Real People: A super-sized Scrabble board for mom

By H.M. Cauley

For the AJC

As the pastry chef at Buckhead’s Aria restaurant, Kathryn King’s specialty is coming up with creative presentations. Two months ago, she used her imaginative talents to design a one-of-a-kind holiday gift for her mother who suffers from macular degeneration.

“My mom really likes to play Scrabble, and we noticed that one day when she was playing with my nephew that she had to stop,” said King, who lives in East Point. “The strain of trying to see the letters was too tiring.”

The family had already designed a few ways to make life easier for their matriarch, whose name is also Kathryn King. They’d installed a giant, dry erase board for her to write shopping lists on and were looking for a large-print Scrabble game when King came up with a different approach.

“I wanted to do whatever I could to help,” said King. “I make things for a living and for fun, so I began to think about the best ways to come up with a gigantic Scrabble set. But it had to be realistic; even the little letter scores had to be on there.”

King polled her colleagues, did some digging on line and discovered a Scrabble board made of backyard pavers that was too heavy to contemplate. But it got her thinking about ceramic tiles.

“I had been to various art supply stores and didn’t see anything that could work, but then I went to Customs Signs Today,” said King, referring to the downtown sign shop. “They immediately said they could do what I wanted.”

Working collaboratively, King and the company’s experts decided to print the letters and values onto thin sheets of plastic that mounted onto wooden squares that she hand cut. The finished blocks were laminated to last. They also used decorative ceiling molding to create hinged tile holders for each player to use during the game. Finally, King had to come up with a way to store all the plus-sized pieces.

“Usually when you play, you keep the letters in the lid of the box,” said King. “So then I had to think about that. It just kept getting more and more involved. It was a funny process to go through.”

The final solution was a piece of Masonite with molding glued together on three sides that holds the letter blocks in place during the game. As a final touch, King had additional Ms made so she could present the gift at Christmas with a special message that read “Merry Christmas, Mom.”

“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw it,” said the elder King, 83, who lives near Athens. “I saw it on the coffee table with all the tiles laid out and couldn’t believe it was for me. It was quite a surprise. And it’s not really heavy; it even folds in half just like the smaller games does.”

Chef King, who also designs jewelry when she’s not in the kitchen, has now got the bigger-is-better bug.

“Maybe I could design a giant deck of cards, or maybe crossword puzzles that are bigger than the large print editions,” she said. “I’d just love to keep going.”

Who has inspired you?

Every other Wednesday, H.M. Cauley brings you positive stories from our community. To suggest a story idea, e-mail hm_cauley@yahoo.com.