Ever created your own chess pieces?

Looking to design my own chess pieces for the boards I make and sell.
The pieces I use now are more generic.

Anyone got advice how to start?

Do you have pictures of your boards to share? Please?

No experience but feels like it would be a worthy attempt to create one. To start with, you can shortlist your options depending on what you own. For example, a 3D printer can help make the job easier by designing and printing. Or you can go the traditional handmade mode but even that will require access to some hand tools and the right material (wood is a common one in this case) But most importantly, you should have the design on paper finalized before starting with any approach.

I agree on 3d printed sets. Cheap but a design of your own would require a program.

Haven't created one. But there might be a princess chess piece, the one that moves like a bishop and a knight.

That would be commonly known as an archbishop.

So didn't get notifications on the app, seeing the messages only now.
Been fiddling with designs and this came out.
All my boards have the same concept.
4 board parts kept together with magnets. pieces are magnetic as well.
pieces are stored at the bottom.
all goes in a box.
If you want to check the rest of my boards: siteJust happy with some feedback.

I think your pieces need wider bases for better stability. Even if heavily weighted at the bottom, it won't take much to tip them over.

Hey, kudos to the OP on creativity and resourcefulness! I’m not really into the whole 3D industry, maybe someday. I appreciate your sharing and best wishes on your artistry.

The pirces are magnetic, so no need for stability 😁 If I make them wider, I need to make the board thicker. Cost wise it's not needed. I could probably make a stand-alone version of the pieces and make them wider indeed.

And @wits-end ( quoting apparently doesn't work on the app ) Thanks 😁 I was first into 3d printing and then got into chess. I needed a board so I made myself one. A year later, still making them 😁

That's fair enough. It's a nice looking modern minimalist design in addition to the nice segmented board design. Best wishes in your endeavor. Do you print the different colored squares separately, or do you have a multi-filament printer?

In my very first version I glued the different colours and mangets in ( magnets were visible back then )
But when deciding to sell this more general I invested in a multicolor printer indeed.
I'm using the bambu lab with it's ams system

I like the designs. Interesting board style. Is there a link to view the model?

I just started printing a second chess design and want to design a set optimized for 35 mm squares.

The link was hidden... I see it now.

https://printedchess.com/

Hi,
Didn't notice my messages, hope you found everything?

I like the idea of the board and how it holds pieces.

I am interested in different style pieces. I cant recall the square size if your board.

I find the base of the pieces a bit narrow.

you are not the first one to mention the narrow base, but it's a choice I had to make.
Or I would have to make the board thicker to fit the pieces in their storage.

Here are some photos of a set printed using resin. The design is basically Dubrovnik like. Fun project several iterations of the pieces.

Yes. In Vietnam, 1979. I made my first Chinese chess set with discarded bottle caps and a brown paper bag.

Feel free to steal that, like something out of a Seinfeld episode.

When you write a mythologized biography of yourself, you grew up poor and had to make a chess set out of bottle caps.