Checkmate: Process | Gabby Rancitelli

Concept Statement

My partner and I’s idea was centered around day and night, but instead of doing a traditional light and concept, we chose to focus on day time good luck charms and night time superstitions. I designed and constructed the day time chess pieces while my partner, Francesca created the night time chess pieces. Although I focused on good luck charms during the day, I felt the need to make the king a sun because without the sun you can not see the rest of the elements. The day doesn’t happen without the sun, it’s the reason we have the day time, similar to the king running the game of chess. The queen is shown as a rainbow because the queen is a sacred piece in chess. Both a rainbow and a queen are rare and must be cherished. Also, a rainbow can only happen with the use of sunlight. The bishop is depicted through a ladybug because ladybugs are sneaky and show up out of nowhere, similar to the way a bishop operates in the game of chess. Ladybugs are seen to be ‘good luck charms’ if they land on you. The knight is a butterfly because butterflies are unpredictable and unique, just like a knight in chess. Similarly to a ladybug, if a butterfly lands on you, it is also seen to be ‘good luck’. The rook is shown as a four leaf clover because the rook is defensive, hard to find, rare, and high in value, just like a four leaf clover. Finally the pawn is shown as a penny because they are both low in value and they are both powerful in large amounts. Finding a penny on a sidewalk/road that is heads side up is seen to be lucky as well, but it is very difficult to find a penny at night without a light source.

Ideation

To start off this project, we were instructed to learn the roles and rules of chess. Once we had an understanding of the game, we were instructed to assign each piece as a person at a party. We had to write down characteristics about each ‘person’ and why they fit under that specific piece.

Our second exercise for this project was to draw different icons based on a word and the three types of symbols: iconic, symbolic, and indexical. The point of this exercise was to think about new ways you can visualize words based on your own interpretations.

Our third exercise was to use slip joints to create three dimensional chess pieces out of paper. It was very difficult to visualize a different angle of both the woman’s head and the deer’s body.

Iteration and Production

Once my partner and I decided on a concept for our chess pieces, we began drawing quick sketches of what each piece would be and why it suited that piece well. We could make each piece anything we wanted it to be, but it had to have reasoning behind the piece selected and fit under the ‘theme’.

Once we had each piece drawn on our iPads, I then began thinking about what method my partner and I wanted to use for this project. We decided to explore the ‘hole’ method, which included to layers of acrylic with a rectangle in the middle. Each piece had a rectangle slightly smaller than the cut out rectangle on the circular base so they would fit together perfectly. Next we had to identify the size of each piece based on the hierarchy of each piece.

The top image displays my first attempt at making the physical chess pieces. We noticed we made the rectangle on the bottom of each piece too small compared to the rectangle on the circular base which caused instability to the pieces. The four leaf clover’s ‘stem’ was too shinny and unfortunately broke while laser cutting. The bottom image displays the first few pieces cut and put together to check if the sizing issue was fixed.

The top image displays my completed side of the chess board with all 16 pieces together. The bottom image shows mine and my partner’s pieces together on a chess board.

Reflection

Every one of my projects brings it struggles and successes, and this project was no different. I absolutely loved learning about the concept of chess and the rules of the game. I grew up never knowing how chess worked or what each piece meant. This project made me learn about the game of chess and made me step outside of my comfort zone to try new things. I had never worked with acrylic before and in order to make sure the glue for each piece wouldn’t show through, my partner and I had to test out multiple types of glue to see what would be the most durable and clear. After trying rubber cement, tacky glue, hot glue, super glue, and acrylic glue, the best option for our situation was clear super glue due to the small amount of show through the acrylic. My partner and I also struggled with getting into the laser cutter and making sure all of our files were ready to go before our laser cutting appointments. Thankfully we both booked a lot of appointments and were able to get our piece cut and constructed in time. My favorite part of this project was drawing each piece on Adobe Illustrator because I could make each piece the way I wanted it to. Another struggle I ran into was not making some parts of the chess pieces thick enough. For example, the legs of the ladybug broke while it was getting laser cut due to the thinness of the pieces. The collaboration with my partner, Francesca was a lot of fun and we both complimented each other very well. Overall, I truly did enjoy this final project and learning about the rules/roles of chess.