Don’t.I absolutely love this. The one thing that would really set this over the top is if you used different molds per chip.
i thought it would be a good idea, but the molds are different sizes. Does not work.
How do you come up with an inlay design? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JustDave
- Start date
i thought it would be a good idea, but the molds are different sizes. Does not work.
detroitdad
Royal Flush
If you look at my Avatar, that is my primary custom set. I also have secondaries for the 1, 5, and 25. The next FDL run I'll be adding a secondary for the quarter.
Here is the story behind them.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/oh-what-a-beautiful-sunset-this-is.9476/
Here is the story behind them.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/oh-what-a-beautiful-sunset-this-is.9476/
I have a really long document with great inlay inspirations. I could think inlays all day long- and clearly others are similar, just look at the multiple custom set folks.
If you look at the classic casinos- their themes don’t always make sense. Flamingo, Horseshoe, El Rancho. Some are just the owner names. Others are simple references to location- Riverside, Bell.
I built a mixed in-lay set honoring all the long-term card games I had. I picked an old family name for a casino that was never completed, a town, a cohort, a re-name
street, and played hommage to the old family farm.
Give me another set and I would do it differently.
You will find your muse. Maybe something simple about the history or geography around your spot in Fairfax? A middle name? Where you want to retire to?
And if you don’t, grab a selection of chips that you like and connect with a designer. They might be able to help you think through it.
Have fun with it.
If you look at the classic casinos- their themes don’t always make sense. Flamingo, Horseshoe, El Rancho. Some are just the owner names. Others are simple references to location- Riverside, Bell.
I built a mixed in-lay set honoring all the long-term card games I had. I picked an old family name for a casino that was never completed, a town, a cohort, a re-name
street, and played hommage to the old family farm.
Give me another set and I would do it differently.
You will find your muse. Maybe something simple about the history or geography around your spot in Fairfax? A middle name? Where you want to retire to?
And if you don’t, grab a selection of chips that you like and connect with a designer. They might be able to help you think through it.
Have fun with it.
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It's a process for sure. Here's how I ended up with my final proofs.
I chose the name because of how much my wife and I loved Carmel when we did a US roadtrip back in 2005. Plus I wanted to do a cali-ish set and love sunset/beach themes. I worked with the amazing (and patient) @p5woody. Found the first picture somewhere and started there, found some more, tried a few things, combined a few things, had amazing input from people here and ended up 100 percent happy
I chose the name because of how much my wife and I loved Carmel when we did a US roadtrip back in 2005. Plus I wanted to do a cali-ish set and love sunset/beach themes. I worked with the amazing (and patient) @p5woody. Found the first picture somewhere and started there, found some more, tried a few things, combined a few things, had amazing input from people here and ended up 100 percent happy
You can buy them brand new/uncirculated at @The Chip Exchange for $1.49 a chip. I just bought to more racks myself. Great price for a great chip.
The only advice I can give is: take your time. When customizing, don't rush into anything, whether it'd be an inlay design or an edge spot pattern or whatever.
Ask for feedback. It's okay to disagree with it, too. Art and design is very much a personal thing. There is not always something that is 100% right or 100% wrong to do.
Ask for feedback. It's okay to disagree with it, too. Art and design is very much a personal thing. There is not always something that is 100% right or 100% wrong to do.
ekricket
Royal Flush
Look for something that the world needs to be more complete.
Here is some vegas inspired stuff that needs some creation. Dunes has been done to death but that picture with the sultan and clouds is just begging for a denomination above “Dunes”
Here is some vegas inspired stuff that needs some creation. Dunes has been done to death but that picture with the sultan and clouds is just begging for a denomination above “Dunes”
Many individual design threads have the inspiration story in the original post.
Top Hat Cafe
Rico's Room
Top Hat Cafe
Rico's Room
ekricket
Royal Flush
Maybe a homage to “poker chips”. Not the chip and spots themselves, but something that features great chips as the label artwork. Like a “chip on a chip”
EvelcyclopS
High Hand
Mind me asking what you would say will be everlastingly important in your life? what do you have a connection with that will be with you till your dying breath?
I struggled to come up with a theme i could hang on to as well... im into loads of things, but if i'm going to invest in ONE chipset, it needs to be something very meaningful. For me, i ended up on sunsets. i ****ing love sunsets, i'm a sunset junkie. I'll do anything to find a western beach and sit till its dark. I thought with my inlays i could reference places that were special in some way, and also incorporate other little easter eggs in there that could have been a chipset on its own. As for style, i love art deco/travel posters, so i wanted to try my hand at that style which the simple block colours would suit a small space. I know some people prefer simple text and perhaps an icon, but bugger it.
For example, the chip below is of the matterhorn in switzerland. This is one of my favourite places in the world, and i captured the type of sunset you'd see there - sun over the back of the mountains behind, warm glow on the west face. Ive been a heavy traveller over the last decade or so, so the aeroplane is a bit of a nod to that.
I struggled to come up with a theme i could hang on to as well... im into loads of things, but if i'm going to invest in ONE chipset, it needs to be something very meaningful. For me, i ended up on sunsets. i ****ing love sunsets, i'm a sunset junkie. I'll do anything to find a western beach and sit till its dark. I thought with my inlays i could reference places that were special in some way, and also incorporate other little easter eggs in there that could have been a chipset on its own. As for style, i love art deco/travel posters, so i wanted to try my hand at that style which the simple block colours would suit a small space. I know some people prefer simple text and perhaps an icon, but bugger it.
For example, the chip below is of the matterhorn in switzerland. This is one of my favourite places in the world, and i captured the type of sunset you'd see there - sun over the back of the mountains behind, warm glow on the west face. Ive been a heavy traveller over the last decade or so, so the aeroplane is a bit of a nod to that.
CrazyEddie
Full House
I'm going through my first custom inlay design now and stumbled across this thread. I'm gonna disagree with most folks here... well, not disagree, but at least present an alternative idea.
I don't think that an inlay needs a theme, or a name, or an image. I think what an inlay needs is appeal. In particular, appeal to one specific person: you.
Here's what I've done. I've looked at lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures of chips. Casinos, fantasies, and customs. And whenever I saw something that made me think "wow, those are great, I'd love to have a set like that" I took note of it. When I got tired of looking at poker chips I took a break, then came back to my list and thought about what specific things I liked about the various sets I noted. Different things for each set! Sometimes conflicting! I got enough great ideas for what to include in a set that I could probably build three or four completely different ones right away just from the inspiration.
For me, what I found most appealing about the sets that appealed to me was their style. And so, I've decided that my first set of customs is going to be built around not a theme or name or image but rather around a particular style. That style isn't as meaningful to me as, say, my favorite hobby or my favorite place or the most important people in my life or a treasured memory - all of which would be excellent themes for a set - but I've decided my set doesn't have to carry any special meaning. It needs to be appealing, and the style I've chosen is one of my favorite artistic styles and thus appeals to me very much.
It looks like you've already looked at a lot of chips; you've found several great examples in your original post. Consider looking back through them once more, and think about what it is that appeals to you about each of them.
Perhaps then you'll find your inspiration.
I don't think that an inlay needs a theme, or a name, or an image. I think what an inlay needs is appeal. In particular, appeal to one specific person: you.
Here's what I've done. I've looked at lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures of chips. Casinos, fantasies, and customs. And whenever I saw something that made me think "wow, those are great, I'd love to have a set like that" I took note of it. When I got tired of looking at poker chips I took a break, then came back to my list and thought about what specific things I liked about the various sets I noted. Different things for each set! Sometimes conflicting! I got enough great ideas for what to include in a set that I could probably build three or four completely different ones right away just from the inspiration.
For me, what I found most appealing about the sets that appealed to me was their style. And so, I've decided that my first set of customs is going to be built around not a theme or name or image but rather around a particular style. That style isn't as meaningful to me as, say, my favorite hobby or my favorite place or the most important people in my life or a treasured memory - all of which would be excellent themes for a set - but I've decided my set doesn't have to carry any special meaning. It needs to be appealing, and the style I've chosen is one of my favorite artistic styles and thus appeals to me very much.
It looks like you've already looked at a lot of chips; you've found several great examples in your original post. Consider looking back through them once more, and think about what it is that appeals to you about each of them.
Perhaps then you'll find your inspiration.
OP
OP
A few months later and I'm no closer to where I want to be as far as an inlay design.
There is nothing that is really grabbing me and saying 'this, THIS, is what I want to spend thousands of dollars on'.
With relabel projects, you get the labels, put them on, a few weeks later you decide you don't like them or you want to change something, ring up gear, order a new set. You are out what, a hundred bucks because you had to re-order, not the end of the world. The CPC custom route, those are yours forever. No relabel, no selling them off to recoup anything near what they ran you. I'm confident in my colors/spot patterns, I'm back and forth on the mold, but I could live with either of my final choices, but the inlay, there is no going back.
There is nothing that is really grabbing me and saying 'this, THIS, is what I want to spend thousands of dollars on'.
With relabel projects, you get the labels, put them on, a few weeks later you decide you don't like them or you want to change something, ring up gear, order a new set. You are out what, a hundred bucks because you had to re-order, not the end of the world. The CPC custom route, those are yours forever. No relabel, no selling them off to recoup anything near what they ran you. I'm confident in my colors/spot patterns, I'm back and forth on the mold, but I could live with either of my final choices, but the inlay, there is no going back.
EvelcyclopS
High Hand
I sympathise with that. I’ve thought back recently if I didn’t do what I did, what would I do? I figured that I’d make something fairly generic but súper well executed.
Do you have a passion in life?
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Why don't you use their own brand, the "Classic Poker Chips" label, featuring the lighthouse, and adding denominations?
More marketable too, in case things go wrong in life.
OP
OP
Nothing I'd want on a poker chip either because I don't think it would convey well, or I don't want to be surrounded by it in my free time.
Inlay background colors...I see a lot of white and black. I like the background color of the inlay to be the chip color. Everyone's thoughts?
EvelcyclopS
High Hand
Perhaps a regional Virginia theme?That is what inspired one of my CPC sets: (except Texas in lieu of Virginia obviously)
Honestly, all this reminds me of a group conversation back in my University days.
A group of fellow students were talking about what they were interested in, in view of graduate studies.
A cute brunette disarmingly declared: "I 'm not interested in anything; which graduate degree should I pursue?
A group of fellow students were talking about what they were interested in, in view of graduate studies.
A cute brunette disarmingly declared: "I 'm not interested in anything; which graduate degree should I pursue?
OP
OP
lol, I too have a degree in philosophyHonestly, all this reminds me of a group conversation back in my University days.
A group of fellow students were talking about what they were interested in, in view of graduate studies.
A cute brunette disarmingly declared: "I 'm not interested in anything; which graduate degree should I pursue?
DeeVee8
Straight
For me, inspiration was a trip to New Orleans. I didn't go (geaux?) there for gambling, but I thought Voodoo had a cool style and lent itself to being very colorful. It has a cast of characters with Baron Samedi, Marie Laveaux, Zombies, etc. It also tied in nicely with the debauchery associated with poker.
You gotta find your thing. Once you do, the ideas will flow.
You gotta find your thing. Once you do, the ideas will flow.
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