Hello lovelies! We told you in our last post that we had some fun summer DIY’s coming for you to end your summer with good memories. Well that is just what we have for you today with this nautical themed hand-painted backgammon board we made.
I love playing backgammon. My mom taught me how to play when I was younger, and once I got to college I roped Rose into the fun of the game and we have been addicted ever since.
We have this silly old fashioned board that I swear is 50 years old. It gets the job done, but some of the pieces are missing their backs, and we have to lug this whole mini suitcase around wherever we want to play, which is a problem when you like to play on the beach and need room in your bag for the 5 towels and 500 snacks you are bringing too.
Being the little crafters that we are, we decided we could easily make a travel friendly hand-painted backgammon board of our own! This way we can easily transport the game and play it on the beach or wherever our hearts desire! Since we had the beach in mind, we thought it appropriate to have a nautical theme to the board – but you can do any colors/designs you want! Keep reading to find out how to make this nautical hand-painted travel backgammon board!
Materials:
- Canvas fabric
- Acrylic paint
- Ruler
- Paint brush
- Wooden pieces (you’ll need 30 total) – we used these
- Fabric paint pen or a sharpie
- Stamps and ink (optional)
How to make this nautical DIY backgammon board:
- Start by measuring and cutting out your canvas fabric. For reference, our whole fabric sheet is 16 x 21 inches and then our board within that is 12 x 19 inches. You can decide how much extra fabric you have along the edges of the actual board. But don’t forget you need space on at least one side for your home pieces!
- Once your fabric is cut out, now you can make the actual board. Our board is drawn about 2 inches away from the outer edge of the fabric on the longer side and about 1 inch on one of the shorter sides and 2 inches on the other in order to leave room for pieces you take off while playing. Use a very light pencil mark to measure this out and then using a either a fabric pen or a sharpie and a ruler, connect the marks so you have a rectangle.
- Now that you have the outer edges drawn, make another light pencil mark that divides your board exactly in half. For us, that meant measuring 9 inches away from one of the shorter sides. Then using the ruler and the black paint pen or sharpie, make the center black line.
- Now that you have your board in place, you can start making the triangles. Each of the triangles are 1/4 inch apart and the triangles themselves are 1 and 1/4 inches wide. So starting on one side of the board, measure 1/4 inch and make a light tick mark. From that tick mark, measure 1 and 1/4 inches and make another light tick, then measure another 1/4 inch and make a tick. Continue this alternating between 1/4 inch and 1 and 1/4 inches all the way across the board. You should end up with 12 triangles on each side.
- Now that you’ve mapped out where the triangles will be drawn, measure halfway between the 1 and 1/4 inch triangle base (which is 3/4 inch from one side). From this point, measure up 4 inches for the short triangles and 5 inches for the taller ones. Don’t forget to alternate between these! Make a tick mark with your pencil at what will be the tip of the triangle, and then using your ruler and black pen connect that tick mark with the left and right tick marks representing the triangle base. Continue making triangles like this, alternating between 4 and 5 inches long, until all 24 of your triangles are made.
- Now your entire board is mapped out and you can start painting. Choose 2 colors: one for the short triangles and one for the long triangles. Using a ruler and a paint brush, fill in each of the triangles with your desired colors. Note: if you want your lines really precise you could use painters tape to outline the triangles. I wasn’t too worried about being precise, so I just used a ruler and a steady hand.
- If you want stripes like we did on the the short triangles, you can use the ruler to outline the triangle and then once that is dry use the ruler as a straightedge to make stripes across the triangle. Important: make sure you let the stripes dry one at time otherwise you might stick your ruler in wet paint and smudge it!
- Now to make the pieces. To make the stamped anchor pieces, all you will need is a rubber stamp and ink. If you don’t have stamps, you can just paint the pieces a solid color like we did with the yellow ones. If you were feeling fancy, you might even paint interesting designs. Just don’t forget to make 2 different sets of 15 pieces.
- Now it’s time to play!
There you have it! A fun way to end summer by playing backgammon with your friends on your new hand-painted backgammon board! You can even pair it with some Lucky Charms Popcorn for some extra luck. Let us know in the comments below what your favorite games are and if you have ever played backgammon before!
Now I can whoop Rose’s ass in style 😉 That is if I’m not sleeping…
