Somewhere around 2007 I started chipping and soon after became a Chiptalk member. After several years of collecting, priorities changed and life had little time for poker and chip collecting. I liquidated everything and went dark in the collection department, but became a member here since 2016 as occasional observer to PCF and knowing that someday chipping would happen again.
When I decided to start collecting again, my first priority was to make a themed set of Paulson
THC solids for both cash and tournament games. I rarely have more than ten players and don't play for high cash stakes. Using the chip calculator, very useful PCF resource, I decided on 600 chip cash set and a 600 chip tourney set. At the end of my chip collecting is when Gear was starting to really take off and doing excellent work, so it was easy to know where to go and what to expect in designing labels. The trouble was figuring out some sort of theme. After several attempts, Hemingway Poker Room was a perfect choice. I teach literature and Hemingway is a part of my yearly reading list. Sketching some ideas on paper with pencil, I came up with the design that Gear turned into reality.
Milling chips was something I experimented with years ago with no success. Having a full sized drill press and the proper bit, milling is very doable now.
First schools of Marlin
Here is a sample set of each label
I give the credit to Kaimat for indirectly inspiring the idea of the bounty chip, pretty damn cool.