Jigsaw Puzzles: How Big is Too Big?

A warning for hobbyists, be careful what you wish for, or at the very least be fairly specific if you are issuing hints for a gift.

The word was out last Christmas (it could have come from me) that I was having fun assembling jigsaw puzzles; hence, two new jigsaw puzzles were gaily wrapped and joyfully presented to me when we gathered for our Christmas celebration.

It is now two and 1/2 months later and I am only about two-thirds finished with the first jigsaw puzzle that I chose to assemble. I seem to have hit a snag with this project.

My past endeavors

Prior to Christmas I had completed three Springbok puzzles in a row. Each had 1,000 pieces and had a completed size of 24" x 30". They took approximately one month each to complete. The individual pieces were in a variety of shapes and the design and colors showed up in variations among the pieces.

I chronicled my new hobby in an article entitled "Jigsaw Puzzles: Family-Friendly Fun for All Ages."

Now what?

Since I had two new puzzles to choose from, I decided to postpone the beautiful Springbok shell-design one, thinking that it would be more fun to assemble that in the spring or summer. I opted for the Buffalo Games puzzle depicting the beautiful rendition of "Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci which had a finished size of 38" x 26". I measured my square-round glass-topped table and knew that it would fit, but without the space of an eyelash to spare.

I have learned to make use of my stack of old lap trays by sorting the colors of pieces as I go and putting those with similar colors together on various trays. The trays stack easily and can be accessed or stored away as I desire.

And so the assembling began of all 2,000 pieces of it. That's right, 2,000, each almost perfectly 1" square, sometimes nearly identical, often the same color and usually without design. The plain blue border only came together by tediously lining up piece after piece until a match was made since there was nothing to distinguish one square blue piece from another.

I advanced into the section with five rows of lettering in three different font sizes. There was a curve of a letter here, a straight line of another there - it was just about as tedious as the border.

Surely the table and the figures would be easier. Wrong. Do you know how much design you can distinguish on a 1" square piece? I have learned that it is virtually nada. There is a part of an eye here, the curve of the palm of a hand there, parts of five different green robes and six different blue robes; well, you get the picture.

I occasionally have the help of the person who gave me the puzzle who, after a few such helping sessions, suggested to me that it would be more fun to complete a number of 1000 piece puzzles than to work for months on such a large one.

Yes, this puzzle will get completed; but I definitely have no interest in ever doing it a second time.

And the second puzzle?

Springbok's "Seashells" has 1,500 pieces (oy vey!) and the completed size will be 28.75" x 36". That means the pieces will be slightly larger and I'll have a bit of room to spare on my table as I am assembling it. The design won't be easy as the same types and colors of shells are scattered about the picture, but at least the border has some variations of color.

What about In the future?

I will be spreading the word that 1,000-piece puzzles are nice, while anything with a higher count stretches my patience and my attention span to an unacceptable degree. I would not have learned that without attempting this project, so for that new knowledge I am appreciative along with the thought and love that came with the gift of the puzzle.

My best advice is that there are three things to watch for when purchasing a jigsaw puzzle, namely: numbers of pieces, size of the finished product and the complexity of the design. When it comes to all three, for me less is definitely better!

For more articles by this writer, click here.

"Jigsaw Puzzles: Family-Friendly Fun for All Ages" by R.C. Johnson may prove to be of special interest.

Source:
Personal experience