P.B. Vintage Dice - Vase Filler

Pottery Barn Knock Off-

Vintage Dice - Vase Filler

Theirs (Pottery Barn)

Mine

My family always played games growing up. You know, old school board games and card games, not video games like today. We used to have family game night when my kids were young too. It is a great way to spend family time together. So when I saw the vase filler dice on Pottery Barn it brought back memories. I wanted them but we don't have a pottery barn close by and I thought it would be a fun project to do.

If you are going to do this project as well, I suggest making as many as you are going to want 

all at once. The assembly line works great for this project.

First measure off the blocks so that the sides will all be even. The thickness of this wood dictated that they would be 1-3/4" square blocks. I decided I wanted three pairs of dice, each pair a different colour combination. In hindsight I wish I had made at least one more pair to fill my jar properly. Sigh.

Next I made a template on paper so I could evenly measure out the dots.  A template made sense since I was making 6 of these. I used a nail as a marker for the dots also because it makes a good starter hole for the drill bit, so it doesn't slide out of place.

Then I sanded all of the edges...

and the corners as well (they roll better that way).

Started drilling for the dots. Be sure not to go to far or you will have holes, you only want round indentations for the dots.

The next step is kind of a pain but necessary when working with raw wood.

Seal the wood with either a  water-based sealant or watered down layer of acrylic paint will do mostly the same thing. It raises the grain of the wood and after you sand it down it will be really nice and smooth and ready for painting. If you skip the sealing the wood, then once you apply your paint it will still raise the grain (the moisture does it) and your paint surface will not be all nice and smooth. It is worth the extra effort.

Then paint! 

I painted the dots first as I thought this would be easier. But I had to go back and touch up the dots after I painted the sides anyways, so maybe the other way around would have been better.

I painted one pair - red with white dots, one pair- black with metallic gold dots and of course the classic - white with black dots. I used acrylic craft paints that I had on hand.

Then  I sanded the edges a little to give it an aged look and waxed them with furniture wax to protect the finish.

         

It didn't quite fill my vintage jar but I added some regular size dice as well and it looks pretty good I think.

People that have seen them can't believe that they are handmade. So I'll take that as a compliment :0)