Glass Chess Pieces

Glass chess pieces can make a wonderful decoration. Glass is a interesting material great for decorative chess sets and are also more resistant to chemical interactions. Glass chess pieces are often unweighted and delicate so these sets would generally be selected purely for the material of glass.

A glass chess set is not carved like wood or certain types of stone. A natural form of glass is obsidian, also know as volcano glass but for us glass needs to be manufactured. Glass is formed from a crystal based compound but after mixed and heated it is cooled so quickly that there is not time for it to crystallize.

Chess sets made of glass are not the same as crystal chess sets because crystal has not actually formed in glass. Solids have a crystal structure but liquids do not. Since glass solidifies before it forms any crystals it shares a characteristic of liquid making it a very interesting material.

Glass is about 70% silicon dioxide by weight, the compound found in quartz. Quartz is often taken out of sand but natural larger crystals of quartz are purer. When natural large crystals are crushed they can be used to make high quality glass.

The silica is mixed with soda and lime from ground limestone. If the glass needs to be colored or frosted then other materials may be mixed in as well. Once melted the glass can be poured into molds or blown.

Sets can match glass pieces with a glass chess board but often you'll see glass combined with marble, metal, wood, or even ceramic in chess sets. Since glass is used in anything from windows to glassware, the true uniqueness of this interesting material is often taken for granted. Glass is relatively inexpensive decorative material that you'll see being used anywhere from Italian glass chess sets to glass dragon chess sets.

Learn more about chess games pieces.