Birdbase Chess Set ©1998 by Joseph Wu Designed: Aug. 30/93 / Diagrammed: April 6/98

1. Preliminary fold.

Start with a square, white side up.

4. Fold and unfold.Knight and Rookstart here.

9. After step 8. 10. Squash eachflap downward.Pawn and Kingstart here.

11. Squash eachflap upward.

12. After step 11.Bishop and Queenstart here.

5. Rabbit-ear.Repeat behind.

7. “Minor miracle”. 8. Rabbit-ear.Repeat Behind.

2. Inside reverse folds. 3. Valley folds to thecentre.

Birdbase Chess Set ©1998 by Joseph Wu Designed: Aug. 30/93 / Diagrammed: April 6/98

Pawn: Start after step 10 of page 1.

Bishop: Start after step 12 of page 1.

1. Flip each flapinward.

2. Mountain foldall eight flaps intothe model.

3. Inflate thebottom to form asquare base.

1. Fold and unfoldall flaps.

2. Fold and unfoldall flaps.

3. Rabbit-ear allflaps.

4. Fold all cornersover the next flap.

5. Inflate thebottom to form asquare base.

Birdbase Chess Set ©1998 by Joseph Wu Designed: Aug. 30/93 / Diagrammed: April 6/98

Knight: Start after step 4 of page 1.

1. Fold front andback flaps over toone side.

2. Valley folddown.

3. Crimp. 4. Crimp.

5. Outside reversefold.

6. Outside reversefold.

7. Inside reversefold.

8. Outside reversefold, and tuckinside.

9. Inflate thebottom to form asquare base.

©1998 by Joseph Wu Designed: Aug. 30/93 / Diagrammed: April 6/98

Rook: Start after step 4 of page 1.

1. Fold all flapsdown.

2. Sink the tips ofall flaps in half.

3. Fold all flaps up 4. Inflate thebottom to form asquare base.

Birdbase Chess Set

Queen: Start after step 12 of page 1.

1. Fold all flapsdown.

2. Fold and unfold thecorners of all flaps alongexisting creases.

3. Inside reverse foldthe right side ofeach flap.

4. Tuck the left corner ofeach flap into thepocket of the next flap.

5. Valley fold tips up toform the crown. The tipswill not lie flat.

6. Inflate the bottom toform a square base.

Birdbase Chess Set ©1998 by Joseph Wu Designed: Aug. 30/93 / Diagrammed: April 6/98

King: Start after step 10 of page 1.

1. Squash foldeach flap upward.

2. Narrow eachflap with valleyfolds.

3. Inflate thebottom to form asquare base.

The completed chess set. From left to right, the pieces are the pawn, the bishop, the knight, therook, the queen, and the king. Actually, the pawn shown in the photo is an older version that didnot have the long flaps tucked inside the model. The premise behind this series of chess pieceswas to design a chess set that (a) could be folded from the same sized squares, (b) were 3D, and(c) were easily distinguishable. The first piece to be designed was the knight, followed by thepawn, the bishop, and the queen. The king caused me all sorts of problems, and I’m actually stillnot happy with its look. The rook came almost as an afterthought.