Chess Set
The Garden of Love: a chess set crafted from walnut with floral engravings and stained glass acrylic details. It tells the story of lgbtq+ people through history and symbolism. Each flower has its own underlying meaning and connection to the community. This chess set celebrates diversity and represents marginalized groups.
Marking out final pieces.
Glueing Together Some Final Pieces.
Laser Etching Final Flowers.
Marking Out Prototypes.
Laser Etching Flowers on Prototypes.
Final Pieces cut out.
Final Cutting and Hollowing Complete.
Applying Stain Glass Paint to Acrylic.
Initial attempt at hollowing out pieces with a chisel.
Drilling holes in final pieces for hollowing process.
Prototypes Cut out.
Continuing to hollow Final pieces with scroll saw and files.
Prototypes Vs Final
Laser cutting acrylic.
Completing assembly.
Carnation (King):
Carnations, specifically green carnations, became a symbol of gay men after men started pinning them on their lapels in the 1890s.
Violets (Queen):
Violets represent the sapphic love between women and roots back to Greek poems from Sappho herself.
Lavender: (Bishop):
Lavender has always been associated with the LGBTQ+ community. From the Lavender Scare to the Lavender Menace, its exact meaning can be argued, but lavender has always symbolized both gay and lesbian love.
Pansies (Knight):
Pansies gained their meaning from the “Pansy Craze” through the 1920s-1930s. The flower became associated with flamboyant gay men.
Roses (Rook):
Roses symbolize many things. Diversity, beauty, passion, romance, and love. This involves all love: straight, gay, and everything in between.
Vine (Pawn):
This plant doesn’t have any historical meaning, but to complete the family of form, I included a vine to represent the beauty of life and love in its simplest form.
