Chess Set

For the chess set, we used a variety of wooden pieces ranging from spools to drawer pulls to knobs to wood slices (figures A, B and C). Some of the items you might already have in your kitchen, sewing room or craft supplies. Others can be purchased at craft stores and/or home improvement stores.

Stack some of the pieces in different configurations until you have an arrangement that pleases your eye. Decide which piece this will be and keep in mind how many of each piece you will need. Each player will need a king, a queen, two knights, two bishops, two rooks and eight pawns. Paint and decorate each piece as desired. Some we painted with plain colors, others had polka dots and diamonds added. One set we painted gold and even added a touch of gold leaf to some of the pieces. Brush-on paint, spray paint or paint pens can be used.

The boards

There is as much opportunity for different looks here as in making the pieces. Our first two boards were made from sheets of 1/4-inch thick black foam board. The third was from wood and the fourth from a glass topped table.

Board #1 (figure D)

1. Cut one 13-inch square and two 10-inch squares of black foam board.

2. From a sheet of scrapbook page paper, cut 64, 1-5/8-inch squares. Glue them in a checkerboard fashion to the top of the 13-inch square (figure E).

3. Center the two remaining black foam board squares on the back side of the checkerboard sheet and glue to hold.

4. Coat the entire top surface of the checkerboard with acrylic coating. Wrap decorative braiding around outside edge (figure F).

Board #2

1. Cut one 13-inch square and two, 10-inch squares of black foam board.

Board #3

1. Create the checkerboard surface in the same manner as with board #2.

2. Glue the checkerboard to a wood board. Trim the edges with wire wrapped around beach stones.

3. Support the board on small wooden cubes for legs.

This was the grandiose board of them all. The board itself was a glass tabletop with rounded corners. It measured about five inches larger than the actual chess board on all sides. The same could be made from a piece of purchased glass.

1. Draw a chess board on a piece of paper. Again, the squares should measure 1-5/8 inch.

3. Place masking tape on top of the glass to border the paper underneath.

4. Cut squares of masking material the exact size of the squares and, using the paper pattern as a guide, mask off all of the black squares. When all the squares are covered, paint the uncovered squares with white acrylic paint. You may need to apply three or more coats for complete coverage.

5. When the paint is completely dry, peel off the masking material from the unpainted squares. Cover the white squares with the masking material and paint the black squares.

6. When dry, peel off the masking material as well as all of the masking tape around the edges of the checkerboard.

7. Check the borders of each square. If there is the slightest imperfection along any of the edges, you may decide to border everything with silver tape or silver leaf as we did to cover these imperfections. You may decide to do this even if all the edges are perfect. It adds a nice touch. To give even more dimension, we applied the tape on the underneath side. When we turned the glass over, this then became the top side. To apply the silver leaf, we applied a 1/4-inch strip of red liner tape, peeled it and pressed the silver leaf in place rather than using the standard leaf adhesive.

8. On the top side, cover the entire checkerboard area with the masking material then apply spray Frosted Glass to the border of the glass. We applied three coats.

9. We also frosted four square votive candle holders and placed them under the checkerboard to raise it up several inches (figure J). This was for appearance's sake only.

NOTES: If you work on top of the glass, you will need to apply one or two coats of protective sealer to protect both the checkerboard and the frosted glass from scratches.

The Foto/Frisket Film is only one of several brands of masking material on the market. It is important that you get the kind that will not leave a residue on the unpainted glass nor lift the paint when it is placed on the painted surface. It is most often available at art supply stores or photo shops.