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Playing with Puzzles
“pieces of a puzzle,” titov dmitriy. (Shutterstock)
On a gray, rainy day when I was a kid, my Mom often went into the hall closet and dug out a puzzle for us to assemble. I remember being overwhelmed by all the little pieces, the multiple shades of blues, greens and yellows, and wondered how we’d ever complete it, even though we had done it in the past.
But we did.
Recently I had a yen to take up puzzles again, and decided to ask one of my dear friends to make suggestions about potential puzzles. She’s been doing them for years, and I knew she would try not to overwhelm me with choices. So, when we discussed puzzles, she suggested a couple of companies, recommended that I pick a puzzle with 500 pieces instead of 1,000, and sent me to the Amazon site. And I picked out this beautiful Ravensburger Puzzle.
Everything about it spoke to me: the greenery, the flowers, the fruit trees, the light. So when it arrived, I opened the box—and gasped! A puzzle with 500 pieces is a lot of pieces! But I took a deep breath and went into my office where Jerry had set up a bridge table for me.
I poured out the pieces, and asked myself, “Now what??” But those rainy mornings with my Mom came back to me, and I realized a good first step would be to find pieces of similar colors and also pieces of the puzzle that had straight edges – which meant they were probably part of the borders. (Where those memories came from, I have no idea.)
I’m a couple of days into the puzzle, maybe a half-hour at a time, and am breathing a little easier. I don’t think I started with the easiest part of the picture, but I’ve attached about 20 pieces of the upper edge. I’m in no hurry, and I have no idea why I’m enjoying it, although I must say that I’m so tickled when a couple of pieces match up!
There’s also something satisfying in giving myself permission to create something without pressures, time frames or expectations. And I can stop for a few minutes and walk over to the bridge table to pick up where I left off, selecting one piece at a time.
I know I’m just a novice, and I don’t want to get discouraged. If there are any master puzzle assemblers out there, do you have any guidance you can give me on any aspects of assembling puzzles?
Remember: I’m hoping you’ll encourage me in this process!
Published in Culture
In either 1990 or very early 1991 I bought a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
I finished it sometime around mid-2000. It got worked on sporadically. It would sit untouched for weeks or months, then get intense work for a few weeks before going back into stasis. It required a fairly large table. Outer frame roughly 61″x 40″.
(friends of mine working on it, circa 1993 or 1994)
It survived three moves (from one apartment to another, to a house, and then to another house) and a cat, and when I did finally finish it I hadn’t lost a single piece.
I took it apart in large sections that fit into the box, so I could probably re-assemble the whole thing in an hour or two if I ever had the urge.
This was my wife’s latest.
That is gorgeous! 5,000 pieces over 10 years–now that’s commitment!
I love the library scene. My type of puzzle.
The puzzles in comments 25 and 27 look very hard. The library scene is indeed my kind of puzzle. I had one recently I thought was pretty hard. I take pictures of the completed ones. I’ll have to see if I can find it.
I was on a sabbatical, spending 4 glorious weeks as a “guest” attorney from the US in a Paris law firm, with an upscale address and apartment, when somehow we acquired a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful horse.
We made little progress until my brother-in-law, on a brief stop in the
EternalCity of Light before he and my sister-in-law continued their trip, dropped by our apartment and voila: in almost no time he had, with my daughter, completed the entire puzzle.Not his only talent: He had also had miraculously imitated “Santa Claus” in late night calls to the kids on Christmas Eve.
Miss that guy.
Edited description of Paris to City of Light. Never made it to Rome.
The hardest one I have ever done is the Rosetta Stone.
At a small college near where I live, the library always has a jigsaw puzzle-in-process on a table near the entrance. The students will work on it as a break from studies. The library purchases custom puzzles using photos of the campus.
At the Mayo Clinic, there were usually jigsaw puzzles on tables, or at least there were on the cardiology floor.
The amazing thing is he didn’t lose a piece in those 10 years!
No one was more shocked than I was.
I’ve done 500 piece puzzles in a single weekend and had missing pieces.
I’d love to get a puzzle like that . . .
It would help if one could, unlike me, read music.
I just finished a thousand piece puzzle from Japan for Godzilla.
It was intense. They have pieces that are not the same type of pieces as we get in the west.
They have edge pieces that arent edges. They have curved pieces. The edges ranged from a a quater inch to an inch in a half.
It was something else ridiculous.
It has been many years, maybe decades, since I last worked on a jigsaw puzzle. They’re good as a social activity. Talking is optional.
I still hope my husband will join me, but he says he gets obsessive about working on it. I’m having a relaxing, fun time, though.
And then, when the puzzle is finished, play the piece.
Success!
…and some of you might want to know about my experience in assembling the puzzle: I loved it! I took my time; I worked on it most days, probably averaging an hour per day. I was so surprised that I didn’t get frustrated. And there is something so satisfying about finding a piece and putting it in place–and to have a piece fit! Jerry helped a little–for some reason he’s concerned that he’ll get addicted, but when he worked beside me, it was extra fun. So to all of you who shared your stories and encouraged me, Thanks!!
Congratulations! Next one will be….
A friend here in Solivita does puzzles, too, so she’s going to lend me a couple. That should keep me busy for a while!
My daughter gave me her puzzle table so I could retire my smaller, form-core boards.it has drawers. She replaced that one with one on a lazy Susan device. I don’t need that. I like the drawers. I have used old Christmas card boxes for years.