CUSTOM CREATION

A member of the Plains Library chess club is making his own chess set, but it's not going to help him win.

Gary Olson is crafting handmade glass chess pieces to give away to the winner of an upcoming chess tournament. "I wanted to do something special for the club," said Olson, who has competed with the club since it began in March, but instead of competing, he's going to help referee the tournaments. Olson finished the last two queens last Thursday.

"It's a beautiful gift and it's something they can use for a lifetime," said Olson, who has worked with glass for more than 20 years. Brandon Wilson of Plains is making a wooden chess board for the tournament victor.

The Plains Library started a chess club in March and Olson was one of the first competitors in the club, which was being organized by Terry Watkins, who works at the library. Once it was decided to have a tournament for the juniors and the adults, Olson offered to make chess sets for each of the two divisions. However, it was decided that a chess set would be given only to the winner of the adult contest. The second chess set will be used for a silent auction in October to raise funds for the library.

Olson started working on the sets in mid August, using his oxygen propane torch to heat the pieces to between 1,100 and 1,500 degrees. Each piece was individually made, which makes each piece slightly different. It took him around six hours to make a complete set. "I'd say the pawns were the easiest to make. It took me about five minutes on each one," said the 52-year-old Olson. For each chess piece, he would hold the stick of glass in front of his torch, turning the glass as the piece formed to his liking.

The queens were the toughest to make because the crowns were multiple layers of different color glass fused together. He also made an additional queen for each side because in the game when a pawn successfully reaches the other side the player can get an extra queen. The kings and the knights - the horses - were also a little more difficult, but not as hard as the queens. The two sets are completely different. One is more of a solid white with a black swirl and a touch of violet. His other set is more transparent with a blue glacier look.

The time for heating each piece varies in temperature and time. He said it's the heat that often brings out the colors in the glass, though he has an assortment of colors in his stock of glass rods, which he gets in four-foot lengths from four to 32 millimeters wide. Once he's pleased with a piece, he puts it into a kiln to bake out all the micro fractures in the glass and seals it. Pieces remain in the kiln for about eight hours.

He got into glass blowing in 1999 in Minnesota. He enjoys working with glass and said it's relatively easy to work with. "Even if I break something it's not a lost cause because I can reuse and make anything I want out of it with heat," said Olson. He made his first glass chess set in 2000 and has made several since. But he makes dozens of other objects out of glass - icicles for the Christmas tree, candle holders, vases, pendants, small jars, guitar picks, meat tenderizers, and even a three-inch long blue dragonfly. He used to do shows to sell his glass products in Montana and Minnesota, where he was born and raised. Glass blowing is more of a hobby to him now and he gives much of his glass art pieces away.

Olson has lived in a lot of different places from Alaska to Maine and moved to Plains about a year ago. As a member of the Church on the Move in Plains, he'd like to get the wood ministry going again. Presently, he is working on coordinating the chess tournaments in October and November and he's happy with the way the glass chess pieces have come out. "I think they're pretty beautiful. I think they're amazing," said Olson, who would like to get more people involved with the library's chess club. He's also working on doing a fundraiser to help the Plains Public Library purchase new computer equipment and additional books.