As it happened (from my Journal archives)

February 18, 2008

Monday 8:05 pm - The compulsory #16 paint job came out excellent. The wood held up really well for this compulsory, no chip-outs front or back, no warping. Will ship tomorrow. I mounted the image for #784, Caesaria, Israel - Summer 1993, this month's eBay puzzles. Tomorrow I start cutting.

February 19, 2008

Tuesday 6:09 pm - revised - I started cutting #784, Caesaria, Israel - Summer 1993, today, cutting going well. I did the edges, board subdivision and about 70 pieces done before getting a bit tired. Cutting will resume tomorrow. Now looks like I'll complete the puzzle on Thursday. The puzzle will have more color line cutting than normal, plus a bunch of "eggs". The puzzle will also include a super precise Star of David figural with dropouts.

February 20, 2008

Wednesday 5:17 pm - I continued working on puzzle #784, Caesaria, Israel - Summer 1993, I now have about 300 pieces done and about 120 to go. I plan to complete it tomorrow and launch the auction on Friday. Cutting still going well.

February 21, 2008

Thursday 4:40 pm - Puzzle #784, Caesaria, Israel - Summer 1993, is done, came out well. I'll have the final piece count tomorrow when I launch the auction. The picture is of Roman ruins in Caesaria, Israel. Interesting how after almost 2000 years since the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire, Israel exists and the Empire is but a memory. In the puzzle there are four figurals, a Roman Gladiator, the Star of David with dropouts, Israel (including the Golan Heights) and a "flying object". The UFO ties this puzzle to Ponte de Lima, Portugal - Fall 1991, as both pictures were of structures built long ago mixed with modern power generating / distribution items: in the Portugal picture, electric power lines are visible and in the Israel picture two tall smokestacks are visible (very faint just to the left of the Star of David). Besides the four figurals, this puzzle features considerable color line cutting along the bottoms of three of the arches, plus a dozen eggs (two shown in the figurals picture), plus my signature piece.

February 22, 2008

Friday 2:28 pm - The auction launch has been delayed a day until tomorrow afternoon.

February 23, 2008

Saturday 7:48 pm - Auction launched.

From the auction description:

This puzzle, Caesaria, Israel - Summer 1993, features an excellent photograph by master photographer Michael Seewald, the photographer whom I've featured several times before within the 100 Puzzles Project. This image was removed from one of Michael Seewald's limited edition art calendars (the June page from year 1995), of which 499 were printed. This puzzle is a limited edition of ONE, I will not be purchasing any additional year 1995 calendars nor accepting commissions from others for this image. Michael Seewald has now discontinued his calendars with year 2005 being the last year they were published.

The picture is of Roman ruins in Caesaria, Israel. Interesting how after almost 2000 years since the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire, Israel exists and the Empire is but a memory.

The puzzle includes four figurals: a Roman Gladiator, the Star of David with dropouts, Israel (including the Golan Heights) and a UFO; my signature piece (signed, numbered and dated on the back) and twelve "Egg" pieces. The picture of the figurals (below), shows two of the eggs. I also marked a second piece on the back (the Israel piece), indicating the puzzle belongs to the 100 Puzzles Project. The Star of David figural was cut as precisely as I am capable of doing, with drop outs, in the scale as it appears on Israel's national flag. The UFO ties this puzzle to Ponte de Lima, Portugal - Fall 1991 (auctioned as #67 last June), as both pictures were of structures built long ago mixed with modern power generating / distribution items: in the Portugal picture, electric power lines are visible and in the Israel picture two tall smokestacks are visible (very faint just to the left of the Star of David).

This puzzle is cut in my Swirl Curl cutting style with small pieces. There is considerable color line cutting along the bottoms of three of the arches and a little bit elsewhere. Eggs pieces occasionally show up in my more elaborate Creative cutting style puzzles; appearances in my Swirl Curl style puzzles are fairly infrequent.

As for Caesaria, Israel, Michael wrote:

At the site of some of the most extensive ruins excavated in Israel, ancient Roman arches from Herod's time frame the towers of the country's only power plant for a stark juxtaposition of old and new. Note the difference in textures between the original masonry of the ruins and the portions that have been reconstructed, where modern mortar is evident.

Printed by Continental Litho on Recycled Paper.