[Sparteye]

My Mom put together jigsaw puzzles. One Christmas, I decided to get her a really good one. So, I bought this beautiful 8,000-piece puzzle. It’s an artwork, representing a salon full of other art works. It’s huge: 192 cm X 136 cm (it was made by a Spanish company) or, roughly, 6’4” x 4’6” American.

That’d keep her occupied, right?

Only, my Mom moved that year, and didn’t get around to the puzzle. She spent the next ten months renovating her new retirement place, but winter was coming and maybe she’d get to it. But then, she died in a car accident.

I saved the puzzle, and set it aside, unopened, thinking that maybe someday -- after my new baby was bigger -- I could put together the puzzle.

Well, you know how that went, right? Babies, job, house, etc etc etc … and it’s 17 years later and there sits that unopened puzzle.

Until now. I’m-a-gonna put that sucker together.

Problem number one: I have to find a place to put it. So, this weekend, I cobbled together a table out of three tables, with tape to prevent pieces from falling between the adjacent sides. The one table is not the same height, but trying to shim the other two didn’t work.

The puzzle-box holder is pretty cool. Now I can view the picture hands-free. I’ve never bought a puzzle before that provided a holder. It will help, and man, will I need help.

So, all that brings us to the poll: how long do you think that it will take me to complete the puzzle?

And, also, to this: you can follow my progress on this album: http://s211.photobuc...parteye/Puzzle/

Oh, the excitement!

[gardentraveler]

That sounds like fun! I'll look forward to watching your progress.

[Baker]

This will be fun to follow!

I once saw an ad for a puzzle with 10000 pieces. Like your situation, the problem would have been where to set the danged thing up.

[dantheman]

Yikes! Tooooo many pieces!




If and when you finish, maybe you could get it varnished. (Or whatever the term is.) You know, to preserve it.

[sperfur]

I was going to say six weeks.

Then I saw your assistant.

Now my answer is...17 years. 17 years and six weeks.

How are you keeping your assistant from hiding the pieces on you?



WHOOPS - didn't see the poll. I voted "by Christmas 15% of the pieces will be missing". I could be persuaded to change my vote if you have a plan.

This post has been edited by sperfur: 22 January 2010 - 05:21 PM

[Sparteye]

That's Polly, who isn't my only assistant. There's also Miranda, of the feline ilk. And a rambunctious son (who just today knocked over one of the bags of pieces), and a dog (who just today tried to run under the table, but shouldn't because he's giant Newfie, whilst chasing Polly). I guess it will be a miracle if I end up with 85 percent of the pieces.

My plan consists of yelling at them a lot.

[sperfur]

Yeahhhhh. Ummm - I should have been clearer about what kind of plan. My vote stays.

[Sparteye]

I've been progressing steadily, despite help from my various furry family members. The ceiling is mostly done, the blues are mostly done, and all the frame pieces are filling in in a grid pattern. There are additional exciting pictures at the above link.

[gardentraveler]

Cool. So how much longer do you think it's going to take?

[Sparteye]

According to the poll, I'll give up just before Christmas, but I'm hoping to complete it in the fall. The question, as always, is how much time I can spend on it. Mostly, I just grab some pieces when I go by the table, or work on it whilst watching basketball.

[sperfur]

Sooooooooooooo preeeeeeeeeeeety!



ETA: I should add - I'm very proud of you that you've gotten so far in just a month! Good job!

This post has been edited by sperfur: 23 February 2010 - 09:25 PM

[Sparteye]

There are updated photos available at the link. I estimate that I'm between 25 and 30 percent done now.

[sperfur]

It looks so awesome!

[gardentraveler]

That is soooo cool!

[Sparteye]

Here’s the latest on the puzzle progress.

The puzzle album.

When I took the pictures, something happened that had never occurred before. As I was looking at this photo, I realized that I knew the piece that was missing from the very outside frame of the lower right of the round painting, so I found it and put it in. See?

[sperfur]

You're making such impressive progress! GO YOU!!!

[Sparteye]

GO ME!

[gardentraveler]

I agree! Very cool. "Seeing" the missing piece is quite impressive, too.

[Sparteye]

I've uploaded new photos of the puzzle. I think that the filled in part just about equals the white space now. Weird, though, cuz it looks a lot more complete live than it does in the pictures.

[sperfur]

YAY! It looks awesome!