After making 15 puzzles for the 2012 Pagey Elliot Jigsaw Puzzle Cutter Exchange (see 853-687), I received word that more puzzles needed to be made because more puzzle cutters than the original 14 signed up to participate in the Exchange to be held in Salem MA in July 2012. Of the 15 I had made, 14 were to be exchanged, and one for me to keep or sell. After initially deciding not to make any additional puzzles I changed my mind and made more. The 15th puzzle was added to the Exchange pile and I made eight more in a second batch with one for me and one to sell. Later I decided to make a third batch consisting of three more, all to sell. As things turned out, one of the puzzle cutters dropped out, meaning that of the 26 total puzzles I made, the first 20 were for Exchange, 2 were for me to keep (#1.21 and #1.22) and 4 were to sell (#1.23-1.26). Of the 4 earmarked for selling, I ended up selling three in Salem, MA and I gave away one as a gift (#1.23).

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

June 9, 2012

Saturday 4:51 PM - I've changed my mind about the puzzles I'm making for the Puzzle Parley's puzzle cutter's exchange. I had made 14, plus one for myself, then received word that the door was closed to joining the exchange after a total of 21 puzzle cutters joined. This meant that seven cutters would not be receiving my puzzles in the exchange. I had said I would not make seven more as it took me almost 2 weeks to make the ones that I did and I just didn't feel up to the effort to make yet another seven, also this would push back my production work again! As I'm focused on wrapping up all committed puzzle work this year, I've decided to throw in the task of making seven more of the puzzle cutter "Creative Showcase" puzzles for the puzzle cutter exchange. Mainly, I don't want to face a chance of long time puzzle cutter friends really wanting my work and not getting one while some newbie puzzle cutters end up getting one. This way, everyone will get one.

June 11, 2012

Monday 4:27 PM - I thought I was going to start working on the seven additional puzzle cutter exchange puzzles today but did not get to it. Tomorrow I'll start early and put in a substantial marathon, as I'd like to get them done by the end of this coming weekend.

Monday 10:33 PM - I've decided to add the puzzle cutter exchange puzzles at the top of the Puzzle Queue. I'll get the cutting done for these before I start cutting the customer puzzles in the Queue. The cutting will take around three days. Then when I'm painting them, I can start work on Moss Garden Bridge (now puzzle #881) while waiting for paint to dry! I'll be making cutter exchange eight puzzles, seven for the other cutters and now one to sell at the Parley. So the grand total will be 21 for the cutters, one for myself and one to sell during the Puzzle Sales period. Currently there are 14 done for the cutters and the one for myself.

June 12, 2012

Tuesday 5:51PM - I was at the shop for about 4 1/2 hours this afternoon and cut two of the eight additional Puzzle Cutter Exchange Puzzles (Creative Showcase numbers #16 & #17) and overall puzzle numbers #873 and #874. These will be painted after I cut the remaining six later this week. This was my first cutting since May 6th..... cutting was a little slow at first but I got into the groove as I went along. Of course these puzzles contain the same 11 elements as in the first 15, and as will the remaining six.

June 13, 2012

Wednesday 7:28 PM - In a fairly long day of work (about six hours at the saw), I cut three more of the eight additional Puzzle Cutter Exchange Puzzles (Creative Showcase numbers #18, #19 and #20) and overall puzzle numbers #875, #876 and #877. Cutting went well. However, I hit a major void in #19 in the lower right area without structural damage. I'll attempt repairs prior to painting. If the repairs aren't nearly perfect, this will be the puzzle I'll keep for myself, the cut itself is quite good. Number 20 had a difficult moment as I made the initial spiral-in for the "Same Direction Whirl Curl" rather tight, requiring that I cut very tight curls on the way out - harrowing and delicate but came out fine! Probably a tall order to cut the remaining three tomorrow (three is a lot of work!), I will certainly have them done by Friday. Painting will take place over the weekend.

June 14, 2012

Thursday 8:11 PM - I was at the shop for most of the afternoon and completed two more of the eight additional Puzzle Cutter Exchange Puzzles (Creative Showcase numbers #21 and #22) and overall puzzle numbers #878 and #879. I thought both of the works were brilliant and how fantastic this stuff is! Maybe I'm exaggerating but cutting went well. Chipped a piece on #22 while sanding, I'll see if I can repair it before painting. As I have just one more to go in this series I may get some painting in tomorrow after I get the last one done. But before I can start painting, I have to carefully inspect all eight and remove any whiskers so that there won't be problems while painting, plus I need to repair the pieces affected by the void in #19. Number #21 had some phenomenal stuff, the Tread Gear came out fantastic. I'm giving these things away?

The "Same Direction Whirl Curl" in #22 has 15 curl sections. In all of the others (#1 through #21) this element has anywhere from 11 to 13, why this one came out so dense I don't know, but it is pretty cool.

I received a response from Inkjet Art this morning. They apologized for screwing up the shipment and credited me the cost of the two day shipment and set they would overnight it. So I should receive the ink tomorrow. If so, then I can get the printing for puzzles #881 and #882 done over the weekend enabling me to start cutting on Monday.

Thursday 9:22 PM - Cool free hand cut piece (the Tread Gear "Embellishment" piece) from the 21st puzzle of the Puzzle Cutter Exchange (Creative Showcase) series:.

Friday 5:14 PM - Today I did the void repairs on #19 and the chip-out repair on #22, both repairs went very well. Then I cut the last of the new batch of 2012 Puzzle Parley Pagey Elliot Cutter Exchange Puzzles - Creative Showcase #23 and overall puzzle number #880. I struggled with it a bit but the puzzle came out well. Tomorrow I'll prepare the new eight puzzles for painting and then begin painting. I plan to complete the work over the weekend. I'll still need to purchase boxes for the eight puzzles and make labels. Also, all of the labels for the first 15 need to be corrected as they are labelled "1 of 15", "2 of 15", etc. I'll just white-out the "of xx" part as the labels do not come off easily at all.

June 16, 2012

Saturday 8:17 PM - Huge long paint marathon at my shop today, did over half the work. Overall went well, had a few mess ups which required redoing. If there is a lot of sun tomorrow like today, I should complete the work.

Scenes from today:

June 17, 2012

Sunday 5:07 PM - After five days of work the second batch of Puzzle Cutter Exchange puzzles are done. Well not completely -I still need to inspect and touch up the paint as needed, scan the puzzles and create a second poster, purchase boxes, count the pieces and do the labels. All of this will be done gradually over the next week or so. I'm going to take a couple days off (car will be trapped in garage anyway as street paving will be happening Monday and Tuesday and finding outside parking will be a major hassle).

June18, 2012

Monday 4:09 PM - Today, while I took off from the shop, I did end up spending a lot of time on puzzle work, carefully inspecting all of the pieces of the eight Puzzle Parley puzzles made in the past week. Six pieces need repainting. Here is a picture of #23, shown in a larger size than usual for detail (all are 5x5"):

Final piece counts for the second batch: 32, 30, 34, 33, 33, 34, 34 and 33. The counts for the first 15 were: 30, 30, 30, 32, 34, 31, 33, 32, 32, 31, 34, 34, 31, 32 and 32.

Interval between the second batch of Creative Showcase puzzles (#1.16 through 1.23) and the third batch (1.24 through 1.26)

July 8, 2012

Sunday 3:29 PM - Later in the week I expect to begin work on three more of the 2012 Pagey Elliot Jigsaw Puzzle Cutter Exchange puzzles - these will be offered for sale during the "Puzzle Sales" period, not for exchange as I've already made the Exchange puzzles. I've now added these three puzzles to the Puzzle Queue. After the Puzzle Parley there will be a dramatic drop off in the pace of my puzzle work as I will go to making about one puzzle per month until the Puzzle Queue is completed.

July 12, 2012

Thursday 5:48 PM - I'm continuing my intense puzzle schedule [after completing the Creative Art with Tree Tricky Eggs puzzle]. Today I was at the shop for about nine hours. In about six hours of work with lunch break I cut all three of the additional 2012 Pagey Elliott Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange (Creative Showcase) puzzles, and afterwards sanded and vacuumed them, then started to paint them. I'm about 20% finished with the painting. Tomorrow I'll resume painting and may get the work done if the sun comes out to help with drying (cloudy today, even had sprinkles). Because I went right into the painting phase, I do not have scanned images of the works prior to painting.

Edit August 9, 2012 - I did have some photos (not scans) of the puzzles after they were cut - the quality was not that high and the color of the wood off. I've converted the images to the format of the others I've displayed, here they are:

July 13, 2012

Friday 11:26 PM - Today I did two trips to the shop and very nearly completed the painting of three additional 2012 Pagey Elliott Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange puzzles that I'll bring to the Puzzle Parley for sale. Just a few pieces to go and I'll be done. Will complete the work tomorrow morning and I'll have pictures later in the day.

July 14, 2012

Saturday 2:40 PM - This morning I mounted #887 Happiness (the remake of #882), and a short while ago I completed the painting of the Puzzle Exchange (Creative Showcase) puzzles. My next task it to get all of the Puzzle Exchange puzzles boxed, labeled (or re-labeled) and ready for the Puzzle Parley. I plan to start cutting #887 tomorrow.

Final piece counts for the 24th, 25th and 26th Creative Showcase puzzles: 34, 34 [edit: corrected to 33] and 33.

Saturday 5:52 PM - Whoops! I see I forgot to post the pictures of the three additional Creative Showcase puzzles! Here they are:

July 18, 2012

Wednesday 8:59 PM - Still working to get the "Creative Showcase" puzzles ready for the Parley. The 25th puzzle of the series, Puzzle #885 has 33 pieces, not 34.

I came up with a naming system whereby all puzzles are name "Creative Showcase #1.xx" where xx is from 01 through 26. The first 20 puzzles also had the words "2012 Pagey Elliott Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange" as a subtitle. I had to purchase new boxes for first 15 as I couldn't get the old labels off (the old labels made a reference to "xx of 15", assuming there were just 15 puzzles to the first series), the new numbering scheme is open ended.

July 23, 2012

Monday 7:21 PM - I returned home to San Diego from the Puzzle Parley several hours ago.

The Puzzle Parley was excellent! A number of new cutters and a wide variety of works! I went to open houses at John Cabot's and at Frank and Jeanne Speizer's, excellent collections at both locations. My main complaint is that the Parley went so fast; there were many puzzle cutters and collectors with whom I had short hellos, so little time to interact! None-the-less I enjoyed the contact with those of whom I did! I will be reviewing and updating my Wooden Puzzle Makers section with puzzle makers currently absent there.

The 2012 Pagey Elliott Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange was a huge success. My "Creative Showcase" puzzles were well received and I won, by one vote, the "Cutter's Choice" award from the puzzle cutters who participated in the exchange. Melinda Shebell of Jardin Puzzles won the at-large award from the other attendees. The award was a blue ribbon puzzle cut by noted puzzle historian and collector, Anne Williams. Melinda Shebell of Jardin Puzzles designed the image.

Thanks to the exchange, I now have 20 diverse wooden jigsaw puzzles from other puzzle cutters, I'll be putting these together in the coming days and maybe picking up some tips or leads on how to improve my own work!

Liberty puzzles did the keynote on Saturday evening and then held a puzzle assembly contest afterwards with people forming groups of three or four to assemble identical puzzles. My group, with Ginda Fisher and a guy whose name neither Ginda or I can remember won by a few minutes! Prize was a nice Liberty puzzle (laser cut). If anyone knows the name of the guy, please contact me.

I'm happy to say the four Geometric Pattern puzzles I made for the show were sold as well as the extra Creative Showcase puzzles. I also decided to place for sale my landmark Creative style puzzle cut in 2005, Salvador Dali's Last Supper Puzzle at what I felt was a fair price given its historical value yet used condition. I still feel this is one of the best puzzles I ever made and I'm happy it has a home with a major collector.

I do not have a good sense for how sales went elsewhere in the show, I hope to find out in the coming days.

And a big thank you to the organizers of the show!