Finally Finished-CHESS ANYONE

Hi everyone. I haven't done an instructable in a long time, but this one was calling my name. I hope I get it published in time! I didn't see it until it was a week old. I know, I need to check in more often. I will try to do better.

So, about these chessmen. Steve and I bought them in 1997, honest, from a yard sale. We had to have them. Don't remember what we paid, but it couldn't have been much. They were unpainted ceramic, and BIG. Well you see how big they are, right? Anyway, we went and purchased paint right away. Steve cut the plexiglas board right away.

Needless to say we just never got around to painting them. Which was fine with me. (I regretted our paint color choices almost immediately and I did not want to use them). So...we packed them away.

We moved residence a couple times. Then in early 2005 Steve unpacks the men and gives them their first coat of paint. I hate it. He gets frustrated and packs them up again. We just moved again (all this moving is a story for another time) this past January. When we came across the "Chessmen" box, we agreed we would finish them. SOON!

So when I saw this Finish it Already challenge, I accepted.

My supply list:

Rust-Oleum Hammered Spray paint

I used 2 cans of Black and 3 cans of White

Frog Tape

Coconut Oil

Burgundy Spray paint

cardboard, for overspray

Plastic Scraper

6 large paint stir sticks

a couple pieces of wood

exacto knife

If you check out the date on the news paper they were wrapped in, July, 14 2005!

Once I unpacked them I remembered that the last time these guys were unpacked we had filled them with sand and topped that off with wax. We had never done this before. So I also discovered that the wax had melted and 4 of the men were about to spill their sand!

I trimmed the wax and stood the men up in the box, among the bags that they were packed with.

That worked well. Then I melted the trimmings in a small pot, in a pot of simmering water. I then poured the wax back in the chessmen. If you have done anything with wax before, then you know that new melt doesn't always meld with old melt.

So I had to hit them with a torch. To melt it all together.

That's a pic of my cat, Charlie. She is always wanting to know what is going on.

The paper was already pealed off of the squares. Don't remember when. But the back side, which is actually the top when it's done, is a mess! That paper has been baking on there for YEARS! It did not want to come off.

I soaked it with coconut oil and wrapped it up for a day or so.

Finally got the paper off!

It wasn't easy.

wiped up the gooey gummy oily mess,

and washed it up real good.

Came out looking great!

Taped the entire back of the board and cut out the lines that separate the squares.

painted them red

I then painted the entire back white

the green is the tape from the front, the red is the back after i painted the lines and removed half the squares.

i failed to get a pic of the whit paint. but i removed the rest of the squares and painted the back black

the front of the board when done!

i used the stir sticks and board as a way to hold the men steady, and painted them

I used this sticky felt like stuff, made for flooring, to pad the bottom of the men

they turned out nice.