Designed & Made in Scotland
The luxury sustainable James Abell Art Chess Set. With this chess set you can enjoy many Chess games in years to come while at the same time add an extra sculptural design dimension to your home or workplace. Designed & Made in Scotland (£359 plus package and postage)
BACKGROUNDS
Scotland…
Ancient landscapes that will most likely be the same far into the future. A place of constant changing weather and seasons.
Likewise Chess, a game of constant changes and opposites. Chess imitates life and life imitates chess.
Scotland has a long history of chess, going back to the Norse voyagers who left the Lewis Chess pieces on a beach in the Outer Hebrides.
IDEA
As an artist/designer I have always had an ambition to design and make my own chess set so I eventually got round to doing this in early 2022. All boards and pieces are made by myself, each one is unique with slight variations in stains, fillers etc.
THE SET
I’ve made the Chess sets in what I consider to be a unique aesthetic mix of simplistic minimalism of sculptural shapes with a monolithic feel to them.
Each set contains –
- Resin pieces cast from 3D printed pieces (I designed in Blender) moulds with polyurethane resin and recycled coffee used as the black filler and a speckled filler for the black and white pieces.
- 40x40cm board/etched birch ply dark Laser Cut birch ply board dark pieces stained with coffee finished with high quality Osmo oil
- Pieces weighted inside with a ball bearing. Cut felt bases on each piece.
- Printed logo canvas tote bags that contain the board and also the pieces
- A Signed James Abell Art certificate of authenticity.
- 2 surprise signed Chess themed art postcard prints from my draw everyday work (I make a traditional drawing everyday).
£359 plus postage and package
A personal inscription can be added for an extra £30
Waiting time 2 weeks maximum if not in stock.
Custom sets available such as different piece colours, board and or pieces made in metal, Perspex, or transparent board and different sizes. I can even make a giant chess set if you want 🙂
I designed this chess set for longevity but if you lose or break a piece, you can contact me for a replacement service.
James Abell Art
Designed and made in Scotland using environmentally sustainable methods by James William Crofton Abell
CONSTRUCTION NOTES
I made the pieces from rough sketches then developed them in the 3D software Blender. I then 3D printed these pieces out. I then cast these in as negative silicone rubber moulds and used polyurethane mixed with recycled coffee granules as a filler (more for the dark pieces, less for the white to give a speckled look).
It took me a long time to work out the correct mix of coffee granules to filler. There were many failures but I am please I got to the point where I perfected the correct mix. Coffee and chess go well together 🙂
The board was cut with a laser cutter and the dark pieces were stained again with recycled coffee granules. I designed and made the first version of this board in January-February 2022. The end (hopefully) of the Covid pandemic. It was a dark winter but like new art and designed objects, this project cast rays of light towards the future.
The whole set is designed with sustainability in mind and as a luxury item it should enhance your interior and be played for years to come.
Stay tuned for more chess variation designs in the future, Sign up to my newsletter below for my monthly art and news.
Contact me for buying enquiries or other questions info@jamesabellart.com
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James Abell, May 2022
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