The puzzle was cut in a geometric cutting style I call "Hex Shield #2" - the cutting template broadly based on a grid of hexagons and some of the pieces reminded me of shields. The "2" means that I used the second iteration of the overall design. The first iteration was used w-a-a-a-y back in puzzle #7, see early puzzles.

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

February 9, 2006

Thursday 11:28 pm - The Reptiles print arrived today.

February 10, 2006

Friday 5:56 pm - The print for the Escher puzzle, Reptiles, looks excellent.

March 31, 2006

Friday 6:29 pm - I will take the weekend off and then start work on #665, Reptiles, on Monday. This will be my first Geometric Style puzzle since puzzle #14 cut more than six years ago! The customer wants the same geometric pattern in #665, although I going to have to rework the design to include more pieces and to match the larger size of the Reptiles puzzle (about 17 1/2" by 15"). I expect the design of the layout to take a substantial portion of the day. I'll start cutting on Tuesday.

April 3, 2006

Monday 10:11 pm - This morning I designed the geometric layout for #665, Reptiles, and this afternoon I started cutting. It's been over six years since I last cut a geometric layout puzzle and I vastly underestimated how long it will take me to cut this puzzle. This puzzle is quite a bit larger than any I've cut with a geometric cutting layout and in the early going, manipulating the board for template cutting was difficult at best.

Once I get the board into smaller sections cutting will pick up a little. In over three hours of cutting I cut about 55 pieces, a rate even slower than Creative. The customer for this puzzle is lucky as should anyone else ever inquire about a puzzle like this I will quote a significantly higher price even though the cost of this puzzle is substantially above my standard cutting style rate. Cutting from a template continuously is hard on the eyes. I currently plan to put in three to four hour days on this puzzle until it is done.

April 4, 2006

Tuesday 4:42 pm - From the time I left for the shop to the time I returned home, more than five hours passed, with about 85 pieces cut in Reptiles. If I deduct transit, lunch and trimming the edges, the pace picked up slightly over yesterday. The very thin paper on which the Reptiles print was printed is cutting extremely well, very good puzzle paper. I will continue to work on the puzzle each day and then will take several days off before starting the next one - a major Creative cutting style puzzle.

April 5, 2006

Wednesday 10:47 pm - A planned cutting marathon was derailed by car problems: flat tire on the way to my shop, so I got underway with #665 Reptiles quite a bit later than planned and then I left the shop much earlier than planned to have the mini-temp tire replaced. As I purchased four brand new tires just three weeks ago, the flat was under warranty even though I somehow I managed to run over a metal ball point pen and have it puncture the tire.

I cut somewhere in the range of 60-80 pieces in several hours. Tomorrow and Friday I plan a long days of cutting, I want to complete the puzzle by late Friday. I plan to take the weekend off and ship Reptiles on Monday. I then need to focus on taxes until they are done. Then I'll start #666. The Escher print will not be identified until the customer receives the puzzle.

Quite a bit of rain last night and today. Drought situation much better now.

April 6, 2006

Thursday 5:00 pm - Longest day so far cutting Reptiles. I cut at least 150 pieces today and have less than that to go. The pace has picked a little but is still going a lot slower than for my regular styles. I expect to complete the puzzle tomorrow. Cutting continues to go well.

April 7, 2006

Friday 11:37 pm - Today I completed #665, Reptiles. Puzzle looks pretty cool. Will have a picture or two tomorrow. I finished it early enough in the day that I could have shipped it but instead I visited a friend who is quite ill with bronchitis. There has been some pretty nasty stuff going around here, another friend was ill for three weeks with pneumonia.

I take back my remark about the thin paper being very good puzzle paper; I experienced some delamination of the paper and had to make quite a few repairs during the course of cutting.