Completing a 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle in Hours, Not Days

New research keeps coming out about the benefits of working your brain with different problem solving techniques. One of my favorite ones has always been working on jigsaw puzzles, but with many in today's society lacking the patience it can take to complete one, too many are losing out on even trying this wonderful activity. Over the years I have done hundreds of different jigsaws, and have found that I seem to use the same few techniques in finishing them. The following is a breakdown of those tips which when used will allow anyone to be able to have the freedom to relax and enjoy what truly is a great mental workout.

1. Start with the border. I usually dump all the pieces from the bottom to the top of the box lid then start to go through the pile. Take small hand fulls of about 5-8 pieces at a time and look for any with that flat edge. If they don't have it throw them into the bottom box lid. This may seem like a daunting task, but as you are sifting through all of the pieces your mind is also becoming aware of the pictures of the other pieces it sees and this will help you as you further work towards the puzzles completion. After you have removed all of the borders that you can find, now it is time to assemble them. Look at the picture on the box and begin to arrange the pieces into piles that fit their location. Now begin putting them together. For the most part you will find this to be the easiest part of the entire puzzle, but it can get a bit tricky if say for instance the whole top half of the border is blue with sky pieces. Simply make 4 different piles of the pieces that are giving you trouble. These piles are; both sides with connecting tabs, both sides without connecting tabs, right side connecting tab with left side not, and left side connecting tab with right side not. Now you can take one piece and find how it would connect with one of these piles to find its adjoining neighbor. Doing this process will help you get past any hard areas and you will find in no time you have completed the border.

2. Find the biggest object. It doesn't matter if it is at the top, bottom or middle of the puzzle, there is something there that takes up the most space. Be sure to get a good look at it now, taking note of some of the smaller details and the other objects along its border. Again we dump the pieces from the bottom of the box to the top of the box and proceed to go through each piece looking for ones that contain the picture we chose as our biggest object. Once you have your collection, proceed to divide it up into more manageable piles. For instance if it is a building, separate the roof, windows and walls into their own piles. If it is the sky you can do the same with clouds or different shades of blue. Now assemble your object inside the border and slide it near the position in which it belongs.

3. Multi-object search. Same principle as the biggest object search, but now you are going to choose two or three different objects to focus your search on. Perhaps you have a nature picture with trees and multi-colored flowers spread throughout the area. Begin looking for all the pieces with bark on them for the tree trunks, and at the same time perhaps all the yellow and red flowers. Be thorough in your search, but don't fret if you miss some pieces. Once done assembling and placing these different objects, you are going to pick a few more and repeat your search, and many times in this secondary search you will find those missed pieces from your first. Repeat this process as many times as needed until all of the clearer images are completed.

4. Finishing touches. Depending on your photo you are working on, by the end of step 3 you are either going to have finished the puzzle or have a bunch of odds and ends type pieces left. I think of these pieces as "filler pieces." These are the green behind the flowers or the shadows on the ground. The things that are not necessarily easy to distinguish between one piece and the next. Luckily though, these are really some of the easier things to place as by now you should have at least 90-95% of the puzzle complete. Sometimes a bit of studying of the photo can have you in a placing frenzy, or else we have to do the more tedious work of just trying to rotate each piece into the empty gaps and hope for a connection. Keep your chin up though as each one that finds its home, may show you the shape of the next one that is needed and in no time you will be looking at your finished product!

With these 4 steps I have found I am able to complete most 1000 piece puzzles in under 6 hours, allowing me to enjoy working on these relaxing problem solvers yet still have time for work and other everyday activities. I hope you have found these tips useful and that you continue to have years of jigsaw benefits and enjoyment!