Jigsaw Puzzles

I’m glad that I’ve been writing about doing jigsaw puzzles the past few months. Besides keeping me busy and giving me something to do besides reading books, it seems to be inspiring others to start to do jigsaw puzzles again. Some people have not done them in many years. It’s also bringing back childhood memories.

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I had several people contacting me and letting me know that they like doing jigsaw puzzles, or telling me that since I have been showing pictures of ones I have done, they are now doing some themselves. The seashell puzzle has received the most comments. It’s shown in detail, with tips on how to more easily work on this type of puzzle, in my January 5, 2014 story. Helpful hints are also written near the end of this post.

 

One of the brands of puzzles that I find the most interesting is SunsOut. They have lots of puzzles that not only have beautiful pictures, but they are different shaped puzzles, with different shaped pieces, and often include puzzles within the puzzles, just like the shell shaped puzzle Souvenirs of the Sea.

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Several months ago, I was in a shopping center in Deerfield Beach looking for something in one of the stores and I noticed a jigsaw puzzle store named Prestigious Puzzles. I don’t remember ever seeing a store that only sells jigsaw puzzles. I’m so happy I found this store. Otherwise, I would not have found these wonderful puzzles.

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32,000 piece puzzle in white  box

32,000 piece puzzle in white box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I went in and bought a few puzzles. Since then several of my friends have gone there and bought puzzles. This is my favorite place to purchase jigsaw puzzles. The puzzles they carry are not what you would find in the toy section of a big box store.

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Ravensburger puzzles are interesting, and unique. They have 3D puzzles like the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben. Also, traditional shape puzzles. I have not attempted any of the 3D puzzles yet, they may be a bit too challenging for me.

However, I have done a few of their puzzles including one of a map of the United States. The map was really interesting for me to do. As I assembled the puzzle, I frequently came across pieces with the names of places that I went through, or stopped in on my trips around the United States.

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In addition to knowing the state on the map where it belonged, it brought back memories of what I saw and experienced in that area and I got to remember the fun I had there and the people I met. For example, there are animals shown on the edge of the puzzle. One of the animals is a moose. It reminded me of two stories. One was when I was at Grand Teton National Park. I was on the side of the road where I had some cell phone reception. I was talking with a friend and I said a moose just ran across the road. I grabbed my camera and took a picture as it was just about to run into the woods. Another moose experience was in Glacier National Park. When I was hiking a trail, I saw a moose grazing in the brush. The bear on the puzzle reminded me of my friend Bear, and also the baby bear cub I saw at Glacier National Park.

Lacy is the owner of the Prestigious Puzzle store and he knows lots about the different types and brands of puzzles. He also does mail order, so check out his Prestigious Puzzles website. I just bought the Suns Out Hummingbird Reflections puzzle, it’s going to be the next one to work on. hummingbird puzzle This puzzle should be lots of fun to work on between the beautiful colors and design, and the interesting shapes of the puzzle pieces. Even though there are only about 600 pieces in this puzzle, the size is 26″ x 37″. I have a piece of foam board that is 32″ x 40″ so it will be large enough for this puzzle. There are so many puzzles that are interesting, I saw at least 6 puzzles today that I want to do. Even though I saw many puzzles with over 1,000 pieces that are interesting and have pictures I would love to put together, I am mostly doing the 1,000 piece puzzles. They seem to be a good size to work on. Look at the puzzles below with the cereal boxes and candy wrappers… it brings back childhood memories.

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I like the Suns Out brand of puzzles, especially the special shape or 1,000 piece puzzles. The special shape puzzles, like the shell puzzle, have puzzles within puzzles, and many have objects to look for in the puzzle as well. It seems the special shape puzzles take a bit longer, but they are more fun and interesting due to the shape of the puzzle pieces, and how the puzzle gets assembled. They are the most unusual puzzles I have ever seen. Suns Out also has traditional rectangular puzzles too. I saw this stained glass window puzzle completed at the Prestigious Puzzle store, it was absolutely extraordinary. Lacy said it took a lot of time and patience to complete it.

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This is hanging on the wall at the puzzle store.

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My friend Janice bought this puzzle to do.

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This puzzle is hanging on the wall in the store, it is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I may get the eagle puzzle for my friend Albert Gray Eagle in Oklahoma. He has such a kind heart and gentle spirit. Like me, he has many serious health issues. Still, he is always giving to others, and being a blessing and inspiration to me and so many people. I know he likes looking at the pictures of the puzzles I completed. I’m hoping he would like to do the puzzle if I send it to him.

One of the puzzles I saw in the store, shown below, has 24,000 pieces.  The colors and detailed pictures are amazing and don’t show very well in the picture below. Lacy said there are several bags in the box so it’s assembled in sections. Completed size is 14 feet by 5 feet. It would look magnificent hung on a wall when it’s completed. There are also 3D puzzles, and puzzles with no picture at all, just cut shapes. I also saw black and white puzzles. In addition, there is a puzzle that has 32,000 pieces. I can’t imagine working on that puzzle. Click on the picture below to see the details in the puzzle. It’s really beautiful and the scene is very interesting.

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Puzzle in white box is 32,000 pieces

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Children’s puzzle room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lacy told me that when he completes a puzzle, he uses puzzle glue and glues the puzzle to a foam board and hangs it on the wall, sometimes in a picture frame. It looks really nice and is a wonderful piece of artwork. When I’m finished with the puzzles, I put them back in the box and then give them away to people who like to do puzzles. I brought several to my doctor’s office and I gave many to friends. When they are finished with the puzzles, they are going to also pass them on. A few friends have surprised me bringing a puzzle when they come to visit. Once, I was doing a puzzle and when it was finished one piece was missing. So, I traced the shape on a piece of paper and colored it to match what it was and put it in the box with a note so the next person doing the puzzle would know. Thankfully, the piece was different shades of blue and it was easy to make it look like the missing piece.

Here are some helpful hints that Pam and I started doing when we work on puzzles. If the edges are straight, we separate the edges and assemble them on the foam board. It seems as careful as we are that we always seem to miss a few and we go through all the pieces again to find the edges. If it’s a special shape puzzle, we skip the previous step. We then go through all of the puzzle pieces and separate them into paper bowls according to color, the best we can. Most of the time since there are several colors in a piece, we guess what bowl to put it in. If there are distinguishable parts of the puzzle like a fish, floor, ceiling, cupcakes, a magazine cover, etc. we put those pieces in separate bowls. Of course, there is always at least one bowl that has a bunch of pieces that we have no clue where they go.

Since there are usually two of us working on the puzzle, we each take a bowl or section of the puzzle to work on. We put the pieces on foam boards and when we get a section done, we slide it onto the main puzzle board in the place we think it goes. Sometimes, we have lots of little clusters of pieces, then they just seem to fit somewhere and connect parts of the puzzle together. We’ve learned that where we think a piece goes is not always the right spot. Many times, colors are the same in several places within the puzzle. Another tip we use, mainly when we are down to about 30 or 40 pieces, is to arrange them on the foam board in the direction we think they go, and also by shape such as if it has a tab out, or maybe a 4 sided piece with no tab. It makes it easier when we are looking for shapes to fit the space.

Doing the puzzles has been a great thing for my friend Pam and I to do on Saturdays when she comes to visit. Frequently, we sit on the floor with the foam boards and puzzle board surrounding us as we work on the puzzle. I have to tell you, it’s a great way to work on the puzzles, but I also have to tell you that it’s not easy getting up from the floor. You would laugh if you saw us get up and try to stand and walk after sitting on the floor for a while working on the puzzle. By the way, snacks are an important part of puzzle time. I put a bowl of chocolate candy or other treats on a plate on the table or floor near us so we can snack as we work.

There are a few puzzles that I bought, or was given, that Pam and I decided we didn’t want to do because they were a similar type scene to others we did, or there were too many colors the same in the puzzle and we wanted to do some with more variety, so I gave those puzzles to friends. One of those puzzles was one with a dolphin jumping out of the water. It really was a beautiful puzzle. Only colors were shades of blues for the water and sky, white for clouds, green for bushes, and grays for the dolphin. Pam likes challenges and she is great at finding pieces for the puzzles and organizing the pieces. She took the 500 piece dolphin puzzle home. Pam and her husband Jeff worked on the puzzle the end of December, and finished it in 2 days. Here is a picture halfway finished, and completed. I doubt I would have had the patience to work on and finish this puzzle. After finishing the puzzle, Pam told me that blue is no longer her favorite color. I can see why. However, the puzzle really looked great when completed. If you look closely, you can see how the pieces line up, unlike the pieces in the shell and some other puzzles we did.

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PS: One of the artists who does artwork for Suns Out puzzles is Lori Schory. I have two of her puzzles and I saw many others that I want to add to my to do list. Because I like her artwork, I went online and did a search to see if I could find her website. I found a website that displays her art and there was a contact email. So, I sent an email and shortly after I received a reply. The person that contacted me is Lori’s agent. She said that she would forward my email to Lori. Evidently she sent it promptly, because a short while later I received an email from Lori… wow… what a wonderful surprise. I love letting people know what their work means to me, and to thank them for sharing their talents with us.

I just noticed that Lori wrote a comment on my website in the jigsaw puzzle story. You can read the comment at the end of this story. Because I’ve been learning how much it means to artists, musicians, and others, when we let them know what their work means to us, I want to share a part of her personal email to me with you… “I am pleased to know that you enjoy my puzzle art, and have sent so many complimentary words my way! That makes doing the kind of work I do so rewarding! It makes me feel so good that people appreciate what I do, and that puzzles with my art on them give joy to some people…”

Lori also wrote that she also forwarded my email to the owner of Suns Out puzzles. She said that Diane, the owner, is moved by my blog and comments about her company. When I sent the email this morning, I never imagined hearing back from the artist, and owner of the puzzle company. What a blessing to be able to let them know how much I appreciate them, and to know they received my message.

You may have read in my July 8, 2013  Georgia firefighter story that I sent an email on July 4th to the website listed contact for musician Kevin Kern telling him how much his music has meant to me over the years, and now it’s bringing peace and healing to my spirit and body. It’s about halfway down the story, after the photos of the fire helmet. I thought the message would go to a publicist. Evidently, Kevin reads his own emails. He called me within about 2 hours of when I sent the email to him. Kevin told me how much it meant to him to hear from me telling him how his music has touched my life. I have 9 of his CDs to listen to as I relax. His music still helps to distract me when I’m in pain so that my body can focus on the peaceful music and relax, even to the point where I can fall asleep. For many years, when I got massages, his was the music that I had played.

If you have an artist, musician, actor, author, talk show host, or others, etc. who have touched your life in any way that has made a difference… let them know. I have written to several different people, especially during the past year. I don’t always receive a reply. I’m  not even sure if they get it to read. But, for the ones that do read our messages and have sent a reply, they have let me know that it means a lot to them. The fact that some of them personally reply is very much appreciated. I know many of the professional people are extremely busy, so by them making time in their busy schedule to reply personally really touches my heart. It makes them even more special to me.

Tonight, I was watching The Big Bang Theory. The characters decided to have a scavenger hunt, they were paired in twos. The first clue each pair received was in a small unmarked box. When the pair opened the box, jigsaw puzzle pieces fell out of the box. They had to put the puzzle together to find the first clue. Considering that I wrote a story about jigsaw puzzles today, I found this extra funny. So was watching this episode. Penny and Sheldon were paired together. Sheldon started putting the pieces together with the edges first. Penny found pieces that fit together and because they were not edges, Sheldon wanted her to take them apart and start only on the edges. Each couple had different experiences assembling the puzzle. Some knew the clue before completing the puzzle.

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2 Responses to Jigsaw Puzzles

  1. Lori Schory says:

    Carol, Thank you so much for your extensive post about jigsaw puzzles and how you’ve influenced your friends to get back into doing them…and the enjoyable times you’ve spent putting them together in spite of having to sit on your floor in the process! It gives me great joy to see my art appreciated this way!

  2. Maggie Bossett says:

    I was so excited when looking at the cereal puzzle that I saw JETS on there. No one ever remembers them – they were my fav! I was beginning to think they were a figment of my imagination. I don’t like the idea of gluing puzzles…it seems so contradictory…they are meant to be quietly mulled over, or socialized over; most importantly they are meant to be “solved”. I agree with you Carol, pass them on.
    Puzzles are such a metaphor for life!!! We could list lots of the possibilities…perhaps some of your friends will share their thoughts here in the comments!!! Ready. Set. Go!

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