I love jigsaw puzzles. So, of course, I had to try to make one.
It’s not as easy as it sounds…
But now I have a fairly reliable method and have found some measure of success with it. I started with the image, which I engraved, coloured and varnished. Then I cut out the shape and the puzzle pieces. I decided to make a tray to build the puzzle in and it works beautifully.
I used 1/8" Baltic birch for the puzzle and the tray. I coloured it with regular old felt markers and let it sit for a couple of days before I varnished (front and back) it to keep the colours from bleeding. With the varnish, there was very little scorching from the laser when I cut out the puzzle pieces and what was there, just wiped away.
Now that is a winner all around. Great technique and beautiful design. If you don’t already sell those I suggest you hop on it. Apparently puzzle sales are through the roof now with the whole covid affair.
I would love to sell them. They are an awful lot of work, though, and I doubt anyone would want to pay what I’d have to ask to make it worth it. I will pop one on my site to see if there is any interest and take it from there. This one was fun to make - after I got through the frustrating failures! LOL
Yes the time and effort is considerably more than most people imagine. Well your friends and family will have some nice gifts if you decide to give them as presents.
Well, here’s two I made for my awesome little grandsons. These guys “Patches” and “Ra Ra” are their bestest friends in the world so I know they will love them! They are 2 and 4:-)
Gorgeous work! One thing to note, if you do decide to sell these, look into artist-quality markers. You may find that the felt markers (like Crayola) will fade over time since they are not made with light-fast inks.
If you take the puzzling a step further and draw wildly shaped puzzle pieces (Google Victorian Cut Puzzle) you could definitely sell these for the higher cost that would cover the amount of work you put into them!
