As it happened (from my Journal archives)

April 20, 2009

Monday 12:40 pm - Next month's 100 Puzzles Project puzzle will be Space Shuttle Triptych. This puzzle will be about 25.6" by 10" in size and feature three photos of various Space Shuttles: Space Shuttle Atlantis launching on 9/13/2006, Space Shuttle Columbia prior to the initial shuttle launch on April 12, 1981 and Space Shuttle Discovery launching on July 24, 2005. The photos were published by NASA, courtesy of us tax payers, and thus are in the public domain. The collage is my design. I plan to make this puzzle in the coming week. I was going to cut the puzzle in Long Round with a few Creative style pieces, I've now decided that I'll cut this one in Swirl Curl - there may be some color line cutting. Preliminary projected piece count: about 600.

April 22, 2009

Wednesday 11:19 pm - Yesterday I went to my shop and prepared the board for #825, Space Shuttle Triptych. On Monday, a temperature record extending back more than 100 years was broken with the very hot weather we had, San Diego reached 98. The Amaryllis at Mixed Media which had just started to bloom was a bit burned by the heat. I soaked everything while I was there. Much, much cooler today.

Tomorrow I'll print and mount the image for puzzle #825, Space Shuttle Triptych - the May eBay puzzle.

April 25, 2009

Saturday 2:57 pm - On Thursday I shipped #824 and printed the image for #825, Space Shuttle Triptych - the May eBay puzzle. Yesterday I mounted the print, and this morning inspected it: "all systems go", a perfect mount. A short while ago I designed a figural set for the puzzle: mostly rockets and space capsules. I'm still thinking about how I want to do the border for the puzzle, may end up being regular straight edged. Cutting will start on Monday.

April 26, 2009

Sunday 6:06 pm - Wrapped up the design of the figural set for #825, Space Shuttle Triptych, adding an International Space Station figural and a telescope figure based on an a picture of an old Edmund Scientific 4.25" telescope I once had. I have decided that the edges of the puzzle will be plain straight edges. Cutting starts tomorrow.

April 27, 2009

Monday 10:07 pm - Puzzle cutting for #825, Space Shuttle Triptych, is now underway. I placed the figural templates and did some initial cutting. I plan to put in a long day of cutting tomorrow and finish the puzzle on Wednesday. I've upped the projected piece count from 600 to 700. While I was at Mixed Media, my time was interrupted by plumbing problems in the bathroom (very cranky toilet with sticky float and problematic stopper chain); I also had to coax another trapped bird out of the main building.

Swine flu big news locally as there have been some cases nearby, nearest case about 10 miles from Mixed Media. Hopefully this event will turn out to be overblown..... we'll see.

April 28, 2009

Tuesday 6:36 pm - Rather long day at Mixed Media today. I completed the initial cutting, did the borders, cut all the figurals and then cut around 110 pieces or so. Another flood from the toilet took more time, sigh. I've shut off the water and have initiated action to have the whole thing replaced as a detailed investigation of the works showed six ways that the toilet can fail, plus one of our elderly members has wanted a "chair toilet", so this is what we are going to get installed.

Some of the figures for #825, Space Shuttle Triptych are impressive [picture in auction section].

The last 15 puzzles of the 100 Puzzles Project have been won by the same person! This is an incredible streak. It is getting that when I make a puzzle for the Project, I know it is going to go to the same person. Of course I am going to continue the project until it is done (only 12 more to go including this puzzle).

April 29, 2009

Wednesday 6:09 pm - Marathon day at the shop. I cut around 350 pieces and have around 240 to go. Cutting is going very well - I'm really enjoying looking at the pictures of the shuttles and thinking what a magnificent thing it was to design, build and launch these things. The shuttle photos have really nice resolution. I'll have detailed pictures of the puzzle when I'm done. I expect to complete the puzzle tomorrow and launch the auction Friday afternoon.

April 30, 2009

Thursday 6:42 pm - Another long day at the shop. Puzzle #825, Space Shuttle Triptych is done - cutting, sanding and tung oiling, an excellent puzzle. Tomorrow I'll take the official photos, take apart the puzzle and count the pieces, and start the auction later in the day.

Karim came by today at Mixed Media and fixed the main troublesome mechanism in the toilet - it helps that he is a professional plumber!

From the auction description: (with corrections):

This month's auction features a spectacular collage of Space Shuttle photos taken by NASA. Various websites published these photos, most notably, NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive, which is where I obtained the three photos used here, over the years.

The Space Shuttle is one of the most impressive, complicated machines ever built and has contributed immensely to our knowledge of the universe, for example in the launching and the subsequent maintenance of the great Hubble Telescope and in building the International Space Station. Space Shuttle Triptych celebrates the Space Shuttle, presenting pictures of three of the five Space Shuttles built.

This puzzle is one of the most flawless puzzles I've ever cut. The three images are cut as a single puzzle, there is no color line cutting. The edges are mostly directly interlocking with a few indirects here and there. The puzzle has is 714 pieces, with density of around 2.78 pieces per square inch, a bit larger than my "small" size of 3 per square inch and smaller than my "regular" size of 2 per square inch. This puzzle 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.

Puzzle 825, Signature Piece and Figural Set