• 106 beads
• 32 posts
• 32 small and medium marbles…sorta (they never get fully formed into a marble
• 2 hours per side to assemble

I like this set because it’s really kind of mindless to create and construct, realistically it could be a production item for me, and I’m sure I’ll wind up creating a couple others similar to it, especially now that I figured out how to avoid a giant blister on my thumb getting the beads off.

This set’s going to be on my table at stART on the Street: Spring Edition, but if it doesn’t sell will be up on my Etsy and Artfire sites soon afterwards.  If you love it, are regional, and want to avoid shipping costs, come on out to visit on May 16th.   I’ll likely price it a few dollars less than I’ll list it for, so take advantage!

Each of the pieces has beads on it that spin freely.  Rather than go for intricate details, the piece is identifiable by the number of beads on it.   (2 for pawns, 3 for rooks, 7 for the king, etc.).

I’m still working on the case for this set, and I can’t guarantee that this will be the final board that it will come with.

Group Shot

Black side

White side

Group shot

But these days, I’ll make some vague sort of plan before I begin something along with a contingency plan.  Those who know me know there’s usually a plan B through Z kicking around should they be needed.

Well tonight I needed plan B, and really, I think I like where it took me.

I’m starting in on a new chess set.  This one’s going to be a little smaller than the ones I’ve been making, but it’s an ambitious project involving 122 handmade glass parts, plus the board and case.   And I’m trying to have it done in time for my show on May 16th.   I think I’ve gone a bit insane.

Here’s the rough design I was going to use for the pawns:

This didn't work....

It turned out that making those bases was going to be an exercise in frustration.  I have enough frustration in my life right now, thank you very much.

So after making the king and one of the pawns in this style, I would up with a slight design variation:

That's better!

The big difference?  Ditching the flat base at the bottom in favor of a flattened marble.   Believe it or not, it’s a lot faster to make a small marble and attach it than try to make a base and get it centered properly, and flattened on the bottom.  Remember, it has to sit flat, and whatever sits on it be vertical so it’s not off balance.   It ain’t as easy as it sounds.  Try it, go ahead, let me know if you have any suggestions.  I even tried my button mold.  Maybe with practice it would be easier, but I’m a little pressed for time these days.

At any rate, there’s a new set in the making, keep an eye out!

I had design issues that caused countless changes in the pieces. I had technical issues, partly due to my own learning curve, learning to work with the Glow Glass. There were some compatibility issues getting it to work with my chosen complimentary black glass. I had supply issues. Questions to the manufacturer of the black and purple went unanswered (mostly unheard of behaviour in the borosilicate world).  I nearly poisoned myself when I made the insert trays for the pieces. Finally because of the addition of a fused chess board I had to get a whole other box to put the whole set in because it no longer fit into the box I had originally intended to use.

But I finally got it done, and it’s awesome.

Black and Glow Glass Aqua glow pieces vs. Purple and Glow Glass Green glow pieces. The board is a 2 piece fused glass surface where half of the white squares glow aqua, have of them glow an awesome orange color.

I have to say, there are a couple people to thank. My wife of course, for her infinite patience. Joe Imler of Glow Glass LLC who put up with my multitude of questions about his awesome glow products.  And finally, Josh Bergesen of Lucid Visions Glass Art for his suggestion of the fused board.

But hey, enough schmaltz, one with the eye candy.  Enjoy the pictures, and if you’re interested in bringing it home, the set is listed up on my ArtFire site as well as my shop on Etsy.

White side rear

White side group

Black side rear

Black side group

Ready to rumble

Group glow shot

The board, this is without a black light on mind you

The new box

Luckily I decided to think inside another box for a change and found one that very well may work.  I’m going to have three layers of Styrofoam inside the box, one for each side and one for the chess board.

I cut the foam tonight and stained the box.  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll burn in the slots for each piece, take photos and re-list the darn thing.

One more day….

As some of you know, I’ve been trying to make a glow in the dark chess set.   I’ve had design issues, technical issues, supply issues, and now I’ve got a space and piece issue.

First up, the space issue.   I have room in the box for the pieces, but not a special, two piece, glass board I made.  I use a two layer cushioning system to protect it, I may know of a way to get around this problem.

But the second problem is more irritating.  After having problem after problem with the black and glow glass playing together, today I find a more mundane problem; part of the purple (white) queen’s decoration has broken off.  I *could* attempt a repair, but it’s better in this case just to remake the piece since it’ll take me just about as long to do.

There’s always something.   But it’s almost done.  Almost…almost…

There’s sort of a philosophy behind them really.    At least with a Staunton-esque type set the pawns are fairly easy since they’re pretty utilitarian and generic.   Once you figure out the colors you want to use and get the shape down, there’s a zen like state when you bang out 8 of them.

The king and queen are fairly simple as well.   They’re simply a lazy and vaguely grand reflection of the rest of the set.  Given monarchs are so far above the rest of their subjects, aside from the color scheme they barely even have to match the rest of the set.

Bishops are their own little bastions of thought and sort of run on their own design wise, again, mainly staying within the color scheme, much like the way religion and government stay apart in today’s society (…in theory).

But the rooks and knights…..those require some thought.

Think about it.  The pawns are expendable, the monarchs are merely protectorates of the others, and the bishops, while mobile, really protect only themselves.   But the rooks and knights are offense and defense, side by side, and all over the board.

So the rook and knight get special attention when I work.  They sort of have to be right, and often they’re the hardest pieces to make.   Horse heads can be tough to do on their own, but the pieces need to balance vertically so the piece stays upright, and the rooks need to be simple but sturdy in their design.

The design of the pieces is only half of the problem.   There’s a lot of thought and experimentation that goes into the color choices.  The colors have to be compatible with each other, but they should be complimentary as well.

Once you have that sorted, you need to figure out how to apply the color.  Will all the pieces use the color in the same way or will the pawns differ from the rear pieces?  If you go that route, it becomes more difficult because the color becomes used for accents on the rear pieces, adding complexity to your design.

Ahh, so for this collborative set….what to do, what to do, what to do?

Tune in next time, and don’t burn yourself.

Black side

The set’s for sale on my friend Joe’s site.  All of the proceeds go towards helping him with the exorbitant bill for his surgery, and the price includes the set, the case, and domestic shipping.

Have a look, have a purchase.   If you buy it, feel free to let me know how you like it!

If you’re not the chess playing sort, stop by his main fund raising site and see what else might tickle your fancy.

The black king developed cracks yet again.

After some cursing under my breath and a little time to think, I decided to take another approach.   Currently the glow is wrapped around the outside of the black.  I’m guessing that there’s an incompatibility between the black and the aqua glow, possibly due to a COE shift in the black.

So, now that I’ve had a little wallowing time, I’ve decided to redesign the kings slightly.  Rather than wrapping the glow around the black, I’m going to use a sectional, sandwich cookie approach where I develop the pieces in sections with glow in between.  I’m going to take Anderson Coats’ advice and throw a little extra oxygen into the mix to see if that helps any.

Unfortunately, in redoing one king’s design, I have to redo the other one, and I’m running low on purple.  So, until my supply order arrives, this set’s up on blocks.   Below are some sketches of two designs I’m considering.  I think the more rounded one is more in tune with the rest of the set, though I like the angles on the other one.  Maybe for the next set.

The yellow areas are where glow glass will be.

Concept 1

Concept 2..I'm more inclined to this one.

Well, tonight I started in on the pawns, but something told me..just do two tonight, anneal them and see how it goes.

A little preview picture of the black side pieces in full glow

The pieces survived the kiln fine, but compared to the black pieces, I’m doing these “wrong”.   I’m glad I only got 2 in rather than 8.

On a related note, some of the black side pawns need to be redone due to some cracking issues.  I’m thinking the set may not be ready for this coming weekend in time, particularly since I’m losing two of my torching slots this week.  Oh well.