WIP: Chess board

[CitizenKate]

Those of you who have been to my web site have seen this design before. It incorporates one of the CraftAid corners, along with some other ornamentation of my own I filled into the border, and has been a popular pattern. This particular one measures 24" x 24" - the squares are 2.5".

So far, just all the lines are cut, and I've finished the tooling in one corner, now I'm starting to work my way around the border with backgrounding and beveling. The borders get filled in with some very tiny basket stamping. More later...

Kate

[jbird]

very good i like the step by step thing.

JOSH

[Sasquatch]

Oooooo oooooo I was wondering how you got those sweet corners I'm excited, can you tell!!

[King's X]

That's cool.........got check our your site. Thanks for sharing.

Jbird: Nice advatar pix!

Happy New Year!!

[dscott]

looks great such clean lines

Dscott

[jbird]

thanks Sam, Not bad for a no good bum ha.

Josh

[pete]

Kate

Beautiful work as usual. Curious- what weight and what brand of leather do you use on a project like this? Because of the nature of a game board- the initial piece of leather better be pretty flawless to say the least.

Also- do you cut the squares with a swivel and ruler, ruler and utility or scalpel, ....?

I really look forward to seeing this progress.

thanks for the "look see"

pete

[Johanna]

I see a bunch of flaws in that board. Finish it and send it to Ohio.

One of the things I've always admired about Kate's work is that she can jazz it up without losing the elegance of the original design. That will be a board you can display hand-carved, ridiculously expensive chess pieces on and dare the cat to walk on it. Johanna

[TimDreamer]

Very nice lines on that board, Kate! So tell us newbies, have you ever dyed a square the wrong color? I'd be constantly worried that I would do either that or color outside the lines... LoL. For something that looks fantastic, do you just start over when a mistake is made? Do you do your own woodwork or do you have that done outside your shop? I love the way you've married two crafts together to make a piece that looks timeless.

[CitizenKate]

I see a bunch of flaws in that board. Finish it and send it to Ohio.

HA! Dream on!

Curious- what weight and what brand of leather do you use on a project like this? Because of the nature of a game board- the initial piece of leather better be pretty flawless to say the least.

Also- do you cut the squares with a swivel and ruler, ruler and utility or scalpel, ....?

I use Wickett & Craig tooling sides in a 6oz. weight (2-3mm). For game boards, I have to be able to cut very large pieces out of the side that are clean enough. In other words, you can't cut around major flaws anywhere in the middle of the hide. I can work with minor flaws, like "fat" wrinkles and light scars - they add "character". I actually kind of like them. But the W&C hides I've gotten have all come pretty clean. I can usually cut 3 game boards out of one side.

I use a swivel knife with a straight half-inch hollow-cut blade to make the layout lines. I cut the shorter lines freehand, but it goes much faster when I use a straightedge to guide the blade on the really long lines. Then I model the edges of the lines to give them a slight bevel and straighten out the places where the lines intersect.

So tell us newbies, have you ever dyed a square the wrong color? I'd be constantly worried that I would do either that or color outside the lines... LoL.

Oh yes, I have indeed! Talk about a brain-fart! That was when I was still hand-dying the squares. I also ruined one once when I accidentally dropped the brush on the board I was working on. But I haven't made that mistake since I started airbrushing the dye onto the squares. The masking helps to prevent such mistakes.

For something that looks fantastic, do you just start over when a mistake is made?

Depends on the severity of the mistake. Applying dye to the wrong square... that's a start-over for sure. But minor mistakes can often be fixed, and I will almost always try to find a way to fix it before scrapping it and starting over, even if there is no known fix. Sometimes it really pays to experiment.

Do you do your own woodwork or do you have that done outside your shop? I love the way you've married two crafts together to make a piece that looks timeless.

Some of both. The frames I use are ones that I purchase. I also work with unfinished furniture or other existing pieces. But I'm learning to do more and more with my woodworking tools, because that opens up more design possibilities.

Thanks for having a look and leaving comments!

Kate

[TomSwede]

Looking really good so far Kate!!!

Can't wait to see it finished.

Tom

[howardb]

Beauty Kate! What can you get for one of those? If it's not rude to ask... I imagine quite a nice price. So far this one is gorgeous.

[CitizenKate]

What can you get for one of those? If it's not rude to ask... I imagine quite a nice price.

Not rude at all... for my regular (non-custom) items, the prices are openly advertised on my web site. (See the link in my sig line.) This one I charged 20% more for, plus additional materials and labor because it's a custom size (although no custom design work was involved). I know a few of you will say I don't charge enough. If that is the case, feel free to show me what you do, and we'll talk.

Here's another photo of the progress...

I'm about half-way through all the tooling. To give you an idea how small the basket stamping is, the area that has it is only 1/2-inch wide. I'm trying to give the impression of a fabric inlay. I have a tiny basket stamp made by Bob Beard that I use for this. I don't use a border stamp with this, just "tuck it in" with beveling.

Kate

[Sasquatch]

[freak]

Wowww...... That's just super nice Kate! I love seeing you work and so does my wife. I always call her in the room to look at your work. She always says the same thing i do when i first look, "wow, that's really nice".

[DaCodaBuchan]

These are the LV of chess boards. I am adding one to my wish list.

[David]

Beautiful work Kate,

I really love your work.

Dave

[ETW Grumpy]

Beautiful work as always Kate. Since you're answering questions, do you knock out all the tooling at one time? If not, do you re-wet the leather each time or have a secret for keeping it workable?

[CitizenKate]

...do you knock out all the tooling at one time? If not, do you re-wet the leather each time or have a secret for keeping it workable?

I try to avoid re-wetting as much as possible, because I have noticed that re-wetting does seem to "soften" existing tooling impressions. But on a piece this size, there is no way you can do the whole thing with a single wetting. I've tried using plastic to keep the unworked portions of the leather from drying out, and that works okay, but on a piece this size, it's sometimes a bit of a hassle to keep the plastic in place while I'm working.

So what I do now is re-wet, but only at certain points. The entire piece is prepared prior to cutting the lines. I do all the cutting for the entire board at once. Then, for all the stamp work, I go back and re-wet just the area I'm working in only once, and do all the stamp work for that area. Swivel knife cuts get re-wetted, but no stamping work gets re-wetted. And I keep the whole thing under plastic between work sessions, until the whole thing is done.

I know some of you might be concerned about water lines forming from re-wetting just parts of the leather. Maybe that's a problem in places where the water is hard, but I haven't had any problems with it.

Kate

[CitizenKate]

Got all the tooling done, finally...

Tomorrow I start dye work.

Kate

[Schno]

Gorgeous work, Kate! Thanks for stepping through the process with us. I have a question...

I also ruined one once when I accidentally dropped the brush on theboard I was working on. But I haven't made that mistake since I startedairbrushing the dye onto the squares. The masking helps to prevent suchmistakes

What do you use to mask off the squares while air-brushing? How do you get something to adhere without marring the grain side finish?

[cem]

Wow that's coming along really nicely Kate, thankyou for showing the steps and I can't wait to see it all dyed up.

Gorgeous work, Kate! Thanks for stepping through the process with us. I have a question...

What do you use to mask off the squares while air-brushing? How do you get something to adhere without marring the grain side finish?

I'm interested to know the answer to Schnos question as well I've read on the forum before that you have used liquid latex but when I tried that it turned the leather a funny grey colour and wouldn't dye properly. The latex did have a strong amnonia smell and was oldish (was left over from a mold I was making a year ago ) so if you still do use liquid latex is there a certain brand that you use.

Cheers,

Clair

[CitizenKate]

What do you use to mask off the squares while air-brushing? How do you get something to adhere without marring the grain side finish?

For straight edges, there are a number of low/adhesive or medium/low-adhesive painter's tape products available that are designed for use with delicate surfaces (and leather certainly qualifies), or also described as "60 day clean release". Scotch Blue 2080 is one example. Painter's Mate Green also works well on leather.

These tapes are somewhat absorbent, so the dye doesn't tend to bleed under the edges, although if you spray the dye on too heavily, it can still happen. It's sticky enough to stay put while you're working, but then it comes off without tearing the leather grain.

I'm interested to know the answer to Schnos question as well I've read on the forum before that you have used liquid latex but when I tried that it turned the leather a funny grey colour and wouldn't dye properly. The latex did have a strong amnonia smell and was oldish (was left over from a mold I was making a year ago ) so if you still do use liquid latex is there a certain brand that you use.

The latex product I use for masking is not a liquid, but more of a heavy paste, which is designed for making casting molds. I use it for masking really complex shapes, but as you noted (as well as others who have PM'd me about their experiences with using a latex mask - some positive, and some not-so-positive), it does have some considerations. The product I use has not caused any discoloration on the leather, but it does change how the leather takes dye, so I have limited my use of it just to areas I don't plan to apply dye to.

Another approach I use for masking complex shapes, that is a great alternative to the latex, is to cut the shape I want to mask from a full-page sized self-adhesive label. I keep my art on my computer (mostly illustrator drawings), so I can just print the shape on the sheet, then cut it out with a hobby knife. These sheets are a little tackier than I like but so far, I haven't had any problem with them hurting the leather. Next time I have a project that involves this, I'll post a demo.

Kate

[TimDreamer]

Wow, looks great so far, Kate!! Very nice tooling, deep impressions and clean lines. (BTW, that's a TINY basketweave! 1/8 inch wide.... LoL.) Knowing the tendency of a swivel knife to not leave complete cuts when crossing or ending at perpendicular cuts, what is your technique on making these cuts look the way they do on your boards and how do you keep the same depth of cut for the complete line? Do you use straight, angled or hollow ground blades?

[CitizenKate]

To show a little of my process for some of the dye work, all the "maskable" areas of my game boards get the colors airbrushed on, so the first step is masking off the areas I don't want the dye to go. I use a modeling tool to tuck the edges of the tape into the lines to help keep the dye from getting under the edges of the tape.

Tomorrow I'll take it down to my garage and spray the dye on. It's very cold down there right now, and it's supposed to get warm tomorrow, so I decided to wait until then to do that part.

Knowing the tendency of a swivel knife to not leave complete cuts when crossing or ending at perpendicular cuts, what is your technique on making these cuts look the way they do on your boards and how do you keep the same depth of cut for the complete line?

It's easier to make photos than explain it. As you observed, the intersections of perpendicular lines tend to come up a little short of a perfect intersection because the end of the cut tapers off. I just take the swivel knife from the other direction and draw it from the intersecting line to the end of the other. I think there is a "rule" somewhere that says you shouldn't do this, probably because it's easy to make the end of the cut look very choppy, but with some practice you can make it perfect.

As for making the depth of the cuts consistent, that is just something I learned from practice. Having the leather at a consistent moisture level helps, as does having a well-conditioned blade that you aren't struggling with.

Do you use straight, angled or hollow ground blades?

For cutting the layout lines, I use a half-inch straight hollow-ground blade. I like for those lines to be fairly strong.

Kate