The very pretty picture in this puzzle was painted by San Diego artist, Renée Tay.

Before going any further, I must say this puzzle is by far the most difficult to put together I've made. Upon seeing the initial pile of pieces, the reaction is one of severe intimidation. Where does one start? The Indirect Interlocking Edges cutting style makes starting with the edges almost useless! I found I started on the green dress, the faces, and the purple shaw. After this phase was completed, major roadblock! The two figurals and signature piece provided little relief. Very slowly I was able to find pieces that matched the dot patterns - the outer regions have larger white dots - this was a hard puzzle to put together. The Swirl Curl style, didn't help here either. I spent 2 hours and 21 minutes putting the puzzle together, I don't think I've ever spent that much time on a puzzle on the order of 250 pieces (this one has 263).

Significant milestones

• First really difficult puzzle I've made
• Continued exploration into Indirect Interlocking Edges. I think this puzzle is the most polished in this regards.

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

May 16, 2000

Evening

Been a busy day - spent most of the afternoon working on #24, a beautiful somewhat impressionistic painting. I really love the picture. I obtained the picture (hand signed) from a local (San Diego) artist, Renée Tay.

The image demanded the Swirl Curl cut. I'm about half done, and the puzzle will have on the order of 250-260 pieces - the puzzle is similar in size as my other "eBay puzzles" (#18 and #23), approx. 13 1/2" by 10 1/2". The puzzle (currently untitled) has 100% "Armstrong Edges" (see Indirect Interlocking Edges) This puzzle will be the June 2000 eBay auction puzzle. I'll post a picture here later this week.

May 18, 2000

Evening

I felt better today and completed #24. Two who saw it said it is my most beautiful puzzle so far. Me: It's good but tough to beat some of the others. One innovation - I made my first "Pastime" figural in the Pastime way - folding a piece of paper and cutting a shape and then unfolding it to get the full shape - the puzzle needed a butterfly so I created a "swirl curl butterfly" Pastime method - came out well. I'll have the puzzle picture and write up on the web tomorrow - came in at 263 pieces ... with all the dots, the puzzle is a serious challenge for the puzzle enthusiast! This puzzle will be the June 2000 eBay auction puzzle.

Not sure when I'll start #25 - a much larger puzzle, 400+ pieces.