Global Learning and the Athens Drive High School Chess Club Fall 2013 - Spring 2014
My NEW Chess Set - Set no.2 July 18, 2012
I have created another chess set and have fired it once, but it has not been glazed. I want to see if I can make molds of most of the pieces and pour some resin (plastic) sets that will of course be more durable than my ceramic sets. I have never made a mold before, so I've been exploring a company's website, Alumilite, that specializes in molds and the necessary products. Today I hope to order the materials, but first, here are some pictures of this new set:
the Bishops
I spent the most time on the bishops. I worked on all four at the same time, doing a lot of the work on the family trip to the beach during the Easter holiday week. Here's what they looked like in the early stages.
Here's what they look like now.
Here's what they look like now.
They ended up in pairs, two being evil and supporting the jealous brother of the deceased king (the story in my head about this set), and the other two were good bishops, supporting the boy-king and his mother the widowed queen.
My Chess Set - Originally posted: January 14, 2012
(NOTE: Written July 10, 2012: I have since glazed and fired this set, and in fact, I gave it to my friend Justin Kulow for inspiring me to do it in the first place. I have also made a second set and fired it, but I haven't glazed it. Now that I'm back from Italy, I want to first make some molds for the new set and experiment with pouring and coloring resin to make a few plastic sets, maybe sell them to raise some money for the chess club. We shall see...)
Now back to Jan. 14, 2012:
I've always enjoyed playing chess, and I've played quite a bit lately. Back in high school, I made a couple of chess sets out of clay, and about six years ago, my mother-in-law ("Mom") gave me 10 lbs. of clay so that I could get back into it or some other type of sculpture. I never did anything with it, and the block of clay just kind of dried out, but recently my friend Justin Kulow - who is making a great-looking board - challenged me to try it again, so last week I put the block in a pail and filled it with water, and today, it's soft enough to work with. Here are my first pieces; I made them just a few minutes ago. We have a long weekend (MLK Day), so I hope to make some more and post them here as well.
Here's the first piece - a King. I just squeezed the clay into a "log" shape, pressed in for the eye sockets, nose and mouth, shaped the crown, and then attached a rolled piece for the mustache. (Thanks, "Mom.")
Now back to Jan. 14, 2012:
I've always enjoyed playing chess, and I've played quite a bit lately. Back in high school, I made a couple of chess sets out of clay, and about six years ago, my mother-in-law ("Mom") gave me 10 lbs. of clay so that I could get back into it or some other type of sculpture. I never did anything with it, and the block of clay just kind of dried out, but recently my friend Justin Kulow - who is making a great-looking board - challenged me to try it again, so last week I put the block in a pail and filled it with water, and today, it's soft enough to work with. Here are my first pieces; I made them just a few minutes ago. We have a long weekend (MLK Day), so I hope to make some more and post them here as well.
Here's the first piece - a King. I just squeezed the clay into a "log" shape, pressed in for the eye sockets, nose and mouth, shaped the crown, and then attached a rolled piece for the mustache. (Thanks, "Mom.")
Here's my second piece - also a King. I figure it's best to make the same piece for both sides at the same time to have any chance at continuity. Although each piece is free-formed by hand and so will be unique, I do want the same pieces to have similar heights and overall shape. Although at first I'd hoped all the bases could be uniform, the pieces (led by the bishops and knights) rebelled and told me they were going to be whatever shape they wanted.
(Note: I actually straightened up the first piece before taking the above photo - as you can see in these two pictures with its mate, my first effort was leaning quite a bit.)