I decided to bling out my wargaming some and spare the surface of my gaming table by getting a dice tray. I avoided the pre-made options out there and thought about making my own. Granted my woodworking skills are horrible, so I considered photo frames. Sadly many out there are beveled but don’t quite have the depth I was looking for, that is until I went to my local Ikea.

It seems that Ikea now offers some recessed photo frames that would work perfect for dice trays. There are two in particular that seemed to be ideal, the SANNAHED and VÄSTANHED. I picked up the SANNAHED as I liked the square shape. Both are pretty cheap, about $6.

I carefully pulled off the hanging frame tab and folding stand, both of which came off the MDF base quite easily. There is a matt board along with a thin acrylic sheet. I tried using it without changing out the acrylic sheet but found the surface almost too slick. Using D6s with rounded edges, some would spin a while before rolling to a side. I ended up pulling that out and went a step further putting some felt on the backboard.

Attaching the felt was an easy affair. I used a copious amount of PVA glue on the backboard and placed it flat on a piece of oversized felt. With several heavy books stacked on the backboard, after leaving it overnight I got the felt adhered securely with a nice even surface. A simple trim of the excess felt, putting the backboard into the frame, I got my new dice tray. All it took was a swing by Ikea, a trip to the craft shop, and about $7 for a great little dice tray.