FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Vacation time (July/August 2024)
Despite various adventures through fantasy worlds, we are still human and in need of downtime once in a while. This year we're combining it with work (weird as it sounds); we'll be out of our workshops for a break from July 21st until August 12th, with a convention in the middle (Elbenwald, Germany, August 2-4).
What happens to my order placed around that time?
As you may have noticed, most of our products have a crafting time; the time we need to produce your item (almost everything being custom made and all). We'll do everything we can to finish orders placed in the week before our break and ship them out, but it can happen that we cannot finish it until we get back in our workshops mid-August. This is of course also the case for orders placed during our break. Once we're back, we'll work on purchases in the "First In, First Out" order. If you're worried about a long wait, feel free to send us a message at info@speechlessbard.com and we'll give you a time estimate.
About The Speechless Bard:
Since we live and work in the Netherlands, we visit many conventions in our home country and the ones neighbouring it. But as The Speechless Bard grows, so does our desire to visit conventions in the UK, Spain and America. So we're trying!
About leatherwork:
Can I request a custom design for a book cover?
Not yet. Due to the enormous amount of work (thanks to the success of the Gilded Archive) Noor is currently very busy with building orders, finishing planned designs and preparing for conventions. She hopes to open that option again soon!
Yes you can! Some leather colors like red and deep blue are more difficult to get a darker engraving out of, but Noor does try her best to find them. You can always email us to ask.
All our leather materials are real and therefore, we feel like there is no real cruelty free option. But we do use 'left over' leather; hides that have been cut by larger crafters and cast aside. Also, we use every last bit of it. Our aim is to become as waste-free as possible.
We are working on it! Vegan leather comes in many varieties. Polyester versions are out of the question because we'd rather keep plastic out of the workshop, and new versions such as mushroom leather are a too new and expensive for us to experiment on. Recycled leather would be a good option, but the textures of the new versions are very smooth and extremely dull. The texture of real leather is part of its charm for most fantasy TTRPG's and we find it difficult to leave that behind.
About terrain work:
Can I request a custom design for a terrain?
Designing & testprinting 3D-models is a very time-consuming process and therefore quite expensive to do as one-offs, but you are absolutely welcome to suggest new parts for our terrain. In fact, that's how some of our terrain pieces and even entire sets came to life!
I don't know where to find a larger metal plate to stick the magnetic terrain to; any suggestions?
Of course we only sell the smaller plates for a reason; they're more convenient to store/ship and it allows the DM to prepare sections of the terrain beforehand and placing them on the table one by one. If you're keen on just filling the entire table in one go, your best bet is on getting a larger metal sheet from the local DIY store (make sure it's not stainless steel or aluminum though as they're not magnetic). A magnetic whiteboard does the trick as well, though keep in mind that whiteboards have an extra layer on top of the metal, so the connection with the tiles might be a bit weaker!
I have my own 3D printer; can I buy the digital models?
Unfortunately not, but we might make the jump to a different production method at some point (injection molding), at that time we could release our current 3D-models for sale as our business model would change. However, injection molding is an expensive change to make and we'd very likely turn to a Kickstarter project to make it happen, so feel free to subscribe to our newsletter to get a notification ahead of time when it happens!