The beginning
I started off by scribbling down some ideas; what characters should I use? What shape and style should the pieces be? How do I make sure they look like a set? What am I going to do about a board? I planned everything I could think of and bought things I would need. I doodled some ideas, made lists and discussed thoughts with friends. Very quickly I developed a strong image of the final outcome in my mind, and soon I was able to start putting the plan into action.
The chess board (or battlefield, whichever way you look at it)
I put together some lightside and darkside text designs, along with chess piece symbols and a motif saying: ‘Lightside goes first, but The Empire Strikes Back’ for the sides of the box. (Hehehe). These were carefully measured and sent off to Sticker You, I got them back a month later - so luckily I did this early on.
The drawers were lined with black felt for the darkside and white felt for the lightside. I also had stickers printed for the Resistance/Rebel Alliance and Imperial symbols to go inside and on the outside where the drawer knobs go. The drawer knobs, which were originally bronze coloured were painted silver and glossed before being screwed back on. Finally, the entire box and drawers were coated in gloss varnish to finish the look. Super pleased with the final result!
The chess pieces
Darkside King: Supreme Leader Snoke Queen: Kylo Ren Bishops: AT-AT & AT-ST Knights: Tie fighters Rooks: Imperial Turbo-laser turret Pawns: Storm Troopers (with Captain Phasma) | Lightside King: Finn Queen: Rey Bishops: BB8 & R2D2 Knights: X-Wings Rooks: Rebel Turret Pawns: Rebel fighters (with Poe) |
Almost done! Last task to do was to cut felt circles (black for darkside, white for lightside of course) for the bottoms and stick them on. I also cut out and stuck on the Sticker You stickers I had ordered to the bottoms to identify the role of each piece just in case. And that was it! I had made a Star Wars chess set! Woo!