Kid crafter Joe Lamancusa of Visual Design Concepts makes a homemade checkers set that includes clay pieces and two different boards, one made from cardboard and the other from fabric. His pieces look like little faces perched atop brightly colored marble pedestals. Materials:
Face push mold
Air-dry molding clay
Cornstarch
Garlic press (Note: Do not use in food preparation after processing clay.)
Craft knife
Poster board
1/4"-wide masking tape
Acrylic paint
Small artist paintbrush
Fabric
Iron-on fusible web
Iron
Paper
Pencil
Poker chip or half-dollar
Scissors
Ruler
Shoelace or ribbon
Faces - Lightly dust the inside of the push mold with cornstarch. The silky powder will prevent the clay from sticking to the mold.
- Roll a piece of clay into a ball, and slightly pinch it to form the shape of a water droplet.
- Push the tip of the droplet into the nose of the mold to make sure all the crevices get filled with clay (figure A).
- Remove the clay from the mold and brush off the cornstarch.
- Change the expression on the face by manipulating the clay with the tip of the handle of an artist's brush and the blade of a craft knife.
- To create hair for the face, push clay through a garlic press (figure B), and arrange the resulting strings around the face as desired (figure C).
Pedestals - To make the base of each checker, twist two different-colored snakes of clay around each other, and mash them into a ball, mixing them together with your hands (figure D).
- Roll out the ball until it is 1/4" to 1/2" thick.
- Use a craft knife to cut circular disks from the clay. Make the disks large enough to serve as pedestals for the clay faces. You could use a round paper template, a poker chip or a 50-cent piece.
- Place a clay face on each pedestal (figure E).
Cardboard Checkerboard - Take a piece of poster board and a pencil, and draw a checkerboard with 2" squares, eight on each side.
- Separate the squares with 1/4" strips of masking tape (figure F).
- Tape off a 1/2" border around the edges of the checkerboard (figure G ).
- Paint every other square one color, using acrylic paint. Paint the remaining squares a different color (figure H).
- Let the paint dry, and remove the tape.
Fabric Checkerboard - Cut a piece of fabric large enough to form a base for 64 2" squares.
- Cut 32 2" squares from a contrasting fabric. Cut 32 2" squares of fusible web.
- Iron the 32 squares onto the fabric in a checkerboard pattern, alternating with the base fabric.
Travel Bag - Stitch a small travel bag by cutting a rectangle of fabric approximately 14" by 8".
- Fold the fabric in the center, right sides together, and stitch up both sides.
- Fold 1" of fabric down from the top edge, and stitch a casing all around. Turn the bag right side out.
- Run a shoelace or ribbon through the casing. Fold up the fabric checkerboard and place it and the checker game pieces inside the bag. Pull the drawstring (figure I).
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