Chess: Crafting Project - Part I
Sep. 25th, 2020 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellerI needed a completely mindless side project I could do in my work breaks to clear my mind... So... I had threatened I was going to make my own chess set! What I want is a travel-sized analysis board that is magnetic and non-foldable without the annoying line in the middle. Unfortunately, despite all the chess sets on the market, this is impossible to buy. The very few "high-class" non-foldable travel boards are all non-magnetic! So...
What I have is a really crappy chess set (Amazon link).
I was really close to throwing the thing away: while the size is correct (one square is 3,5 cm - that's perfect as a side board for analysis) and the shape of the figures is perfectly fine, the board is simply horrible. (Note the really obtrusive middle line!) Also, I strongly dislike plastic figures, and even for plastic figures, the colors of these are just... NOPE.
If I, however, paint these figures... It just might work! I have acrylic colors! Also, I obtained ferro foil that magnets stick on... So I can now proceed to make my very own improvised chess set that involves first modifying the pieces into something acceptable and then making a magnetic board for them. (In that order, because it's less difficult to predict what the finished pieces will actually look like.)
Painting the pieces actually went quite fast. It was all done on the same day, and only in my work breaks, so... maybe 2h of work in total?
I started with the white pieces. Their sickly yellow color reeeeeaaaaallly annoyed me! But how to improve on that? I decided to keep the base yellowish tone and just make it less intense. Also, I wanted some texture, because otherwise, the pieces look boring.
Maybe I went a bit over the top with that... Anyway, I decided on first adding some "marble" texture with a mix of Burnt Umber and transparent acrylic paste (a technique that proved much more difficult than it looks), and after that had dried, I added an irregular, semi-transparent layer of zinc white over it. Now the pieces look like cream-colored marble... Sort of. If you squint. XD
The black pieces were even worse. I mean, there was no way I'd keep that horrible fake-wood texture! Nor that particular shade of brown. So I decided to completely overpaint them. Because the white pieces already had this fake-marble look, I decided to go with sort-of-black marble for the black pieces. And what do you do if you want black marble chess pieces?
YOU PAINT THEM PINK.
Not a joke: I knew that I'd have to stick to very thin layers of paint to keep the shape of the pieces intact. I also knew that any color layers would be transparent or semi-transparent. So if I wanted black pieces with a wine-red undertone, I couldn't use wine-red paint, because that would just result in reddish brown on that brown background. No... To end up with a real wine-red, I used a very nice stronk pinkish red, aptly called ruby. I then completely destroyed that nice red by overpainting it irregularly with a mixture of black paint and transparent acrylic paste.
I still need to varnish the pieces but I thought I'd wait at least a few days with that. I want the paint to dry not just superficially! (Also, I'll need to replace the felt protection thingies on the underside, but I think that's the thing I'll do last.) Because I'll use spray varnish anyway, it might be most efficient to just do the pieces together with the board that will also need some protestion.
The as yet nonexistent board, that is. I have all the basic things: a plywood panel, ferro foil for magnets, at least fifteen different types of glue, and all kinds of wood veneer and construction paper. I just... haven't decided on a design - or even a basic color scheme - yet. I might go for cream and wine red, just in lighter shades than the pieces?!? (And also with less... visual excitement? Maybe book linen or similar?)
Any suggestions? :D
What I have is a really crappy chess set (Amazon link).
I was really close to throwing the thing away: while the size is correct (one square is 3,5 cm - that's perfect as a side board for analysis) and the shape of the figures is perfectly fine, the board is simply horrible. (Note the really obtrusive middle line!) Also, I strongly dislike plastic figures, and even for plastic figures, the colors of these are just... NOPE.
If I, however, paint these figures... It just might work! I have acrylic colors! Also, I obtained ferro foil that magnets stick on... So I can now proceed to make my very own improvised chess set that involves first modifying the pieces into something acceptable and then making a magnetic board for them. (In that order, because it's less difficult to predict what the finished pieces will actually look like.)
Painting the pieces actually went quite fast. It was all done on the same day, and only in my work breaks, so... maybe 2h of work in total?
I started with the white pieces. Their sickly yellow color reeeeeaaaaallly annoyed me! But how to improve on that? I decided to keep the base yellowish tone and just make it less intense. Also, I wanted some texture, because otherwise, the pieces look boring.
Maybe I went a bit over the top with that... Anyway, I decided on first adding some "marble" texture with a mix of Burnt Umber and transparent acrylic paste (a technique that proved much more difficult than it looks), and after that had dried, I added an irregular, semi-transparent layer of zinc white over it. Now the pieces look like cream-colored marble... Sort of. If you squint. XD
The black pieces were even worse. I mean, there was no way I'd keep that horrible fake-wood texture! Nor that particular shade of brown. So I decided to completely overpaint them. Because the white pieces already had this fake-marble look, I decided to go with sort-of-black marble for the black pieces. And what do you do if you want black marble chess pieces?
YOU PAINT THEM PINK.
Not a joke: I knew that I'd have to stick to very thin layers of paint to keep the shape of the pieces intact. I also knew that any color layers would be transparent or semi-transparent. So if I wanted black pieces with a wine-red undertone, I couldn't use wine-red paint, because that would just result in reddish brown on that brown background. No... To end up with a real wine-red, I used a very nice stronk pinkish red, aptly called ruby. I then completely destroyed that nice red by overpainting it irregularly with a mixture of black paint and transparent acrylic paste.
I still need to varnish the pieces but I thought I'd wait at least a few days with that. I want the paint to dry not just superficially! (Also, I'll need to replace the felt protection thingies on the underside, but I think that's the thing I'll do last.) Because I'll use spray varnish anyway, it might be most efficient to just do the pieces together with the board that will also need some protestion.
The as yet nonexistent board, that is. I have all the basic things: a plywood panel, ferro foil for magnets, at least fifteen different types of glue, and all kinds of wood veneer and construction paper. I just... haven't decided on a design - or even a basic color scheme - yet. I might go for cream and wine red, just in lighter shades than the pieces?!? (And also with less... visual excitement? Maybe book linen or similar?)
Any suggestions? :D
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Date: 2020-09-26 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-26 07:06 pm (UTC)