BellaJO - CPC Cash game set - My first custom project! (1 Viewer)

[Doumsey]

Allright, HERE. WE. GO !!

Creating a new clean thread for this project, coming for the first one here, as it is now time to speed things up and finalize the whole thing.

Context : I have been blessed with a wonderful little girl named Josephine a month ago and I wanted to take this opportunity to treat myself with an awesome custom poker chips set from CPC. It has been a long time coming for the ever growing chip lover in me to take the next step in this passion (addiction!!) and go the extra mile with a project like this. My little Josephine is more of an excuse to finally take the step but its also the occasion to pay a cool tribute at the same time I believe.

Design ideas : My love for chips really amped up during a trip to Vegas where I experienced clay casino chips for the first time, and more especially at the iconic Bellagio where we stayed during our trip. So I wanted to pay tribute to those awesome chips with this first project, as this casino sparked my love for quality poker chips!
After much thoughts, I elected to do a revisit more than a straight copy of the Bellagio chips. Revisiting spots and brightening colors mostly, but keeping the spirit and color schemes all around (blue with yellow-y and pale spots on the $1, red with lavender/peach combo on the $5, yellow with blue and red for the $20 and the awesomness of the black/green/white for the $100).

Enough words, the project as it is today :

I elected to go with the "BellaJO" name for those chips, as I eventually find the play on words perfect for this. Harmonious on the chip just like the original, it also sounds almost exactly as the original while including a cool reference to the Josephine name. Also, its almost kind of a double play on words, both with the Bellagio casino name, and with the fact that it also could read "Bella Jo" in two words for "Beautiful Josephine" as pointed out by @LotsOfChips in my precedent thread!

I would like to give a special shout out to @Yaya29BH who designed in such speedy manner this beauty. He replaced @timinater who had to postpone some of his projects to focus on a soon to be very happy occasion. But thanks a lot to him for considering my project and initially accepting to take it, I'm sure it would have came out awesome as well.


Now I want to discuss two things with you guys :

1) Samples

I'm still quite green on this forum but I believe offering samples for users is common practice and often quite appreciated. However there is a big time pressure here as I need to finalize both design and quantities by Sunday evening (Paris - CET time).

For pricing, I'm also still very new to this. Obviously I do not include any margin here, but I guess I will need to put in the % related to taxes and shipping I will pay to get those to France (which look to be quite hefty). And it will also depend on my final choice for edgespots which we will discuss later. But it should float around $22-23 + reshipping costs back to the US.

Dont really know how it works around here regarding payment as we talk about delivery 3 to 4 months down the line, maybe some people here can help me with that.

Anyway if my project looks good to you and you want a piece of it, let me know here before Sunday evening CET time !


2) Final colors/spots decisions

I will open up a multi choice poll in this thread to debate on final details I'm not exactly sure.

Things I'm keeping open to myself (but feel free to comment below) :
- On the inlay, not 100% sure of the text below "BellaJO". "Jo's PRIVATE CARDROOM" is my current preference, but may look a bit to long and may crowd the inlay a bit too much. "PRIVATE CARDOOM" only or "CARDROOM, PARIS" are other options possible. We also look for a way to insert back the little "easter egg" in my daughter's birth date 26-09-2019 in the inlay background, but are searching for a clean and visible way to do so.
- Waiting on the color sample a french PCFer is lending to me in order to act on the yellow base for the $20. For now, by looking at photos, I'm shooting for Canary base. But yellows are such a pain for CPC set, I wait to see the sample.
- Waiting also on the color sample, but will probably going for blurple spots instead of Retro blue spots on quarters. Blurple seems to fit really well with the DG pink aesthetic of my fracs.

(dont pay attention to inlay which was an old version)

For things open to public discussion in the poll as I need final feedback on those !!

A - Base color on $5 chip : From reasearch on mockups and pr0n in this forum, I actually noticed that DG Tiger is wayyy more orange-y than red actually. I was looking to brighten up the original Bellagio red $5 chip, but not really switch to a bright orange one. I will have to wait for the sample in the coming days to see for myself but I could very much consider switching back to a more red base in my final mock up. Choice here is mostly :
A1. Maintain the DG Tiger base. A bright orange-y chip for a Vegas $5 could absolutely work and be awesome, come on Dimitri, be audacious !
A2. Switch to the Retro Red unweighted base. Retro Red seems quite bright and nice on multiple photos I see. But will it mesh well with a Tiger spot?
A3. Switch to a weighted Mandarin Red base to have the Tiger/Peach/Lavender spot combo pop up more maybe. Mandarin red is also probably much closer to the original bellagio chip.

B - Edgespots choice on the $1/$5 combo : Tri-moon edgespot is very much growing on me and I'm starting to feel bad about not including one chip with it haha. Two candidates here, $1 and $5 chips. Also maybe considering getting down from 3T1316 (lvl 5) on the current $5 to 3D14 (lvl 3) for budget reasons. Hang with me on this one :
B1. Keep it like it is. Spots are great, stop overthinking !
B2. trimoon on the $1 and maintain 3T1316 on the $5 : I maintain spot progression, but it may be a bit sad to lose the iconic look of the $1 which will be my anchor chip in the set.
B3. trimoon on the $1, downgrade to 3D14 on the $5 : Do budget considerations hurt the overall design here or does 3D14 works just as well? Concerns about "iconic" $1 still valid though.
B4. stay on $1, trimoon on the $5 : Looks very cool, but I was afraid maybe spot progression could be in jeopardy here as both are "tri single spot"
B5. stay on $1, down to 3D14 on the $5 : Do budget considerations hurt the overall design here or does 3D14 works just as well?

I propose some alternate combos below but not all combinations possible from crossing A and B polls (as they are tied so to speak). It would be a nightmare with 15 possible combos. And this poll is becoming already quite complicated!! Here are 6 possibilities.

By looking at this, I may change the Arc Yellow spot on the $1 by a DG Peach one to bridge nicely with the $5 actually.

C - Edgespots choice on the $100
C1. Keep it like in my mock up. Exact copy of the original, classy, cant go wrong
C2. Going 8D18. Sweet progression above the 6D18 $20 and a very nice hundo spot all around
C3. Go 414418 (Lvl 11 but I will only have 20 to 40 chips in the final breakdown so its a non factor) : fancy fancy edgespot, looking very cool also.

Thanks everyone for helping finalizing this great project of mine. Super excited !

 

[Doumsey]

Reserved for samples recap if needed

If a "samples management expert" scoop by, I would gladly use some input for this to have it as smooth as possible!
Especially if I get some US/CANADA chippers in for a sample, because I find it a bit odd to receive those samples in France before reshipping them back to the US. I guess we could and should arrange that differently.

5 available for sure (included in initial order) + more to come maybe once package delivered, so feel free to queue

Samples :
@Kid_Eastwood RESERVED
@Yaya29BH GIFT
@OlNoiShi RESERVED
@albatros63 RESERVED

 

[LinkyBabe]

However there is a big time pressure here as I need to finalize both design and quantities by Sunday evening (Paris - CET time).

This is a mistake that some new chippers make when ordering custom CPC's and that's rushing things. If you don't even have a CPC colour sample yet then you should hold off until the next time your mould goes into production. Seriously, you're going to be spending big money on something that will last a lifetime... give it the time and respect it deserves by not rushing this. The actual colours look very different from the Chip Design Tool which may cause you to rethink your choices. If so, you'll want enough time to get things right. Take your time... you'll thank yourself in the long run.

 

[Doumsey]

Totally valid comment for sure and thank you for this!

Lets say I'm not all that worried about that because I got the feeling I already gave a lot of thoughts on this project and I'm close to be spot on on what I want here.
Color concerns, I expect them to be brushed away quite rapidly as soon as I get my hands on the sample (on its way, should be there by tomorrow or Friday). So I will have 48h to really compare 4-5 different yellows and 3 reds. Pretty sure I should be OK with that.

For spot and color association, unless I made a big mistake, I believe I did not go with any outlandish associations that would come up badly in reality. But again, I'm confident that 48h of analysis on the sample should allow me to be good.

At the end of the day, I will definitely not engage $2000 or more if I'm not super sure about my project. And I believe I'm getting pretty close to be 100% sure

 

[LotsOfChips]

This is a mistake that some new chippers make when ordering custom CPC's and that's rushing things. If you don't even have a CPC colour sample yet then you should hold off until the next time your mould goes into production. Seriously, you're going to be spending big money on something that will last a lifetime... give it the time and respect it deserves by not rushing this. The actual colours look very different from the Chip Design Tool which may cause you to rethink your choices. If so, you'll want enough time to get things right. Take your time... you'll thank yourself in the long run.

Totally agree with LinkyBabe. I thought I had my color choices nailed down until the samples arrived, and then almost every previous color choice went out the window. I get that the mould (mold?) run schedule is putting time pressure on, but rushing to production could be a mistake. Hopefully the 48 hours is enough for you to review the decisions with the samples in hand. GL!

 

[Doumsey]

Yeah! Quite frankly, I know some of you guys here may think that ~10 days to build a project like this seems rushed. But when I have something I really want in mind, I'm becoming a lil bit obsessed with it and spend wayyyy too much energy and too many hours to compare everything and get to the perfection I have in mind haha.
Most of the time, its quite a handicap, especially to focus at work haha. But for this I want to believe it allowed me to get something I'm starting to absolutely adore in a short time frame.
I dont feel pressured at all by this Sunday deadline as I believe I'm getting there for my dream set.

But be absolutely sure that when I get my color sample, if everything has to be thrown out of the window, it will. 100%. And then I will wait for the next mold run schedule, no problem in that.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Hi,

Definitely in for a sample !

 

[Doumsey]

Bump for a more poll results

Color sample is arriving today, I will be finalizing details with red and yellow base colors shortly!

Also got a proposition from the inlay designer to include the birthdate in easteregg fashion differently, what do you think ?

First do you see it ??
I will see with David from CPC if he thinks it will be readable cleanly on the chip. But if so, I like the fact that its actually difficult to spot at first glance. You have to pay attention and look closely to the chip to catch it, which is totally the spirit I'm aiming for with this little detail. As long as it is readable once spotted of course.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Nice idea the birthdate !
Glad that you'll get the color sample today.

 

[Darson]

You've got some great advice - definitely check the colour samples and also see if you can get mold samples. The FDL mold is more like RHC and gives a large inlay area but may feel a little less solid than other molds.

Also, on your inlay, think about moving the denomination down a little to avoid the big space between the bottom of the denom and the text at the bottom. You see Bellagio do this for their non-drop chips:

Note that the drop chips have the denom centered but they also have the word Poker to balance the space:

 

[Doumsey]

Thanks for stopping by @Darson !

Well you know what, we were actually discussing it with the designer. He centered the denom figure, but it looked a tiny tiny bit off due to what your are pointing at indeed.
We will see to do other versions with the denom slighlty off center (a few mm below like on the Bellagio $1) as I dont plan on adding a "Poker" or other word on the inlay to balance things out.

 

[SixSpeedFury]

Hey, that's my birthday too! Well, at least not the 2019 part. So do I get free chips? lol.

 

[OlNoiShi]

In for a sample

 

[charitycase]

The white chip reminds me of the Dover Downs $1 - One of my favorite singles..

 

[fieldsy]

A bunch of random thoughts, having done two CPC sets on FDL mold with several add-ons and replacements in the past year or so:

1. Take the comments seriously about not rushing to get this order in. I know it's exciting. But the FDL mold runs at least a couple times per year, so if you miss this cycle you'll get the next one. One downside to soliciting feedback from PCF is that if someone makes a comment and you decide to ignore it, but they turn out to be right, it might drive you crazy every time you look at your chips.
2. Honestly, I think the Bellagio 5s are closer to CPC's Red than to Mandarin Red or Retro Red. Both MR and RR are quite bright, and I think of the 5s at both Bellagio and Aria as being a bit darker in color. You also may want to consider that darker red for your brighter spots to stand out more.
3. This is a subtle point, but I think weighted spot colors on chips with an unweighted base color can look strange on close inspection. It's not something everyone would notice, but the visual texture of the brass flakes becomes more apparent as a spot on a chip that is otherwise clean in color. That may be something to consider before committing to a Canary or Light Blue spot on a DG Peacock chip. I don't find the difference as noticeable on the inverse situation (unweighted spots on a weighted base chip).
4. I love my CPC chips, but they really don't have a primary yellow like the Bellagio 1's. Canary is a very faded, washed-out color, Yellow is kind of a mustard color, and DG Yellow can look great but it's light not bright. Don't feel like you have to stick too closely to the Bellagio colors, because you may not be satisfied with the direct comparison. Choose colors that you are happy with independently, even if they're just loosely inspired by the Bellagio's.
5. You didn't ask about this in your poll, but I think having nearly the same colors used on your 5-cent and 10-cent chips is a potential problem. When I initially designed my chips I thought it would be cool and thematic to have some of the same colors used as base colors on one chip and as spots on another in the same set. In practice, it's a bit of a problem and can create the potential for chips getting scooped into the wrong stacks. The risk is even greater when the chips are close in denomination, and when the spot design is similar. I see a similar same-color spot issue with your $20 if you keep the canary spot on your $1, but less so than with the 5-cent and 25-cent.
6. All that said, I have a small FDL order that I submitted several months ago, and as of yesterday David said he thought FDL would be installed in 4 weeks or so. I'm not sure how many orders are in the run. But if you are able to finalize your set quickly, you may get your chips produced in just about as short a window as possible with CPC.

 

[Doumsey]

Thanks @fieldsy for all your concerns and advices, trust me, I read everything very carefully!!

1. As stated multiple times, trust me I wont rush anything. It may feel rushed for many, but the more I look at the lineup, the more I love it. Just received the color sample and things are settling nicely. Again, if I still have doubt come Sunday, no order, FDL mold run will indeed come back and I will still be there !
2. Now that I have the color sample, you are definitely right about reds. But I'm not shooting for an exact copy as I'm trying to revisit every chip. I will probably settle with Retro Red for this one, as a DG Tiger (initial plan) is too orange and will not allow a peach spot to stand out.
3. Hmm.. interesting. I will have a closer look at the color sample. I looked at A LOT of CPC pr0n and close up shots on PCF, tons of users went for weighted spots on unweighted base it never felt off. I dont have assembled chips in my hands so I couldnt say for sure of course. Will take into consideration.
4. With the color sample, I can agree 100%, DG Yellow is more light than bright indeed, very pale! Direct comparison with yellow from Paulson will be terrible for sure, I feel like its the weakest color of the whole sample. But I could be happy with canary base or DG Yellow base, still debating.
5. On this point I'm a bit surprised. I mean, I get the concern about edgespots being to close one chip to another, but base colors are SO different (fluo DG Pink and bright white) that I really cant see any risk of dirty stack or confusion here.
6. Well thats the whole point of the "rush" aspect mentionned by many here haha, David told me that if quantities and colors are sorted out by end of this week end, I'll be in line for the production starting soon! So I really would like to hop on this one, but again, back to point #1, no big deal if my mind is not set on sunday

Thanks

 

[Doumsey]

The white chip reminds me of the Dover Downs $1 - One of my favorite singles..

You are absolutely right and it inspired me a bit !!
I'm even actually to go from Retro blue, to Blurple, to even Purple now for the spot, to go along with DG Pink, in order to mimic the dover even more.
Now that I have the color sample in hand, I will test multiple associations, but this Purple/DG Pink combo on the bright white base is sexy.

In for a sample

Got you

Hey, that's my birthday too! Well, at least not the 2019 part. So do I get free chips? lol.

Weeeellll... I could always try to ship you a $1 for your collection !

 

[LotsOfChips]

... but base colors are SO different (fluo DG Pink and bright white) that I really cant see any risk of dirty stack or confusion here.

It's a good idea to view the different color samples in low light (simulate the playing environment as closely as possible). With a wider edge pattern (multiple spots) the edge colors might start to overtake the base color a little, minimizing the contrast of the base colors. I've played with one set (to remain nameless) where the black w/ blue/dark blue spots T100 was somewhat difficult to distinguish from the blue w/ dark red/pink spots T500 in low light. If you just looked at the faces there was a fair bit of contrast, but looking only at the edges (especially if a single chip was in the wrong stack) it was fairly easy to mistake one for the other.

In your case the edge spots don't take up a ton of real estate, but the similar colors in adjacent denoms could be an issue, especially if the spots were more prevalent

 

[LinkyBabe]

You didn't ask about this in your poll, but I think having nearly the same colors used on your 5-cent and 10-cent chips is a potential problem.

5. On this point I'm a bit surprised. I mean, I get the concern about edgespots being to close one chip to another, but base colors are SO different (fluo DG Pink and bright white) that I really cant see any risk of dirty stack or confusion here.

Even if you're not concerned about dirty stacks, these two chips together stand out like sore thumbs because they share all the same colours and spot style. If you were doing this across the whole set then there would be cohesion but all other chips use different colours and spots except these two. At the end of the day this is your money and design is such a personal thing... do what makes you happy.

 

[OlNoiShi]

Got you

Thanks.

 

[Doumsey]

Allright, went through a lot today with the color sample in hands and I think I'm closing in.

The big remaining talking point is the base color for the $5. I eliminated Mandarin Red from the discussion as I prefer Retro Red over it. So the choice is now between Retro Red and DG Tiger. 2 very different spirits.

Retro Red :
Pros : safer, classic look, classy, make my Tiger/Peach/Lavender trispot combo stand out more.
Cons : Well, not a lot actually Only thing is that when I put all samples for base colors side by side, Retro Red feels a bit too dark for the lineup I have (DG Pink, Bright White, DG Peacock, super vibrant and... bam Retro Red kinda breaks the flow). Thats a very very small con, Im confident it could look great.

DG Tiger :
Pros : Just awesome in hands, looks great. In line with Pink, White, Peacock with small denom, popping like mad and super vibrant.
Cons : SUPER CLOSE to DG Pink in low light. To the point I cant even see any difference with indirect low lights. I will probably never play with such low luminosity, but I have to consider it.

One thing I could do to counter this DG Pink / DG Tiger proximity is to simply scrap the Pink and go for a DG Green nickel for instance :

A bit sad because DG Pink is simply awesome in person for a base color, so fresh... but it may be the safest road.


Another possibility, in order to keep DG Pink for the nickel, is to change the spot on the nickel from purple to green, so it will differ more from the $5 which has lavender in it.

Changing the spot style and color on the nickel also has the benefit to take into consideration comments from @fieldsy , @LotsOfChips and @LinkyBabe regarding my fracs; which I think may be valid after all over time! In this version they are less similar and would less stand out as sore thumbs maybe.


Eventually, I could simply go for the Retro Red and keep my new version of nickel (to keep comments above in consideration) :

By the way some of you may have noticed but I went from Retro Blue to Purple (thanks to my wife and to my mom) for the spot on the quarter, it fits much better and has a total Dover Down vibe now that I love, its becoming my favorite chip of the linup.
Also switched Arc Yellow to Peach on the $1, pop a bit more. DG Peacock is back on the $20 instead of the classic Blue : also more harmonious I think with the overall lineup.



If some of you want to chip in on this nickel/$5 situation I'm happy to hear you! I feel like its the final detail I need to nail to have my dream lineup.

 

[Doumsey]

Little bump if some want to join in for a sample, I'll be more than happy to do so.

Leaning towards the "safe" road and use Retro Red as base for the $5 chip. I did a bit more of testing and putting DG pink and DG Tiger samples in a "splashed pot" with my others lineup chips (White, blue, yellow..) and it could really be hard to distinguish.
And going safe is not settling for the lesser option as I'm sure the Retro Red option will make those spots pop like mad.

It allows me to keep the amazing DG Pink base for the nickel. Maybe skip the white spot for green on both sides ? It allows it to be a bit more different than the quarter.

 

[Yaya29BH]

Great project Doumsey !

 

[Doumsey]

Lineup finalized and order placed

Will update with final proof and design soon! Super excited!! Im waiting on estimated target date from CPC.

I ordered two additional samples so if you want in, let me know.
After that I will see on delivery day if there are more a available.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Congratulations for this very nice project.
Can’t wait to see the end result.

 

[Doumsey]

A quick update, order has been placed ! Im officially IN for my very first set !! (yeah... I'm scared... I'm becoming an addict!)
And I'm super excited!
700 chips for what is for sure my dream cash game set for many many years to come. I hope my little girl will appreciate the reference once she will be old enough to maybe play with them

Here is the final look :

Now the wait begins...
End of next week I should have more visibility on a target date. This is gonna be a painful wait!!!
Pics to come in the appropriate mail pr0n once I get those wonders to France

Thanks for all the input across multiple threads and forums!

 

[allforcharity]

Looks great! You've just created a family heirloom!

 

[LotsOfChips]

Love the way that you incorporated suggestions, while keeping to your original vision (and in record time). Congrats on the set!

 

[Doumsey]

Excitement is growing fast !
After a huge opportunistic timing, FDL mold was installed right on par with my order and everything went so smoothly that my prized little chips should be arriving in... FOUR DAYS ! (December 14)

Dont know if I will be able to do the oiling session before Xmas but I wasnt expecting to post the first pics on this topic so soon

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

You will be on time for this : https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/2019-custom-chip-set-of-the-year.49937/