One of my childhood family’s traditional Christmas holiday pastimes was to complete a jigsaw puzzle (or two). Christmas presents generally included at least one puzzle. This year’s Covid-19 restrictions on travel and socialising made it a good time to resurrect the tradition with my adult family.
There is something incredibly relaxing and therapeutic about tacking a jigsaw puzzle. You can’t rush a jigsaw; it takes as long as it takes. They are addictive too – once you’ve started you have to keep going. One evening, Mrs Chippy and I had to remind ourselves that it was 11.30 pm and we really should be going to bed. I have been known to stay up into the early hours in order to finish a puzzle.
I should point out that the puzzle we were doing had lots of bright and distinctive colours, so was easy to do under artificial light. Puzzles that contain large areas of similar colour – such as sea or sky – are much more difficult once the sun goes down (which makes it slightly bizarre that we tackle them in the darkest weeks of the year). Take this one for example – a real labour of love.
A feeling of satisfaction and achievement comes over me as the pieces slowly begin to form a picture (not always the picture I am expecting), or I find that elusive piece that completes a section, or joins two sections together. When I was very young, I was “helping” my grandmother with a puzzle. I found a piece and thought I could see where it fitted. I spent several minutes comparing the piece with the puzzle and the picture on the box before I placed it. My grandmother’s exclamation made me at first unsure whether I’d done the right thing. I had – she had been looking for that piece for days!
It’s not always easy to see what a single piece is part of. This piece appears to be either the nose cone of a spaceship or the visor of a knight in armour – neither of which appeared in the puzzle.
It turned out to be the cowcatcher of a steam locomotive. Obvious when you see it in position!
Sometimes working out which way up a piece goes is a challenge. Even when the piece shows part of a building, it’s not always clear which is top and bottom.
Maybe one of the other reasons I enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles is that there are several tactics to use, and each one comes into play at different times.
I usually start by sorting out the pieces into “edges” and “middle” and completing the border. It gives a framework to start with. Some people prefer to build up sections of the puzzle from the start and allow the border to fall into place naturally. With some designs, this approach can be better.
I then sift through the remaining pieces, looking for likely fits. Here I might be building several sections at the same time and select six to ten pieces to work with. If I have selected correctly – hooray. If not – the pieces go back to the pile to try again later.
Gradually the pieces start to form a picture, and I end up with one or more fitted pieces, plus several “probably go here somewhere but I haven’t worked out where yet”
They’ll be a silent (or not so silent) whoop of delight when I manage to link two sections together. Or even better when I build a path across the puzzle from side to side, blockbuster style
As the stack of unused pieces falls, I eventually have the space to display them all.
Now, as well as picking pieces and trying to fit it in the puzzle, I look for specific pieces to plug the holes. I might even sort them into different colours and/or shapes: one bump, three holes; three bumps, one hole; bumps and holes on opposite sides; bumps and holes on adjacent sides.
Eventually it nears completion, and almost any piece I pick will fit somewhere.
And finally – it is finished! It seems a shame to break it up after all that effort!
But I’ve forgotten to tell you the golden rule. Once you’ve started, don’t look at the picture on the box. That’s cheating. (apart from when you are very young and helping your grandmother, obviously).
The other golden rule is to keep the cat out of the room.
The wave image. My first impression was that it resembled ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawa’ but the waves would have been the other way round.
Why Marmite? Do you love it?
I’m not a fan of marmite; I can take it or leave it – and usually leave it. I prefer bovril. That marmite puzzle is double sided; there is a different design on the reverse.
I have had a jigsaw “on the go” almost non-stop since lockdown. I have been amazed at how varied they are. In some, pieces meet at corners. In others they don’t! They can be unusual shapes. I recently did one with triangular type pieces which was quite fun. Another had “special bits”, animal shapes carefully cut out based on the colour of the jigsaw. The largest I’ve done is 2000 pieces but the sky in that was plain blue and took ages! I prefer 500 or 1000 piece ones. I’m quite fond of the WASGIJ? Puzzles where the picture on the box is different from the actual puzzle. Like you I don’t look at the box. I get my partner to drop the pieces in the middle of the table for me and it’s lovely as the picture gradually comes together. Jigsaw puzzles have certainly made my lockdown life more enjoyable.
I also prefer the 1000 piece ones – apart from anything else, they fit on my jigsaw board. I bought my father a wasgij for Christmas – but had to explain that the picture on the box was not the picture of the puzzle!
We bought our niece and nephew a 3-D jigsaw, which they enjoyed assembling. I don’t think my brain could cope with 3-D!
My grandmother would also often have a jigsaw on the go at all times. Often she would have one large one in the dining room, and another smaller one she would do on a tray in bed, before going to sleep.
I really enjoyed your article about doing jigsaw puzzles and agreed with every word you wrote until I got to the bit where you said we were not allowed to look at the picture on the box once we got under way. I cannot understand your reasoning – I am referring to the picture all the time and get a lot of pleasure in recognising a piece of puzzle in the picture and then adding it to the puzzle. Sorry to disagree with you!
Don’t worry, Pam. Mrs Chippy agrees with you! I’ve heard that some people go a step further, and keep jigsaw puzzles in plain boxes so they have no idea what the picture is!
This would be what I call unethical.
Have you tried doing the jigsaws without looking at the picture Pam? It’s actually really satisfying when you’ve made up several little bits and then gradually work out how they join together and see the picture developing. I don’t have my puzzles in plain boxes but I don’t know what I’m going to do as my partner chooses and just gives me the pieces. I love doing it this way! Give it a go!
Well! You’ve all given me something to think about. I will do my next jigsaw without looking at the picture as I go along – but I will definitely have a look at the picture at the beginning just to give me an idea of what I am about to tackle!
hi Mary,
To be honest I have not done any jigsaw … I simply don’t have patience. I’m astonished to see the fun that you all have shared. It really seems challenging and also fun to do. Perhaps one day I will try – I’m not going anywhere these days! 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
I agree with Pam. I don’t think I could manage without the picture but I might give it a try one day.
I always have a jigsaw on the go, too.