portland (3 weeks)

4) Fulfilment to Backers (2-3 weeks)

On the basis that we are now the second week in July, we see production being completed by the end of August and the fulfilment starting at the end of September. 

These timings are estimates and there are several things we are looking at with regards to shipping that may well expedite the process, such as air freight. We will keep looking at prices and options and update you if anything deviates from this timing set out here.

The next update should be just around the corner and in the meantime thanks again for all your support and patience on this development journey.

Jon & Oliver

and the Spidermind Team

A quick update
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 11:35:31 PM

Really sorry that we don’t have any photos to show yet but there is a rather exciting reason for the delay…Yes, on this occasion a delay is a good thing.

In a nutshell, the standard manufacturing process wasn’t working for us and so we not only found a new way of curing the dice (as mentioned in previous updates) but we have now also redesigned much of the rest of the process:

We have modularised the entire process which allows interchangeable small moulds to be used.This means if any moulds degrade during use, we can change them out very quickly without having to reproduce the whole set.

The moulds themselves are now of significantly higher quality which of course means higher cost but the end results should speak for themselves and this saves time in the various finishing processes.

On top of this we have reworked the method of registration of the iris, giving better results and significantly less variation.

Finally, we have increased the depth of the numbers which creates a smoother and cleaner looking end result.

Does this mean a huge delay, as we have seemingly started the whole process again?

At the moment, we are still on track for production to run and deliveries to begin next month. Back at the beginning of the KickStarter campaign, we estimated fulfilment in July and currently that is when we see the process beginning. For some this may result in the package arriving in August but we will advertise all timings as soon as we know more detail about such things as time on water and if there are any Covid delays.

We will post up the pictures as soon as we have them and also an idea on final manufacturing times when they come through.

See you all soon for the production photos,

Jon & Oliver

And the Spidermind Team