Hi Puzzlers
How do you assemble your puzzles?
This question has plagued me since I walked past our puzzle table here at the office. I noticed that the border of the puzzle was just about complete and to my horror, all the remaining pieces were in a box to the left. These pieces were not organized into nice neat piles of similar colors; no, they were all heaped together in a single box! How on earth can you do a puzzle like that, I thought to myself!
Being of a curious nature I polled all the office staff and asked how they assemble their puzzles and here is what I found.
We all agreed that the first step was to complete the border.
Jill, Patsy, Melinda and Kim then focus on one area of the puzzle, such as the tiger, and look for pieces to fit that area only.
Alicia and myself sort the pieces by color, then, start a specific area. My daughter takes this even further by sorting the darker similar colored pieces into even smaller groupings.
Remember, whatever puzzling techniques you choose, have fun and keep puzzling.
We did RAINFOREST FRIENDS in a cottage on Nantucket last week. It was windy and rainy outside and waves were crashing on the beach, but we gathered around the dining room table before dinner and finished this colorful 300 piece puzzle in about an hour. We were hoping to involve our grandchildren -- ages 7, 5, 3, and 2 -- but the grandparents (four of us) lapped the puzzle up! Our technique was to sort the pieces by picture and color -- pink flower, orange panther, green lizard -- assembling each picture then gradually bringing all the pictures together. Several of us were looking at the puzzle upside down. It was fun to see adults so involved in a puzzle that was intended for a younger audience. The grandparents were obviously enjoying their second childhood. The 300 piece puzzle count is perfect if you're in a rush. Cronan Minton, Partner, White Mountain Puzzles
ReplyDeleteIn one job interview, I was asked how I would go about assembling a puzzle. I normally sort by parts of picture (sky, grass, house, animals,color)and edge pieces and work the edge pieces first. I got the job!
ReplyDeleteHowever, different sized puzzles and different numbers of participants may change my ways of doing a puzzle. Interesting how people feel about their personal approaches. My mother did the edge pieces first; my mother-in-law considered that cheating. My mother-in-law kept the box with the picture in front of her while doing the puzzle and my mother considered that cheating. I do what I makes sense to me.
Your last sentence reminded me of a quote I have hanging in my office by Siddhartha Gautama AKA Buddha, "Do not believe anything that you've been told unless it agrees with your own common sense.” Happy puzzling!
ReplyDeleteI will sort all my border pieces first. Once my border is together, I will work from the box with the rest of pieces. I am not consistant about separating the colors, as I find it more challenging to search from a heap of pieces for one particular piece. I will rotate my card table if puzzle is smaller, but or move my chair to different sides of the table to work different areas. But when I get toward the finish and it looks like I have more pieces to fit than I actually have pieces, I get a little nervous. But behold, the last piece. I have about 25 puzzles waiting to be assembled as we speak. I find puzzles I like, and I buy. But most of the time my puzzling is winter fun. So to all enjoy puzzling. No particular way to put one together, just what you feel comfortable doing. take care
ReplyDeleteWHEN I'VE GOTTEN THE PUZZEL ABOUT 1/2 COMPLETED I TRY TO SEE HOW MANY PIECES I CAN DO WITHOUT MAKING A MISTAKE--ONCE I PICK UP THE WRONG PIECE I HAVE TO START MY COUNT AGAIN FROM # 1.
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