Sea Shell Chess Board

Created By: Rachelle Carroll

I started with a square piece of particle board and drew out the chess board leaving a half inch border. I used a dark brown sand and a light yellowish sand color that I got at hobby lobby. I first started with the dark color. Using a paint brush I painted modge podge on every other square where the dark sand was going to go. I poured sand over the entire board and used a book to firmly push the sand in to place. Next, I modge podged the open squares and used the light colored sand. I let the entire thing dry for 30 minutes and repeated. I Put three layers on.

The reason I used the modge podge was that it dried clear so there didn't seem to be any residue.

For the edge, I combined some dark and some light sand in a plastic bag and mixed it. I did two coats of this to cover the border and edges.

For the game pieces, i collect sea shells so I had a lot already but most craft stores sell them. I made sure each type of piece matched for the two sides. After I had all the pieces figured out, I took my hot glue gun and created bases for all the pieces (with the exception of the pawns, they laid flat). This was the only thing I could think of and it wasn't the easiest way especially for the bigger pieces, but it worked.

For the last step, I took each piece and dipped the tip in modge podge and then dipped in the sand to mark the dark side vs the light side.

I am still looking for little sea horses to be the knights so for right now we use coins when we play.