Playing Chess!

 If you enjoy home decor or 3D Mixed Media then these Tando MDF chess pieces are a lot of fun to work with.   Before becoming a Kit Ambassador for Tando I had already purchased a couple of these, this is what I did with the first one.

The kits come in two parts the chess piece with a tab at the bottom and a stand with a slot for the tab.   

It's important to check that the base and tab will slot together.  You will find it to be a snug fit which it needs to be; but you also need to keep in mind that product will make the MDF expand.   It will help at the end of your project to have something to hand to help sand both the tab and the slot down.  You can see here just how snug the fit is. 

As with just about anything of this nature the first stage is to give it a base coat that will seal it.  

                           

As we all know chess is played with a white set and a black set so with this piece one side painted with White Gesso, the other with Black Gesso.  The piece then had to be left to fully dry, you can use a heat gun but I prefer not to as it can set a bit of a warp.

My next move was with the black side and a stencil, I didn't tape the stencil in place just held it down with one hand while applying white gesso with the other.   Gasso pushed through the stencil with an inch cube of applicator sponge.

                        

When that was dry the knight was flipped over.  Pre loaded watercolour brushes provided the colour here.   The blue was very dark so it was lighted with plain water puddled on it, moved around with a plain water brush which picked up colour and discharged onto the paper surface below.  Which also explains the change of backing paper!   Before any further colour or medium could be added the water colour needed to be sealed so a coat of Matte Medium scrapped over with a stencil paste knife thing.

   
  

As you can see some of the watercolour did move when the medium was applied but as this is a much busier side that became part of the charm.  Embossing ink to the stamp and then some white embossing powder, the effect especially on the water coloured areas was so good a little more stamp and ep added to the top.

Then came more colour, this time from DIs and blending brushes.  The embossed areas act as a resist to the ink but to get that effect the colour has to be wiped off.  Not wanting to remove too much colour from the base a baby wipe wrapped around the end of a paintbrush handle allowed some control of the areas cleaned.  Of course if to much colour is removed it can be reapplied and the baby wipe touched over again.

Still on the "white" side I used some rik rak ribbon to added extra texture and detail.  Chess competitions seem to involve a time piece which each player stops when their turn is completed.  So an air dry clay clock or watch face from my stash was added.

Wanting a dash of colour on the "black" side an old stamp of a rose provided the answer.   Stamped in black with just the flower head coloured this was fussy cut and stuck in place with the Matte Medium.

Finally the tab and the slot needed to be sanded down so that once again the two parts came together snugly and securely.   To give the base some interest a texture paste was scrapped onto it.

The finished project stands just about 8.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide, making it an attractive ornamental project.

Naturally I want to share this!

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