The Day I Created An Outdoor Chessboard

When the rain finally stopped, I created a new chessboard for our outdoor pieces, and just check out the finished product....

#Gifted

I originally wanted to cut the wood into 64 pieces, mainly because I didn't want to mask the board up to paint the squares, but let's think about this, for the sake of making the spray painting easier, I'd then having the issue of adding at least 49 hinges......

So I went for masking.

And promptly questioned myself as to why on earth I thought I could make a chequerboard.  Looking back I can now see how I would do things differently.

The wood first received a primer and was obviously the easiest part of the process.  Once dried I very carefully marked out the 64 squares.  This really does need the time taken.  If those squares are uneven or wonky it will stand out a mile.

Then, then! I masked around every other square to paint.

I used my preferred medium of spraypainting, I'm just no good with a paintbrush, that just appears to be some special art form in itself!  So I used Pinty Plus evolution sprays. 

This spray went on really well and gives a good cover and as I also had a cardboard template I can see how far the spray goes over the original target.

What I should have done....

After covering both boards with primer, I should have sprayed the entire boards red, the two cans would have quite easily covered the 60cm x 120cm pieces, and had paint leftover.

Then I'd have been free to mark out the 15cm squares with a black sharpie to define the edges before masking up and using the square template to spray on the black.

That, I feel, would have been less time-consuming.

Once dry, I used PintyPlus gloss varnish sprays which really made the two colours pop.

The chess pieces are very light, and a gust of wind knocks them over, so I'm going to drill a small hole in the base of each and fill the bottom up with sand so we can continue playing in the windy months, living near the coast, that's most of them.

More about Pinty Plus 

Pinty Plus UK is a Petersfield based company that sell a range of Spanish aerosol paints from spray chalk paint to blackboard paint and more conventional paints like spray acrylics.