As it happened (from my Journal archives)

October 13, 2009

Tuesday 10:59 am - This morning I printed and mounted the image for this month's 100 Puzzles Project puzzle, Eucalyptus Sunrise. Later today I'll design the figurals. I plan to start cutting tomorrow and finish the puzzle on Thursday. Auction still scheduled to start Friday.

October 15, 2009

Thursday 11:40 pm - Amongst all of the Mixed Media work, cutting the puzzle, dance classes and general stuff I've had little time to attend to email, this log and numerous other things I want to get to. Anyway, I did start cutting #830, Eucalyptus Sunrise, on Wednesday, cutting about 130 pieces, much less than planned. Today with a lot more time to focus on the puzzle, I completed the cutting! Cutting came out excellent for a Long Round cutting style puzzle. I plan to launch the auction tomorrow afternoon, will have the official piece count then, likely to be a few more than 400 pieces.

The auction for #830, Eucalyptus Sunrise, the 94th puzzle of the 100 Puzzles Project will start late tomorrow afternoon. This is a companion puzzle to the 71st puzzle of the 100 Puzzles Project , puzzle #754, Balboa Park Sky. The picture for this puzzle was shot from the identical location about a year and a half earlier, my 7th story apartment balcony. Puzzle #754, the 71st of the 100 Puzzle Project, had 230 pieces, was 15" x 7 5/8" in size and went for $189.50 on eBay. Eucalyptus Sunrise with a higher piece count should do better. Eucalyptus Sunrise is similarly sized: 15 1/8" wide although a bit higher at 8 7/8".

October 16, 2009

Friday 6:38 pm - Auction launched. Final piece count 415.

November 2, 2009

Monday 7:05 pm - There were some repairs required to the panel above my shop door, I did that today. Also shipped Eucalyptus Sunrise, three large puzzle boxes for a customer in the U.K. who owned previously completed orders for puzzles which did not fit in my previously largest boxes and mailed an unsigned signature piece, and worked on more administrivia.

From the auction description:

This puzzle, Eucalyptus Sunrise, features for the 11th and last time within the 100 Puzzles Project, a print from a photograph I have taken of "Mostly Nature" subjects (one of the 11 puzzles featured a photo collage of the Puzzle Tree sculpture). This puzzle continues the "final 10 countdown" of the 100 Puzzle Project and I'm continuing to close some doors on the kinds of puzzles I'm featuring within the Project!

This puzzle was cut in my Long Round cutting style with 415 pieces, including four figurals: Hummingbird, Pellie the Pelican, Solar Tri-Star and a Halloween Witch. There is no color line cutting. The puzzle's straight edge border was cut with indirect interlocking edge pieces for the most part to make the puzzle harder to assemble. This picture for this puzzle was taken by me at sunrise, facing San Diego's Balboa Park from a balcony. In October, I sometimes hear the screams of children braving the commercially produced "Haunted Trail of Balboa Park", so I placed a flying witch figural in a dark area close to where the event takes place, even though the picture was taken in January. The overall dark area may produce a little "fear" amongst puzzlers, as this area will be harder to assemble than the rest of the puzzle.

This puzzle includes my standard signature piece (signed, dated and numbered on the back) and a second piece (the Hummingbird figural) marked on the back indicating the puzzle belongs to the 100 Puzzles Project. For this puzzle I used a 5-ply Finland Birch. There is one small chipout on the back. Overall I consider this puzzle to be a well cut example of my Long Round cutting style.

Note: The 71st puzzle of the 100 Puzzles Project, offered in October of 2007, is a companion puzzle, as the picture for that puzzle was taken from the identical location a year and a half earlier, facing a similar direction. I've included two pictures associated with that puzzle here:

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 my signature piece and the wavy border. My puzzles cover fantasy, landscapes, my geometric patterns, famous paintings, mythology - a diverse spectrum of the human condition and more.