Last summer I stumbled across a very nice set of dominoes in an antique store. Black dots on ivory tiles with maroon backs. Nothing earthshaking, but they were cheap, and nicer than usual, so I picked them up.
Not until I got home did I realize that one domino was missing from the set. (The four-two, in case you're wondering.) There were two extra double-blanks included with the set, for just such an eventuality, but I couldn't figure how to turn one of them into a four-two. So for the past six months that domino set has sat in a secluded corner, gathering dust.
Yesterday I was unexpectedly housebound due to a snowstorm. So at long last I tackled the job of turning a double-blank into a replacement four-two. Tried the solution I'd long been carrying in my head: make a paper stencil with the aid of a paper punch, tape it in place over the domino, and paint the dots with black enamel.
It didn't work.
No, the enamel ran and smeared beyond the confines of the stencil. I shoulda known better, I'm just not an arts and crafts type.
Then an idea struck me. I got a roll of black electrical tape, and with that paper punch I punched black domino-dots out of the electrical tape, carefully positioning each dot on the face of the domino. Took some careful positioning -- as well as almost losing a few sticky dots inside the paper punch -- but it worked. Very nicely.
Voila! A new four-two domino, and the set of dominoes is complete.
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