I decided that for my brother-in-law’s (BIL) Christmas gift I would make him a glass chess set. He participates in a chess club near his home, and I know he plays online, so it seemed like a perfect gift. I have to say, I knew nothing about actually making one. Usually I loathe trying to do multiples of anything I make because it’s just a pain to make them so similar, plus it’s just easier to make one of a kind pieces.
I started digging around online for inspiration, to see how other glass sets are made. I knew of the mass produced junk glass set that was making the rounds a year or two ago for $9.99, but I wanted something nicer, something unique. I have to say, I was astonished at the price and variety of these sets. In the end I settled on a nice traditional Staunton type design.
Below are pictures of how the set came out. I made all the pieces from scratch from borosilicate glass, and the box they’re in started off as a basic unfinished basswood box from Michaels. Next time I need to use a piece of foam with cutouts in it to hold the pieces. In this case however, I was painting on the chessboard late on Christmas Eve, got the last piece of the set into the kiln around 3 am, and didn’t have any foam on hand.
In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m happy to take custom orders. I’d retail the set here at $320, which given 32 handmade pieces works out to a reasonable $10.00 each.
Pictures:
Black pieces on the board
The white pieces on the board. Notice the two bishops, they're a slightly different color. I think a rod of something else snuck into my amber purple bin. In this case it kind of worked though so I left it.
Close up of the black pieces. Colormax Light Blue and a stripe of GA Lemondrop over Origin Glass black over Simax clear.
Closeup of the white pieces. Amber purple over Colormax white over Simax clear
Closeup of the rear black pieces.
The pieces tucked in best I can to the box I put together.