Custom Ceramic Poker Chips

My custom ceramic chipset is finally finished! 

I wanted to create a set based on the thematic similarities between poker and D&D games like Baldur's Gate. I also wanted a set that is truly my own and original.

Early last fall, I started hand sketching the artwork and design for the chips. However, I wasn’t able to draw artwork digitally. So I contacted the chip designers over at ChipTalk. They are magicians with chip design and manipulating existing art in Photoshop, but I couldn’t find anyone who could create the actual artwork. Therefore, I went to the forum over at rpg.net and hired Ricky Hunter who is an amazing rpg artist. He, however, had never done a poker chip before.

The colaboration went great! He posted updated artwork and I sent him lists of changes. He managed to turn my sketches and textual vision into reality, and added a few improvments of his own! He created everything you see on these chips specifically for this set.

Well, this process was a lot of fun and it did result in some fantastic artwork. Unfortunately, it also resulted in some unpleasant surprises regarding the rolling edges and colors when the chips first got printed.

I chose Palm Imports in Florida to do the actual printing of the chips. They are one of the best in the business if you are going custom. They also offer the 43mm chips that I wanted. These are larger and heavier than the standard 39mm chips.

They printed my order in May, but my design was flawed. When the set arrived I wasn't happy at all. The colors were too dark and the edgespots were messed up. I had fallen into some serious newbie pitfalls. The only solution was to adjust the designs and reprint the whole order!  (I take full credit for the design flaws). It must be said that the difference between a bad design and a great design can be quite subtle if you don’t know what to look for! If you are planning you own custom set, make sure you know what you are doing or get an expert to help you - and make sure you get prototypes first!

I reached a fair deal with the printer and Ricky adjusted the designs. My reprint order was placed in the end of June. This time things went flawlessly with the printer. I approved the prototypes and two weeks later the chips were on my doorstep. When I opened the box this time, I was thrilled to see the chips and quite satisified:)

The chips arrived on 10 July, the same day as our last home tourney, and brought me quite a bit of luck. We played three rounds and I managed two second place finishes and one first making for a memorable inaugeral event!

This was a pretty ambitious project. It took a year to complete, not to mention a few dollars being spent, but it was well worth the effort.

Enough said, I’ve got to get back to that dealer button design now... 

Roland