I'm Puzzled!

I love puzzles! Crosswords, jumbles, brain teasers, riddles and jigsaws; anything that makes my brain hurt a little--that's fun for me. I hadn't done a jigsaw puzzle in quite some time, so I was surprised when I recently attempted one and the pieces didn't stay together like they had in the "good old days".

Completed puzzle 30" x 24"

The puzzle I completed was 1,000-pieces and was an impressive collage of many of our favorite board games we played as kids. But, because my table wasn't quite large enough to accommodate all the pieces while I was constructing it, I decided to lock together pieces from the same sections, outside the border area, and then place them inside the border when I got a section done. Not a good idea! Once I put together a section, I could not transport it inside the border without the pieces breaking apart in my hands. It sort of defeated the purpose--I ended up having to put the pieces all back together again. No sense putting the sections together twice, so opted to put everything together inside the border after all, cramped as it was.

Frustrating fall-aparts!

In the original days of jigsaw puzzles, photos, or paintings were mounted on lightweight wood, and pieces were cut with a jigsaw (thus the name). Now, in order to produce a large number of puzzles at once, photos are mounted on cardboard and cut apart with a large press containing very sharp blades. For some reason, the blade presses don't hold the pieces together as well; perhaps because they cannot turn as tight corners to create the interlocking "snaps" if you will. So what's a girl to do?

Even though I was a bit disappointed in the way the puzzle went together, once it was completed, it looked great and the pieces held quite well. It's just something I will need to take into consideration the next time I do a jigsaw. Maybe I'll get a larger table, or go out to my shed and jigsaw-cut my own puzzle or two!

I guess a better idea would be to suck it up and enjoy the experience for what it is, or stick to crosswords!