Chessmen!

I've officially begun my chess set mission! This will be an ongoing project in the coming months, and I imagine I'll be over the moon when I have finally managed to create an entire useable set.

 

The knight was the piece that was intimidating me the most construction-wise, so that's the piece I started out making. That ended up being a very good call, because I discovered that it really wasn't as difficult as I'd anticipated, it just took some time and patience. As it turns out, I think I might have a harder time with pieces that are more geometric, like rooks. Horses are organic and fairly forgiving compared to the hard lines of castles and architectural forms. Hot glass never ever wants to make sharp angles and edges.

So this is version 1.0. Prototype A. Not as clean as I'd like. Lots of room for improvement. The base should be less awkward, and I have to get my symmetry down better, not to mention the large amount of room left for more intricate detail (though I kind of like the smooth, simple look - if I really clean up my proportions and symmetrical accuracy, I think I could make some very cool minimalist chess pieces). Next up, The Queen!