Ben Raises the Bar

SWEET BEAUTIFUL JEBUS!

Oh, maaaaan this thing is nice. Ben was telling us about the chess set he made, a few years back. This ltitle beaut has been tucked away for the past three years. Can you believe that?!?! Ben hand-made each piece, and did a fair amount of research into the origin of the pieces. A lot of stuff I didn’t know about the background of chess.

The Bishop, for example, was previously two judges. And each pawn was supposed to represent a different type of worker in the village. On the back of his pawns, each one has a distinct marking to represent its occupation.

He made the board too, the bastage. This is a sheer pleasure to play on, the pieces are huge and heavy and each move feels like some grand declaration to the world.

Ben makes a lot of neat stuff.