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TOME OF HOLDING: The hardwood dice box and rolling tray.

Created by Alexander Ingram

Intricate designs appear carved into the cover of this old tome. What mysteries might lie inside?

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Almost August!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 11:35:33 PM

Hey Backers!

A quick update before I leave for Gen Con tomorrow morning.  

Things have been plodding along since the past update with all the Gen Con stuff.  The one aspect I forgot about was finish room capacity which ended up being the bottleneck.  So I only got about 20 more done.  Some are shipping today and some are shipping when I get back.  

Process Improvements

Going forward I'm expecting to be making Tomes a lot faster.  I've figured out where I am doing too much setup & teardown and am getting a couple extra machines to be able to leave things setup.   I've also been 3d printing and making little tools to help reduce scrap which makes things go faster as well.   I'll show some of that in future updates. 

With all the improvements I should be getting to about the 20 a week that I initially expected.  That would have the last tomes being shipped out mid November. 

In order to ensure that I'm free to make Tomes as possible, I won't be taking any custom orders at Gen Con, which I usually get quite a few of.  

But if you're going to be at the show make sure to swing by Booth 1851 and say "Hi" or tell me off for being slow.  I'll have a few Tomes on display that you can check out in person. 

As always if you need anything feel free to message me on here or email [email protected]

Alex

July!
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 02, 2019 at 12:48:39 AM

Hello backers!

June wasn't very productive, unfortunately.  Gen Con stock prep took about two weeks and then the computer for my larger cnc router, the one that does all the tome stuff, had the hard drive take a dump which set things back another week or so.  

I've currently got the first 20% of orders either shipped out or as work in progress in the shop.  That essentially comes down to the majority of you receiving your order late, which I'm not thrilled about. It all comes down to the amount of processes that each one gets, which is just a lot of time.  That being said, these will probably go up in price after you all, and the pre-order folks, get your orders. 

I'm currently working about 80 hours a week between the day job and this so things are getting done as quickly as possible.  I think you'll find it was worth the wait. 

If there's something I can help with feel free to message me on here or email [email protected]

Have a good evening!  I need to get back to sanding. 

Alex

End of May Update!
almost 5 years ago – Sun, May 26, 2019 at 01:33:56 AM

Hello All!

It's been a while since my last update. Things are going well but never as fast as I'd like.  I've shipped out about 20 tomes so far and have another 20 going out on Tuesday that are getting flocked today.   Another 20 are going into the finishing room today that will probably ship either late next week or early the week after. 

Slowly but surely

Unfortunately I'm getting things done at about half the rate I was hoping when planning this project out.  That means that a large chunk of orders will probably be shipping late.  I'm getting them done as fast as I possibly can and want to assure you that this is easily my main focus until everyone gets what they ordered.  

Some of the tomes that will be shipping on Tuesday getting a final coat in the finishing room.
Some of the tomes that will be shipping on Tuesday getting a final coat in the finishing room.
Final version of the Beholder Covers.
Final version of the Beholder Covers.
Part of the next batch of tomes patiently waiting for a final sanding.
Part of the next batch of tomes patiently waiting for a final sanding.

GenCon

I've got a booth at GenCon (Aug 1 - 4) this year under the RPG Coasters name.  I'll surely have some tomes on display and be selling coasters and small dice boxes.  Swing by booth 1851 and say "Hi!" if you're going!  

And...

As always if you have anything you'd like to ask about feel free to shoot me a direct message on here or via email: [email protected].  I'm locking down more orders every week so if you need to update your order I would do so sooner than later. 

Have a nice long weekend for those of you here in the states. 

Alex

April Update!
about 5 years ago – Sat, Apr 20, 2019 at 11:36:24 PM

Hello, Backers!

I hope spring has been finding you all.  It's showing up here, in Wisconsin.  The sun is out and I'll be mowing for the first time today. D: 

Production 

Things have been going pretty well.  Though, I must admit, not as quickly as I was hoping.  I'm still working out optimizing the day to day flow.  More and more tomes are getting done each day and the first lot of them will go out this coming week.   I locked down the next 25 orders on backerkit and have started cutting artwork for those as well. 

Cut artwork awaiting assembly
Cut artwork awaiting assembly

First Cuts

First cuts of some art from last week.
First cuts of some art from last week.
The first cut of the Book of the Dead.  The deeper pockets came out pretty well!
The first cut of the Book of the Dead. The deeper pockets came out pretty well!
Another angle of the pockets.
Another angle of the pockets.

A Pile of Leather

The holders arrived and look great!


That's all for now!  I hope you all have a good rest of your weekend.  May you find many eggs with glorious treasures inside!

Again, most orders haven't been locked yet. So if you want to change something feel free to log into BackerKit and adjust things. 

Shoot me a message if I can help answer anything for you.

Alex

Mid-March update!
about 5 years ago – Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 10:15:49 PM

Hello, backers!

Last weekend I was at GaryCon in Lake Geneva, Wi and had some Tomes on display.  Always a great time and at the end of the weekend I gave the Tomes away to some lucky patrons of the booth.  If you ever get a chance to attend, I highly recommend it.  The whole con has a great vibe, you get to rub elbows with legends of the industry and they cater beer to your table. What's not to love?

There was something a bit wrong with each of these first cuts.
There was something a bit wrong with each of these first cuts.
Tree of Life in Cherry
Tree of Life in Cherry
Stealing the Eyes, in Mahogany
Stealing the Eyes, in Mahogany
Spellbook of the dead in Butternut,  Infernal in Padauk and Great Axe in Walnut.
Spellbook of the dead in Butternut, Infernal in Padauk and Great Axe in Walnut.
You can see the lines that the new tool puts in running on the outside of the pages.
You can see the lines that the new tool puts in running on the outside of the pages.

Production

All of these are first cuts of the respective artwork.  Each of them had flaws and tweaks to work through on the programming side of things.   They're all completely done with the production fixturing that I've been working on in the shop and are just how the final versions should be, for the most part.    

 I've got an upgrade to my CNC router, that will be running this stuff for the most part, that will upgrade the limit switches which I've been having issues with over the past couple months.  That upgrade should be done this week and I'll be off to the races. 

Some of you have probably noticed your cards have been charged for add-ons or upgrades.  If that's the case your orders are locked down and officially in process.  I haven't locked most of the orders down, so if you would like to make changes to your address or order, feel free to log in to backerkit and update things. 


Alex