CHESS SET FROM POP STICKS

A set of chess pieces made from pop sticks.

MATERIALS :

Approx. 60 Pop Sticks*, or similar thin plywood

Wood glue

Dark coloured wood stain

Clear varnish, eg. Urethane oil

*Pop sticks are small strips of 2 mm thick white wood, 110 mm x 10 mm with rounded ends, commonly used in flavoured ice blocks. They are also sold in craft shops in packs of about 200 for various crafting purposes. 2 mm plywood can be substituted if desired.

The file Popstix Set.pdf contains patterns for the pieces. These can be printed out and glued to the pop sticks prior to cutting out with a coping saw or Dremel® tool. The paper patterns can then be removed by light sanding. The bases are made from two half-circles, 32 bases are needed in total. Half of the pieces need to be stained with a dark coloured wood stain prior to assembly and gluing as shown in the diagram above.

The assembled pieces were painted with 2 coats of clear urethane oil varnish.

I made a magnetic set by gluing the pieces to dead Lithium call batteries ( CR2032 ) and using a magnetised rubber sheet for the chess board. ( 20 mm diameter steel washers could be substituted for the Lithium cells )

The Kings and Queens were decorated with silver metallised beads.