The story behind this relatively early impressionist painting, my review of the Artifact puzzle that uses its image, and a walkthrough of my assembly (about 3600 words; 28 photos)
Well, Bill, in the year or so since you've become an aficionado of these remarkable wooden puzzles, I have learned quite a lot. I myself am mostly still motivated to assemble cardboard puzzles of only medium complexity when I feel like relaxing with a jigsaw puzzle, but I do admire your research and the very close attention you pay to the assembly and analyses of your wooden puzzles. The way you have shown today how one can build trefoils and get small special pieces to combine into a further special outline (e.g., lamp on a table) within a completed puzzle really does impress me. It seems the puzzles you present to us have not only visual appeal, but also "plot." I don't know a lot about Monet, by the way, but I did order one of the Great Courses from The Teaching Company about Impressionist painters, so I may soon know more about Monet. Studying those courses on DVD is one of my devoted interests/hobbies. Thanks for all your work!
Thanks, Greg. I have found that puzzle assembly only uses part of my brain and that the other part begins to wonder about questions the puzzle or its image raises. That leads to doing research, and it was unexpectedly-interesting information I have discovered that way that led me to start this newsletter/blog.
I now realize that I also probably now have a feedback loop that subconsciously leads me to choose puzzles that will lead me down intriguing research paths, some of which have surprised me. For example, I never expected the Miss Masque puzzle to lead me into the previously unknown (for me) world of the Golden Age of Comic Books.
In the case of this Monet puzzle I have long been a fan of the artist but I didn’t know much about him, or what it was about his paintings that appealed to me, until I began looking at the fine details (which is inherent in assembling jigsaw puzzles) and doing the research that the painting inspired. Doing this puzzle, and its associated research, has led me to order a puzzle for which its research potential is not subconscious. I’m going to learn more about the artist Mary Cassatt.
Thanks for the interesting article Bill, I learned a few new things! One minor correction is that we do make both our lines of puzzles (Artifact - glossy images, and Ecru - matte images) at both our workshops now (Fremont CA, and Port Townsend WA). Also, it pains me to see how bad the back of our puzzles look, but we just haven't been able to find a good way to keep the backs beautiful without really increasing costs, and our assumption is 99% of puzzling is with the image face-up, so that's what we focus on, but I agree it would be nice if we could prettify our puzzle backs too, we'll keep R&D'ing that! -Maya (Owner, Artifact Puzzles)
Thank you for the updated information, Maya, and also for including a link to my review-essay in your own blog. I have edited my description of your two locations in my blog-archive, and put the distinctions between your regular and Ecru lines into a separate sentence. To keep things from getting confusing I don't go into the history of the Ecru line.
As I said in my review I don't think of backside scorching as being a significant problem, and in your case at least it is spread out over the cutting relatively evenly. In fact, when I see it now it makes me feel like a wooden-puzzle insider, reminding me like I am one of the relatively few people who knows about accessing this secret side of the puzzle. In the wooden puzzles Facebook group we often get new members who had not known that there are often further joys to be had by flipping the puzzle over, and they ask how to do it. That brings a flurry of replies in which people describe their various methods, and discussion about the other merits of assembling on a puzzle-board instead of a tabletop.
Well, Bill, in the year or so since you've become an aficionado of these remarkable wooden puzzles, I have learned quite a lot. I myself am mostly still motivated to assemble cardboard puzzles of only medium complexity when I feel like relaxing with a jigsaw puzzle, but I do admire your research and the very close attention you pay to the assembly and analyses of your wooden puzzles. The way you have shown today how one can build trefoils and get small special pieces to combine into a further special outline (e.g., lamp on a table) within a completed puzzle really does impress me. It seems the puzzles you present to us have not only visual appeal, but also "plot." I don't know a lot about Monet, by the way, but I did order one of the Great Courses from The Teaching Company about Impressionist painters, so I may soon know more about Monet. Studying those courses on DVD is one of my devoted interests/hobbies. Thanks for all your work!
Thanks, Greg. I have found that puzzle assembly only uses part of my brain and that the other part begins to wonder about questions the puzzle or its image raises. That leads to doing research, and it was unexpectedly-interesting information I have discovered that way that led me to start this newsletter/blog.
I now realize that I also probably now have a feedback loop that subconsciously leads me to choose puzzles that will lead me down intriguing research paths, some of which have surprised me. For example, I never expected the Miss Masque puzzle to lead me into the previously unknown (for me) world of the Golden Age of Comic Books.
In the case of this Monet puzzle I have long been a fan of the artist but I didn’t know much about him, or what it was about his paintings that appealed to me, until I began looking at the fine details (which is inherent in assembling jigsaw puzzles) and doing the research that the painting inspired. Doing this puzzle, and its associated research, has led me to order a puzzle for which its research potential is not subconscious. I’m going to learn more about the artist Mary Cassatt.
Thanks for the interesting article Bill, I learned a few new things! One minor correction is that we do make both our lines of puzzles (Artifact - glossy images, and Ecru - matte images) at both our workshops now (Fremont CA, and Port Townsend WA). Also, it pains me to see how bad the back of our puzzles look, but we just haven't been able to find a good way to keep the backs beautiful without really increasing costs, and our assumption is 99% of puzzling is with the image face-up, so that's what we focus on, but I agree it would be nice if we could prettify our puzzle backs too, we'll keep R&D'ing that! -Maya (Owner, Artifact Puzzles)
Thank you for the updated information, Maya, and also for including a link to my review-essay in your own blog. I have edited my description of your two locations in my blog-archive, and put the distinctions between your regular and Ecru lines into a separate sentence. To keep things from getting confusing I don't go into the history of the Ecru line.
As I said in my review I don't think of backside scorching as being a significant problem, and in your case at least it is spread out over the cutting relatively evenly. In fact, when I see it now it makes me feel like a wooden-puzzle insider, reminding me like I am one of the relatively few people who knows about accessing this secret side of the puzzle. In the wooden puzzles Facebook group we often get new members who had not known that there are often further joys to be had by flipping the puzzle over, and they ask how to do it. That brings a flurry of replies in which people describe their various methods, and discussion about the other merits of assembling on a puzzle-board instead of a tabletop.