Shape Shifting Jigsaw puzzles

[oldjohnevans]

The trouble with normal jigsaw puzzles is that when you have finished putting them together there is nothing more to do with them. I have been thinking about making puzzles the have many different shapes by moving a piece from one side to the other. It seems like an obvious idea but I cannot find any examples when I search the internet. If there is any interest in this topic I will post a few pictures.

A problem I have encountered with my early puzzle attempts is that the pieces are not well locked together. I found a wonderful web site by professional jigsaw maker John Stokes. He describes a number of different cutting styles that I am experimenting with. His site is

http://www.custompuzzlecraft.com/index.html

Sorry I do not know how to make this a link.

Old John Evans

[GrayBeard Phil]

John:

Gosh, I wish you luck in your quest. Your point of having interchangeable puzzle pieces, I think depends on cutting with a precision that I can only hope to be able to do. And then selecting the graphic to match the concept makes it way beyond any skill or artistic eye I have.

A lot depends on who your puzzle is aimed at. Personally, I have found that true 'Puzzle Enthusiast' are fickle and hard to please. Well, OK, the two 'Puzzle Enthusiasts' that I know are like that. I hope your victims (I mean customers) will be kinder.

I started out doing some puzzles with a cutting pattern, but no matter how I tried, I ran into the problem of the pattern removal. Very long story, but either the glossy finish got damaged, or the graphic got damaged with lift-off.

About your link, my inspection of the cutting showed more emphasis on the pattern than on the graphic image. Very difficult to cut unless you have a pattern plus being very skilled at staying spot-on the line all the time.

If you decide to continue with your project, do post back with which software program you decide to use for creation of the cutting lines. I tried CorelDraw (plus a have hearted attempt with Inkscape.) (I presume you will discover the effort involved in making a puzzle cut pattern only is justifiable if you intend on making many copies of the same puzzle.)

My plan was to import a bit map scan of the graphic onto one layer of CorelDraw, and make the cut pattern on another layer. Major problems were the 1:1 ratio of scan to real life wasn't there, and the alignment of the wood, graphic, and cut pattern never worked itself out. Effort abandoned.

Besides, the technique of Carter Johnson to freehand the cutting, after a long and painful learning curve, turned out to be more fun to cut. Yes, a long time to unlearn my mindset of follow the line puzzle cutting. Not that I am have any claim to flag planting on that learning curve mountain. To be honest, just making to a base camp on that slope would be nice goal at this point.

I wish you the best of luck.

Phil

[CanadianScroller]

Some good ideas here. I know Carter prefers freehand cutting, and I do like his style, but it wouldn't work in this case.
Phil, did you ever try printing the overlay on tracing paper and just taping the edges down. As you cut each row of pieces you can keep one edge in tact and the paper just falls free as the pieces are cut.

John, I agree with Phil that the cutting skills would have to be exemplary to maintain constant shapes throughout the puzzle. One way around it may be to stack cut two puzzles each one oriented a different way, that way the pieces would be interchangeable.

[GrayBeard Phil]

Carl:

Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes, I tried the tracing paper a couple of times.
- Tracing paper (that I tried) has a wax like coating (makes it easier to erase I guess) that my inkjet printer just didn't like. I didn't try a laser-printer for fear that the wax coating might jam up the high temp fuser, and at work a fuser is service call with a flat rate of $350.00 for parts and labor.

- Tried your suggestion of edge attachment, but bottom line, the pattern would become floppy as I cut. I never could hold down the tracing paper and swing the wood around at the same time. The lines would always seem to be off where they should be with edge only attachment. Then tried to light tack with photo mount spray adhesive. Also didn't work because of pattern lift-off, and I could never get the pattern back to where I wanted it so I could finish the cut.

-Tried blank tracing paper with light tack and then pencil in a pattern; see above.

- Ended up laying tracing paper on uncut puzzle, and pencil in cut pattern, then lay tracing aside as a visual guide to how to cut puzzle. Visual guide did help, but allowed on-the-fly adjustments of pattern. Learning grew from there. I needed the pre-planning of a cutting guide to ID the critical parts that should be left whole in color line cutting. Some day, I won't have to make a visual template guide to my cutting a puzzle.

Phil

[oldjohnevans]

Hi Phil and Carl:

Thanks for your prompt and thoughtful responses. I have no training, nor have I read any books on how to make jigsaw puzzles. I believe that too much study before launching into a project simply limits your imagination. That is not to say that I will not pickup and use good ideas when I see them, (for example John Stoke’s swirl curl cutting style). I have not become acquainted with Carter Johnson’s cutting style yet. Is he a contributer to the Scroll saw blog?

Carl do you happen to know if there are any scroll saw enthusiasts out in Newfoundland?

So far I have had little interest in putting pictures on my puzzles. I have been playing with panels made from different kinds of woods. I like to cut large pieces that are each interesting and attractive by themselves. I like the swirl curl style because it holds the puzzle together. Because I do not use a pattern cutting is fast and fun. I just stand in front of the scroll saw and wiggle the panel thither and yon. At first the pieces were pretty ugly but with practice my skills are improving.

I am trying to attach 2 views of one of my more simple puzzles.

John

[oldjohnevans]

I think this time I will be able to send the picture.

John

[JimSawyer]

I like Carl's idea about stck sawing. I'm thinking maybe you could first make a cut, (with all of your tabs and what not in it), then flip one side onto the other, (both face up), so that what you cut in the top left will be mirrored on the bottom right.
Just a thought...

[JimSawyer]

Oh yea, John, those puzzles look cruel, lol. Nice work!

[Carter-Johnson]

Hi John..........

I have a couple who borrow one of my puzzle every week and have been doing so for almost ten years. They've assembled almost 500 of them. Every once in awhile they give me a nice puzzle-related gift, and last week they gave me a puzzle that I think fits what you are inquiring about.

Sold by MoMa, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, it consists of reversable perfectly square pieces in rows that can be moved from one side of the picture to the other or from top to bottom by flipping them and changing their order. Thus, if you took off the bottom row, flipped over the pieces and reattached them to the top in a different order you would add to the picture.

I checked the MoMa store and they no longer carry this puzzle, but it looks like it would be fun for a family. To make one, however, would require some cutting of perfectly identical square push-fit pieces, and that would be almost impossible on a scroll saw.

Here are photos of the assembled puzzle plus the total picture that can be created piecemeal by using the method above.





You asked about my puzzles. Here's a link to one of my puzzle albums and also to some freehand puzzle-making instructions I wrote a couple years ago.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...9642&members=1

http://wmyoung.proboards107.com/inde...ead=1173906092

Good luck, John...Keep us informed and Have Phun........Carter

[will8989]

You know what would be a fun puzzle to make. Have the exact same picture on both sides but have one side rotated 45 or 90 degrees. I gave my daughter a puzzle like that 3 years ago and it's still not together. Make sure it's of little things or like things - like soccer balls or smiley faces.

Betty