"That's BARBARIC!" "That's Wizard's Chess!" Making my Harry Potter chess set

[AZNmastermind]

wow....no pieces yet and still blown away by just the board

 

[ecl]

Amazing!!! Really glad to see something different from the harry potter world replicated. This is a beautiful set.

 

[Risu]

Thanks! Yeah, the foil is great stuff, I've just begun to tap its potential I think. It would be incredible to find a similar method for leather guiding. In theory, you can use an iron over the foil to melt the ink, instead of a laminator, so if you could get the laser toner onto the leather cleanly, you'd be half way there. Dunno, there are a lot of unknowns there.

I was thinking about it, and it's possible that a thin piece of book binding leather could be run through a printer, but it would only work for really small books and I don't know if the toner would be clean. I don't have a laserjet myself, so I can't test it.

 

[jedimarkj]

Haven't played chess in years!

Congratulations on the great job and find!
The set and board look absolutely fantastic!

 

[Pete SSS]

Thanks again for your comments everyone, much appreciated!

I don't think I'd like to risk putting leather through my printer, but there are methods for transferring laser toner from a printout onto other materials, like wood. People use Acrylic Medium over the toner on the paper then paste it onto another surface. When the paper is removed, a mirror image is left on the new surface. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to get it onto leather. But I wonder if this method would transfer enough of the toner for the foil to stick to? And maybe the acrylic medium would seal it somehow? Not sure, I might do some experimenting when I've got a bit of time.

 

[PhoenixWand]

I think they were about £25 - £30?

WOW! that's an awesome price. fantastic build and put together really cleverly

 

[PhoenixWand]

can you put up the fleu-de-lys square patterns

 

[ctys]

That amazing! Love it!

 

[ATL Kenobi]

WOW! Excellent work! :thumbsup And thanks for sharing how the laser foil transfer works. I've been wanting to know for a long time how that was done.

ATL

 

[DynamicMenace]

awesome

 

[Pete SSS]

I just came across some old emails which had the name of the eBay seller I bought my Lewis Chessmen from. If any one want to pick some up, his ID is oggtheclever . He's got a few different colour and design options, send him a message if he doesn't have a red and white set listed, he was very helpful when I was buying my set.

 

[DeLorean12]

Top-notch work!

 

[tripoli]

A super build, nice work!

 

[hpfan975]

Beautiful work! I've recently gotten a set of Lewis chess molds and have been casting them and painting them up. I'd like to make a board to go with them as well. What sort of wax did you use on the board?

 

[raggedyman]

As I don't have a laminating machine: Could I place a metal plate on it and heat it whith a heat gun?

Edit: And could you post or pm a brush template? I am not getting, how you printed it (in which dimension). It kind of confuses me.

 

[santiclause]

That looks great! I like the effect the wax mixed with the board underneath giving it that worn leather look like you said. Looks movie quality!

 

[Pete SSS]

Beautiful work! I've recently gotten a set of Lewis chess molds and have been casting them and painting them up. I'd like to make a board to go with them as well. What sort of wax did you use on the board?

Hey, thanks. I would say go for it, it's great to have a board you made your self! The wax is just coloured furniture/woodworking wax. Colron I think. I have a few of their colours to hand and used a combination to get this finish. Some clear, and a tiny bit of Jacobean Oak if i remember correctly (it was a while ago now!)

As I don't have a laminating machine: Could I place a metal plate on it and heat it whith a heat gun?

Edit: And could you post or pm a brush template? I am not getting, how you printed it (in which dimension). It kind of confuses me.

If you don't have a laminator, I understand that you can do the foil technique using an ordinary household iron. I haven't tried this. and I would guess it would take some practice. I think that would give you more control than a heat gun would though. I'm not sure what you mean by a "brush template"? Sorry.

That looks great! I like the effect the wax mixed with the board underneath giving it that worn leather look like you said. Looks movie quality!

Thanks! It's a nice thing to have hanging on the wall.

Thanks for the continued interest guys.

 

[raggedyman]

I do not own Photoshop and my relationship with Gimp is not the best. Since I do not really know, how to make a file that would printed and cut out be one square of the board, I thought you could maybe upload the file or brushes or give advice. Gimp is not my true strength.

 

[DivideByZero]

I received my set of Lewis chess men today. I will be having a go at making this board some time soon.

Pete, how big are your pawns? Mine seem tiny so I am not sure if I ended up with a miniature set by mistake. Mine stand 4cm tall and are 2cm wide. I'm also not too happy with the moulding on my ones (got them from a different seller).

 

[LorduDesign]

Really nice set! Totally love it!