As it happened (from my Journal archives)

April 3, 2007

Tuesday 10:56 pm - The auction will be for the Young Shepherdess puzzle, currently being made, and will be held at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in San Francisco, CA at 4-5 pm on Friday, April 13 during the Table Sales section of the American Game & Puzzle Collectors Puzzle Parley.

Tuesday 8:29 pm - I did not get to mounting the large Young Shepherdess print (about 28 1/4" by 12 3/4") for puzzle #709 until this morning. The mount went well. I then designed the border (will be similar to the Dali Last Supper puzzle's border). This afternoon I start cutting - completing the initial cutting ("breaking down" the board into smaller sections) and I started cutting the time consuming border but did not finish it.

Tomorrow, I'll get up early and I'll complete the border and start work on one of the sections. I'll have some "in progress" pictures here during the next few days.

April 4, 2007

Wednesday 10:56 pm - Spent about five hours at the shop today. I did more "initial cutting" today, breaking down the board into smaller sections and I completed the time consuming border. Afterwards I cut about 50 pieces, cutting is going well. As usual with my Creative cutting style, cutting is going slowly. Tomorrow I expect to put more time into the puzzle than I did today.

April 5, 2007

Thursday 10:52 pm - Quite a bit of time at the shop today, more than yesterday, the Young Shepherdess puzzle is now about 3/8 done, judging by area; 180-200 pieces total. I've upped the estimated number of pieces from about 500 to a range of 500 to 550. Cutting continues to go well. Looks like it is going to take three more days to finish this puzzle. I expect to put in a fairly long day tomorrow. I'll bring my camera so I can post some pictures tomorrow evening. Early next week I'll start cutting a "mini" Geometric Pattern Puzzle for the show, and if I have time I'll do a second one. I leave for the show in San Francisco on Thursday.

April 6, 2007

Friday 5:52 pm - Marathon day at shop, I was at the saw for about seven hours today. Arms tired. The Young Shepherdess puzzle is about 2/3 done, and cutting continues to go well. I did make one small cutting mistake today, but not serious enough to detract from the puzzle, as I caught myself in time before serious damage was done. I'm going to slow down the pace a bit: tomorrow I'll do one half of the remaining work and then Sunday the other half, plus prepare some small boards "mini" puzzles I plan to make in the first half of next week. Forgot my camera, so pictures will wait until the puzzle is done. I was going to ship the recent eBay puzzle today, but this will happen on Monday.

Need to nap and then prepare for a dance class.

April 7, 2007

Saturday 5:28 pm - I thought for a while that I could complete The Young Shepherdess puzzle today (skipped a Jitterbug dance class), but as I got into it, I realized that the plan I set up yesterday was the way to go as I became tired after several hours of cutting. Cutting continues to go well. I'm now "about" 82% done, and the puzzle is looking increasingly impressive as it nears completion (I always assemble my puzzles as I cut them). Cutting was slowed by the 20+ minutes it took to cut the challenging "Fractal Cross" figural, a figural I've cut just once before. The figural has 140 right angles in it, believe or not! Pictures will be posted by Monday evening at the latest.

Tomorrow I'll complete the puzzle and prepare three boards for some "mini" puzzles even though I may end up only cutting one or two for the upcoming show.

April 8, 2007

Sunday 10:34 pm - The Young Shepherdess puzzle cutting is done. This is a major puzzle and probably the most spectacular puzzle to be offered so far within the 100 Puzzles Project. Still have quite a bit of work to do with it: sand the back, count the pieces, inspect every single piece for paper lifts and fix as needed - the paper was challenged a bit in some of the more intricate cutting, and prepare a method to secure the puzzle for shipment to San Francisco (will carry it with me on the plane). I'll have pictures tomorrow and will send out an email to all people on the 100 Puzzles Project notification list. If you are reading this and never heard of the notification list and want to be on it, go to the 100 Puzzles Project page and follow the instructions near the top.

Was a long day today, with multiple hours of work in the shop to complete the puzzle, and with my dance schedule changed due to the Easter holiday I ended up going to a regularly scheduled West Coast Swing dance party for a couple hours (first time in many months) and then a Jitterbug studio party for more than a couple hours! I should sleep well tonight!

April 9, 2007

Monday 3:15pm - Here is a large preliminary picture of #709 The Young Shepherdess (later moved top of page). I'll have a picture of the figurals and other pieces sometime before I leave on Thursday. Lot of stuff to do today, will not get to mounting the mini puzzles until tonight.

April 15, 2007

Sunday 11:38 pm - Back home! My trip to the Puzzle Parley in conjunction with the annual American Game & Puzzle Collectors meeting at the Golden Gateway Holiday Inn in San Francisco, CA was well worth it, as I reconnected with many of my fellow cutters, and collectors and specialists as well as having successful puzzle sales.

The 100 Puzzles Project auction for my impressive The Young Shepherdess puzzle was well received, with the puzzle selling for a record price, even though is still came in at a 20% discount to what I would have charged had it been commissioned.