Iâm having art feelings, because toward the end of my craft fair yesterday a family with two kids Iâd guess were in the 9-12 range hung around asking lots of questions about how I make dice, how I decide designs and pricing, etc.
They were mostly a MtG family so we looked at my spindown d20s, but I discontinued my +/- d6s last year so only had one minus die left. I offered it to the older kid who was asking most of the questions and he politely declined, because apparently Iâd given him a free pair last year (what can I say, I love kids who ask good questions).
A few minutes later before the family left, the mom and younger kid came back and the mom asked if the offer for the free die was still open, because the younger kid had been too shy to say he would love it. So of course he instantly got the d6, but I was having feelings as a fairly shy person myself, so I also pulled out a spindown that wasnât on display because it has a visible patch on the base where it had a void. I handed it to him and said something about how I hoped he would like it, and it could be a reminder that you donât have to do everything perfectly to make art, thatâs itâs okay to learn and experiment. He smiled and took his dice and they left.
And then the show ended and I packed up and went home and that was that.
Until this evening when I got an email from him thanking me for his dice and sharing that he made his very own die out of wood today.
And Iâm just. I canât. I love it so much. Keep creating, my little friend. And thank you for reminding me why community and mentoring in art is everything.















