Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Egyptian Things

In the spirit of completing the things on my list of unfinished projects, I have started work back up on the Hounds & Jackals set! I started it early last year by sculpting the heads for the playing pieces, but never actually started on the game board itself.

Well, that's finally changed. I picked up some 1/4" birch plywood, and started sketching out the top of the game board. I did it like I usually do when I'm drawing a symmetrical pattern - sketch out half, then trace it to the other side by way of a lightbox.


Once the design was sketched, I cut out the holes so I could mark them out directly onto the wood. It's probably not the most efficient way to transfer a pattern onto wood, but it's all I could think of. :p


Then, I got to buy toys. I didn't have a drill of my own, as I usually just borrowed my Dad's tools when I needed them, but we couldn't find a working drill in the garage, and, well, I just wanted my own drill, so I picked up a small, lightweight drill from the hardware store and started making holes. I also picked up some more plywood, and started to build my box.


I then added some trim around the upper edge.


I decided to use gesso to fill in the gaps between the trim and the box, which, in hindsight, wasn't the best choice. Ah, well. A bit of sanding will take care of the gloppiness of the gesso, and make everything even, so while it's a little more work than I was anticipating, it's not too big of a deal. Next time, I'll use something more suitable, like an actual wood filler.

While the gesso dried, I worked on the drawer. Since I was using 1/8" plywood for the drawer walls, I had to glue it together instead of using nails, so it went together really quickly.


You can see how gloopy the gesso is on the edges of the box, but I'll be taking care of that tomorrow. I'll also be casting the game pieces to make the silicone molds. To finish off the box, I've order a set of Queen Anne chair legs, that I'll be carving to resemble existing examples from Egyptian chairs and game sets, which look like jackal legs! I can't wait to have everything assembled, as I'm really looking forward to painting it.

2 comments:

Flickr