Imaginary Flight Puzzle

[Scrolling Days]

I haven't posted a puzzle in a few weeks so I thought I would share with you my first attempt at making a two-layered puzzle. This piece was cut from Oak ply and includes 327 pieces with 11 figurals. The original artwork is by the talented Bob Byerley and is titled "Flight of the Angels." I cut this puzzle for my parents who are enjoying their retirement.



The umbrella, the left arm of the little girl, the left arm of the little boy, and the front part of the "plane" are double-layered to give the effect of depth. It is hard to show here, but the plane appears, when viewed in real life, to be coming out of the picture. The bottom and top layers are identical pictures which are each cut separately into different shaped pieces (they are not stack cut). This angled photo shows the effect to some extent.



I tried to make the figural pieces in theme with the puzzle. Children are using their imagination to fly through the air in their self-built planes (we all did it!) . The figurals, therefore, should fly also, and be born from the imagination of a child.

The figurals include Buff the Magic Dragon, my Signature Piece. There is also a Pegasus, two hot air balloons flying side by side, Mary Poppins blowing through the air, an eagle, and Superman, who is trying to rescue another figural, a small airplane. Since the puzzle is for my folks, and my Mom is a huge Harry Potter fan, I had to include Harry on his broom, playing Quidditch and reaching for the Snitch.

[Scrolling Days]

Here is a neat little way I worked two more figurals into the puzzle. If you look carefully, the plane in the foreground is made, in part, from a large biscuit crate.



If you uncover the top layer of the puzzle (the front of the plane is double layered) you will discover two stowaways inside the crate. A pair of bunnies are my last two figurals.

[Arcy]

Very cool! Are the top and bottom planes attached in any way or do the tops just sit free on the bottom?

I've toyed with multi-layer puzzles, but have had two full separate layers of different images and kept them together with attached tray edges, but that doesn't give and end 3D effect once it's assembled. It does work well for things like hiding bunnies in a box!

--Rob

[Scrolling Days]

Thanks, Rob! I have several small pieces in strategic positions which are glued to the pieces underneath. You can see one on the very far left edge of the crate on that second picture. I tried to keep the "anchors" somewhat tiny so that they would not overlap the piece they are sitting on, thus obsuring it's knobs, etc.

After the puzzle is assembled, the top layer stays fixed in place and won't glide over the bottom layer.

[Arcy]

Aha! So essentially a few two-level pieces to keep everything locked together. What a great idea. I bet it looks fantastic in person.

--Rob

[Scrolling Days]

It actually does look pretty cool! I'm pretty happy with it.

I probably used more anchors than I needed, but I wanted to make sure everything held well. Of the 327 pieces, 12 are "double pieces" (base piece with small anchor glued on top).

[KtownScroller]

I like the subject matter Shawn. Your puzzle looks wonderful!

[Carter-Johnson]

Beautiful, intricate work!

[Mike Crosa]

Great piece Shawn. We have some great puzzle artists in the group.

[utbva]

That is a really cool puzzle and I love the subject. The double layer is a super idea. I would like to know more about how you were able to get the top layer to match the lower layer so exactly. One time I left a couple pieces of one of my puzzle on the floor for a few minutes and my dog chewed them up so I tried to cut some new pieces to fit but it didn't work out so well.