I guess I’m not the only one who visits the hardware store and sees everything as a potential crafty material! Julia made her own chess set from hardware pieces like nuts and bolts. This would be a fun gift for any chess aficionado, or maybe for that hard-to-buy-for guy in your family (holiday gifts, anyone?) Julia’s process is detailed in this post from Make. [how to make a hardware chess set] [julia’s flickr]

Julia used Rustoleum paint to color the second team’s pieces. She recommends putting felt on the bottom of the pieces if you want to keep from scratching your chess board. I would recommend those felt pad stickers you can buy at the dollar store.

Project Estimate:

Various nuts, bolts, screws, and threaded rod, $10 (estimate)

Rustoleum paint, $5

Felt or cork pad stickers, $1

Chess board, on hand

Total: $16 and up

Updated: Check out Julia’s flickr stream for the configurations of all the pieces. She has each piece “exploded” with the pieces in order so you can see how she put them together: