Dinner for One

[Carter Johnson]

Having tricked you into this thread by the title, here is a puzzle I just finished. It only took about five hours at the saw. It's 286 pieces, from 1/4" 3-ply oak and used a little over two FD "superior puzzle" blades. It measures about 13 x 11" and the picture is taken from a calendar.

I hope you can notice the pieces from the views of the front and back (which has been horizontally flipped). This is a dream for a color line cutter like me. Every leaf, berry and branch forms the basis for puzzle pieces. The only sklil that's needed is some experience in controlling the saw. If you've been hesitant to try this and want to do so, go for it. I'll be glad to help any way I can.

Have phun........Carter

 

[PowerTool]

Another masterpiece in it's own right - and it's also such a lovely picture to start with.

Andrew

 

[Gill]

I've tried to copy your technique, Carter, and failed. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, perhaps failed imitation is the sincerest testimony to your skill !

Although I've read your online guides, my poor attempts indicate my technique is lacking. Could you possibly show us how you would cut a few pieces? If I could follow you as you reveal, "This is the first piece", "This is the second piece", "This is the third piece", I'm sure things would be a lot clearer. Until now I've been trying to cut each piece individually. Yet I look at your jigsaws and the individual pieces often form sweeping collective lines, as if a section has been cut and then sub-divided. Am I right in thinking you sometimes work like that?

Gill

 

[Carter Johnson]

Gil, let's see if I can form a reply that somewhat helps. I truly think you're making this harder than it really is. Remember, I am a color line cutter. I deliberately choose pictures that have distinct images and color demarkations within them and I use those lines as the bases for pieces. Thus, in the picture above you do see the "sweeping" lines of the bird's shape, as those lines form the edges of pieces, interrupted, of course, bny locking tabs where appropriate.

But let's use the picture above to show the first piecers I cut. I started at the upper right corner. I knew that the orange leaves about an inch left of the top were going to form puzzle pieces on their own, so my very first piece was a corner piece that was longer than it was wide, so it would allow for another edge piece at the top, the second one I cut, left of the corner to intersect with the orange leaf branch. Having cut that one, I then cut the first of the pieces from the orange leaf branch. That piece has a natural lock with the top border piece left of it, which stops at the brown branch, which itself forms the next piece.

Now, moving down the right side, I cut individual border pieces randomly until I come to the triangular shaped light green leaf that comes in from the side. I make that a piece on its own. I follow these kinds of rules all the way through, cutting one piece at a time and planning ahead only to the extent that I am aware that distinct color demarkations are coming up.

Once in awhile I will cut a weird piece, such as the branch the bird is perched on. To the right of his foot, that branch is all one piece. It just makes the puzzle a little more phun to assemble.

I hope this helps. I wish you could transport yourself here (or vice versa) and we could work together for a couple minutes. It's really quite uncomplicated.

Please, if there's more I can provide, let me know.

Oh, by the way, it's sad to report that the dog in my identifying picture, Lucky, had to be put down in the fall after 17 years, 2 months. That's pretty good for a 40-lb dog. He was quite a character. When we got him from the animal shelter at age 3 we discovered he had been trained to stay out of whatever room you were eating in. You could leave the house all day with a open bowl of chips on a coffee table and he wouldn't touch them. I miss him.

Carter