DIY Luxury Chess Set

I am in the process of learning to use a new powder 3D printer at my college and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to design and build my own luxury chess set.   I do love the traditional designs (I play with the Staunton set at home), but I want to design a unique set that would take advantage of the creative capability of the 3D printer.  Need some feedback from the aficionados on this site.  What do you think?  How would you design your chess set if you have a blank slate?

This is what I have so far:

Any comments, suggestions and criticism appreciated.

Thanks,

CJ

Rook details

Internal spiral staircase:

Floor mosaics:

I wish I knew 3D printing or CNC programming.  I've seen some very cool things done with both. One thing that I really like is wide rooks and if I were you I would widen it like a Minceta rook. If possible maybe even those supports under the crenels. 

Best of luck. 

I'm partial to the Gamine Gothic set and would probably do something in that style.  But the faces would be of people in my family, including the family dog (as the knight).  I feel like that would be a nice keepsake.

@goodspellr,

I really wanted to do that set with three generations of my family.  But the amount of time it takes for me to sculpt the likeness of everyone will be enormous.  I am now struggling with the knight, and that is just one piece.  Maybe one day when I have more time and better skills.

@KineticPawn,

Not quite sure I am happy with this design yet.   As for the width, I am limited by the style and  base size (smaller than the queen, larger than the knight).

Looks great so far.

The queen:

Here my king with a hollow crown.  

crown detail

Long live the king!

One more piece to go.

Quite like your designs. The only thing I'd change personally, would be removing the brick pattern from the top/rim part of the rook, to give it a cleaner look. Looks a bit "busy" otherwise to me. Personal opinion only.

Horsie, horsie, everybody love a horsie.

I love this horsie:

@Smiley_vp,

That brick pattern is exagerated by the line width in the drawing.  I think it is actually very subtle in the final piece.

All the king's men, lining up for family photo. . . and final height check.

Very nice. Personally I've never been one for super realistic knights, but I can't critique your handiwork here.

BoOmSticK22,

Here is your set:

Still a work in progress.

ItsTwoDuece,

That piece is not a super realistic knight.

It is only an interpretation of an artist's scupture of a horsie.  

Cool-looking set.  Good job.

Does the software that you are using determine the center of mass of the pieces?  I can't tell just by looking at it if the knight will be balanced.

Also, are you leaving the bottoms hollow so that you can add weights and felt?

What kind of "luxury" set would it be without the weight and felt?  The center will be filled with epoxy follow by stainless steel weight and laser cut felt.  Aiming for a 5lb set.

Fusion 360 can give me center of mass, but it is not really necessary.  The design has a nice wide base and a low center of gravity with the bottom weight.

Fresh off the printer!  There is still a lot of post processing to do, but I am really happy how the pieces have turned out so far.

They look great! I'm impressed by the lack of artifacts in the printing, especially in the contours of the knight. You're right about the rooks too - the detail in the masonry is not as distracting as the drawing implied.