As it happened (from my Journal archives)

August 25, 2009

Tuesday 5:40 pm - I'm moving up the K. Chin puzzle as the next puzzle. It will be a small 8" x 10", titled Beyond the Rainbow. This will a Swirl Curl with about 200 pieces with a few figurals. I'll easily have this puzzle done by Friday.

August 26, 2009

Wednesday 6:53 pm - Meanwhile I mounted #828, Beyond the Rainbow late this morning. I plan to start cutting tomorrow and finish it by Friday at the latest. Auction will will start Saturday.

August 27, 2009

Thursday 5:51 pm - It was just too hot to go to the shop today, inland temperatures were in the 105-110 range, breaking a bunch of records. I do plan to cut Beyond the Rainbow tomorrow even though the heat is forecasted to last one more day - I'll get up very early. My camera memory card is not accessible at the moment; I'll have the in-progress picture of #829 here tomorrow.

August 28, 2009

Friday 6:39 pm - I'm renaming Custom Puzzle Craft to Boiler Room Puzzles! Well, not really, but today the thought did occur to me. I arrived at the shop at 7:45 am to beat the heat. Was nice and cool outside and "just" 77 in the shop. Not for long. Many inlands records were tied or broken again by a few degrees today. By 11am it was already 100 outside, and the shop reached that at about the same time. As I was determined to complete #828, Beyond the Rainbow, I put up with very hot conditions for about three hours beyond that, completing the puzzle around 2pm. I think it got up to about 102 outside today and was about 105 inside when I left, the hottest I've ever seen inside there. A few years ago I recall it being 107 outside for a while. Fortunately the heat was a dry heat; I had to drink lots of water. Everything was warm to the touch! Two fans helped a little.

Beyond the Rainbow came out looking very good. The puzzle is small, about 8" x 10" with about 210 Swirl Curl style pieces. I'll have a count tomorrow when I launch the auction. I rate this puzzle as "easy" to assemble. The Pegasus is completely color line cut. There are two "classic" figurals for this K. Chin puzzle: a Twirl Star and Spiral Love Heart.

August 29, 2009

Saturday 7:18 pm - Auction launched. Final piece count: 217.

Last night I saw an impressive shooting star. It wasn't even dark yet, the sun had set but the sky was still bright. I was driving northwest and a point of light, at least as bright as a brilliant Venus moved ahead of me in the same direction as I was going, moving rapidly towards towards the horizon, leaving a thin white trail like a spiderweb strand, then flashing very bright for a second and then disappearing. The whole thing lasted about 3 seconds and the trail was visible for about a minute. I later checked Twitter and a bunch of people up in the L.A. area saw it too.

From the auction description:

This small puzzle, Beyond the Rainbow, features for the 34th and last time within the 100 Puzzles Project, a print by the late K. Chin, the artist most featured within the Project. My Project is at long last in the "final 10 countdown" and I'm continuing to close some doors on the kinds of puzzles I'm featuring within the Project!

I have enjoyed discovering K. Chin's works and besides offering puzzles using his prints, I've developed a nice collection of his prints along with some original paintings.

This puzzle has 217 pieces, cut in my Swirl Style. There are two figurals, a Twirl Star and a Spiral Love Heart. I chose these figurals as I have featured them quite a few times in prior K. Chin puzzles. The outline of the Pegasus is completely color line cut. This puzzle includes my standard signature piece (signed, dated and numbered on the back) and a second piece (the Twirl Star) marked on the back indicating the puzzle belongs to the 100 Puzzles Project. I rate this puzzle as being easy to assemble as there are many distinctive areas of color.

100 Puzzles Project - K. Chin History
2000: #2 Green Dragon, #3 We Have to Believe in Rainbows, #5 Large King Owl, #7 Imperial Silver Dragon
2001: #9 Wait... I'll be right back..., #11 There is a Unicorn in my Garden, #13 In the Beginning, There Were Unicorns, #16 The Noble Gathering
2002: #18 The Captive Unicorn, But Not Really, #21 Happy Flower Owl
2003: #25 Happiness is a Unicorn, #28 Unicorn with Gems, #32 The Inquisitive Owl
2004: #36 Mini - Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach
2005: #43 Mini - Peacock Garden, #44 Mini - Let's go over to the Monterey Peninsula, #45 Mini - The Friendly Otter Family, #46 Mini - The Friendly Otters
2006: #50 Red Flowers, #52 Koala Bear, #55 Tiger, #60 Enchanted Jungle - The Lion
2007: #62 Koala Bear with Flowers, #63 The Colorful Owl, #66 Poker Playing Dogs - Gotta Leave, #70 Poker Playing Dogs - Where'd It Go?, #72 Poker Playing Dogs - Got Something for You!
2008: #74 Poker Playing Dogs - The Big Bet!, #76 I'll Make You a Rainbow, #78 The Antiques Store, #80 Not Everyone Can See A Unicorn, #81 Panda-Monium, #83 Chrysanthemums Oriental
2009: #92 Beyond the Rainbow

Note: I cut my jigsaw puzzles using a scroll saw, hand guiding the wood into the blade, this is not a laser or water jet cut puzzle. No templates was used for this puzzle, except to cut the figurals and signature piece. My puzzles cover fantasy, landscapes, my geometric patterns, wood art, famous paintings, mythology - a diverse spectrum of the human condition and more.