As it happened (from my Journal archives)

May 29, 2002

10:05 pm - Shipped #266, final count 143 pieces. Started #267, Cat in Paradise. I've forgot how hard this particular puzzle is to cut! I'm about 1/5 done, maybe 1/6. Tomorrow, I'll start early on it, and work on it in three or four major sets throughout the day. Don't know if I'll get it done, but I should come close.

The Observer had some comments today :-)....... he (male voice today), wanted to know something, well I'm not sure, something strange, but I detected perhaps some slight jealously???? Well it turns out it's about the Angel piece (in the previous puzzle). When I designed it, I had asked the Observer to come over as I wanted a "model" for the face, just to get some proportions, not copy. Later when I was discussing how archetypal angels are, how some people believe they are real, how others think perhaps they represent memories of ancient celestial events (comets, meteors, etc.) that caused devastation or marvels, it seemed that The Observer felt he might have some "competition" for presence in future puzzles. I said, absolutely no way, that I almost never refused a request by him to show up. I also said "you should know that you are usually the one to make a decision as to whether or not to show up!" As to whether or not "The Angel" becomes some kind of trans-dimensional entity like The Observer, remains to be seen, my guess is probably not, but when I mentioned this to The Observer, he said, "All of your figurals are trans-dimensional", and was gone.

As to Cat in Paradise, there will be a bunch of cats, one mouse, but no "trans-dimensional" stuff that I know about.

May 30, 2002

8:35 am - Off to continue work on Cat in Paradise.

May 2002 has been a busy month for me. Assuming I complete Cat in Paradise, I will have completed 14 puzzles this month. All aspects of Custom Puzzle Craft has occupied my time, "full time and beyond", yet even at this pace the business is still very short of being sustainable for me. I have worked out some kinks in the "back office" side of the business, as I continue to pursue theoretical sustainability. One text book solution would be to increase prices, but it is my feeling that interest would drop off sharply if I did, so as I have mentioned previously, I'll keep the current "per piece" prices unchanged for the remainder of the year.

8:29 pm - In what can only fairly be described as a "grueling" day, I completed Cat in Paradise. There are no cracked pieces, no dings, no chipouts! It took me an extra effort to get through the last hour or so of cutting, probably spent 10 hours today at the saw. This was a marathon, and I've decided I'll take tomorrow off from cutting, I am intensely tired, mentally and physically, my arms are ready to fall off! I'll launch the auction sometime tomorrow afternoon, the 19th installment of the 100 Puzzles Project!

After a week of quiet email, today a new blizzard with at least four preliminary puzzle orders, and other inquiries, will go through them later this evening. Backlog unchanged at 10. Due to an apparent Father's day related puzzle order surge, I'm going to push back my week+ vacation until after the Father's day deadline has passed.

From the auction description:

This is the 19th Custom Puzzle Craft wooden jigsaw puzzle to be offered for sale on eBay in my ongoing 100 Puzzles Project of almost-monthly auctions, planned to run through the year 2009 or whenever the 100 puzzles are done. This puzzle was hand cut by me, John Stokes, seller of this puzzle.

In this puzzle, "Cat in Paradise", I'm introducing a new artist to Project, Bernard Vercruyce, a French painter known for his paintings of cats.

This puzzle features an irregular shaped border, extensive color line cutting and is my first puzzle in the Project with dropouts. The Cat, Bird and Flowers are completely color line cut with no extra connectors to adjacent areas.

The puzzle contains 476 pieces, cut in my Long Round style, and includes my standard signature piece (signed, dated and numbered on the back) and a second piece marked on the back indicating the puzzle belongs to the 100 Puzzles Project. The puzzle measures about 15 1/2" by 11 1/2" in the longest vertical and horizontal dimensions There are seven figurals: five cats, a kitten and a mouse! There is also a little trick in this puzzle that may or may not fool the assembler. [Year 2016 Edit: No idea what this "trick" may have been!]