Another Giant Game finished for the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market.

Good morning all!  I certainly hadn't intended to be gone for a whole month, but there we are.

Here's just one of the myriad projects I've been working on lately...a giant checkers game.

This one is for the Carlisle Country Craft and Old-Fashioned Market Mercantile in August (click here if you are on Facebook for this year's event), or here for pictures of last year's event if you aren't on Facebook.  I am sponsoring the games this year (as Remembrances Pottery).

The checker pieces are sliced from a large maple branch downed in some rather strong winds last year.  My husband cut them with a chain saw, and since a handful lost their bark in the process, N chipped the bark of the rest of them to match.  I painted both sides with some iridescent paint I had lying around, and there you have it.   They aren't quite finished yet because I think one side needs a crown (king me, king me) but S thinks I should draw on chess pieces instead.  Still debating.

The board itself is from an old wool blanket (I love re-using wool blankets and sweaters) that has been stored away for years.  I had fully intended on making it into a hooded cloak, but realistically it will get more use this way.  After all, it has been in the "to do" bin for about 5 years.  I painted it to look sort of like a quilt to match the theme of the show (Pioneer meets Victorian meets Steampunk).  Also, it was taking WAY more paint than I anticipated so I ended up mixing and matching.

I'm quite looking forward to the show.  With each project we finish up, N gets more and more excited to go.  He's the "Gamesmaster" in the Village Green so that if little ones show up with their parents and have no one to play the games with, he's on the scene to play along...and to get races going just generally to get everyone having a good time.  The perfect job for him.

Feel free to weigh in on the crown vs. chess piece debate...which would you vote for?

Linking up with:  Keep Calm Craft On over at Frontier Dreams
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