Watch the video here.
The
day after Christmas I was talking to my daughter and she asked what I
was doing that day. I told her I was trying to figure out what to
make for today’s video tutorial. She said I really needed to do a
project for New Years this year. I told that was a good idea but I
still had no idea. Then she suggested a board game of some kind. She
then reminded me that when she and her brothers were growing up New
Year’s Eve was always a family game night. We would dig out all the
board games to play and eat snacks to stay awake until to ring in the
new year.
After
I got off the phone I googled board games and settled on a Chinese
Checkers set since it didn’t look as complicated as some of the
other games and I also remember not only playing with my kids but I
remember playing it as a child.
I
did create a template for you to use to mark the holes on the board
for the marbles. This template took me a while to figure out but was
a really fun project. You can find the template here. You are free to
use the template as many times as you wish and to make more Chinese
Checker sets with it, you can even sell the games. Just please don’t
sell or give away my template.
I
did have to film this video on Saturday to have it up for you guys on
Sunday so you got my first time through on all the steps. If I had
had more time I would have gone back and re-filmed the cutting and
marking of the board.
In
the video I rolled the clay out, cut it with my round cutter then
placed the template on top and used a pin to mark where the holes
need to be. In hindsight I think it would have been better to put the
template on the sheet of rolled out clay and marked the hole
placement with the pin. Then used the cutter to cut out the round
shape. I think it would have been much easier to get the board
centered.
Since
I had to wait until the last minute to film I didn’t have the time
to start over by the time I realized this. My filming time is very
limited this last week and probably for the next week or so. They are
doing a major construction job on the building I live in and it is
very noisy. For anyone interested they tore all the balconies off the
building and are replacing them. Since I am on the first floor I
don’t have a balcony that was affected but the noise of them
working on the one just above me last week was really loud. I can’t
film while they are working so I have to work when they aren’t.
Hopefully they will move on to other parts of the building soon.
I
decided to just use some white clay since it was handy but I saw some
beautiful boards online made out of everything from acrylic to glass,
to wood to marble and probably other materials I can’t think of off
the top of my head. So pick something pretty for your board.
So
to prep condition the clay of your choice and then roll it out, I
used my set of double thick craft-sticks for the thickness. Lay the
template over the clay and use a sewing pin to poke through each
circle on the template. I know there are a lot of them but I was
surprised at how quick this went once I turned off the camera and
could just focus on what I was doing. (as suggested above I suggest
actually cutting the circle out at this point instead of prior to
this step like I did in the video)
Once
all the holes are poked in the surface of the clay use a very small
dotting tool to kind of open up those holes made with the sewing pin.
Again this didn’t take nearly as long as I expected.
Once
the holes are finished transfer you game board to a baking surface
(paper plate) and bake at the recommended temperature for the clay
you are using for 15 minutes and allow it to come to room
temperature.
Once
cooled I used a tiny drop of super glue in each hole (use a toothpick
to apply the glue) and I used the raw spaghetti trick to transfer a
tiny no hole bead to the holes. You will need 10 no hole beads of
each color and you will need 6 colors. I set my game board up so it
is ready to start playing. However, you could set yours up part way
through the game to tell a story that is specific to your setting.
This
was by far the most tedious part of the project (after actually
making the template for you to use LOL) but I worked on it over about
an hour. I would finish one color of beads. Then walk away and do
something else for a couple of minutes. Then come back do another
color set and again walk away for a few minutes. I find this helps me
to get through this type of project much easier with fewer mistakes.
Allow
the super glue to dry/set up then give the board a couple of coats of
a matte or a satin clear sealer. I used Mat Mod Podge.
And
here we have the board set up in a scene, it looks like the kids
talked grandpa into a game of Chinese Checkers…..
As
always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos
and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are
supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit
more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving
comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could
pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.
