Jigsaw puzzle development
Jigsaw puzzles are an unusual yet enduring pastime and have an interesting history. Originally, wooden jigsaw puzzles were manufactured as early as the middle of the 18th century in England and, because they were cut by saw, did not fit very well and did not have standard puzzle shapes. A wooden board with a picture painted on it would be clamped and a jigsaw used to saw the picture into odd shaped pieces. Although the jigsaw would be able to cut precisely there would still be sawdust which would mean parts of the image would be lost and the assembled puzzle would fit together loosely.
It is difficult to accurately determine the circumstances whereby someone decided to cut up a perfectly good picture into small puzzle pieces only to re-assemble them as a completed jigsaw puzzle. Historically, painting on wood goes back over a thousand years and even dates to Roman times when the deceased often had their likenesses painted onto their coffin lids
It is worth noting that old fashioned world maps are a very popular theme of puzzle hobbyists due to John Spilsbury. Around 1760 Spilsbury, a London mapmaker, started up the commercial enterprise of jigsaw puzzles. Spilsbury’s world maps were introduced to school age children as a collection of cut up shapes painted onto wood. By assembling the puzzles, country by country, children would be able improve their geographic knowledge.
Although the countryside panorama is still a mainstay of the puzzle producer’s catalog, cityscapes such as the New York skyline, are also very fashionable. As an alternative to the abundance of photographed themes, Gibsons Puzzles focus primarily on using original hand painted pictures of English life from the last two hundred years from farm life to Victorian Christmas scenes to British automobile dioramas from the 1950′s. There is a puzzle enthusiast for every jigsaw puzzle no matter how challenging. Adult puzzles start from 250 piece puzzles with the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle being the most popular. There are even all white puzzles for the most committed jigsaw puzzle hobbyist. Despite their high cost, there is still a demand for wooden puzzles.
Today’s jigsaw puzzles today are, for the most part, made of a high density cardboard known as greenboard. They are fully interlocking which means that once fitted together a section of connected pieces will hold together tightly. The board has an image printed onto it and the sheet is then passed through a press with a puzzle die in between that exerts over 200 tons of pressure to ensure a clean, uniform and fully interlocking cut. The puzzle pieces are small and tricky and require a strategy in order to assemble them: perfect for the puzzle hobbyist and his or her puzzle skills.
No two puzzle pieces in close proximity should be the same shape. There are 14 basic jigsaw puzzle piece shapes that range from pieces with four knobs to the zero knob pieces which will have four indentations. There is every permutation in between, e.g. three knobs to one indentation, etc. Shapes can vary in basic structure from square to oblong again employing the complete range of knob/ indentations. 1000 piece puzzles are actually made up of 1026 pieces and are the best selling jigsaw size.
A good puzzle strategy would be to line up the same shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces with the same orientation allowing you to compare puzzle shapes more easily. When it comes down to trial and error, this also allows you to try the jigsaw puzzle pieces in sequence. Jigsaw puzzle pieces can be similar in basic shape, at least along two or three of the sides, and can often be put into the wrong place, especially when dealing with solid colours. To remove the distraction of the picture, turn the jigsaw puzzle pieces over and study the puzzle pieces from the back without the puzzle picture as a distraction. It will then be easier to see if the puzzle pieces fit together or not.
The 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle is the most popular jigsaw puzzle size. Catering to the most extreme puzzle enthusiast, puzzle companies make puzzles which have 24,000 pieces. They are over 5 feet high and over 14 feet wide and can occupy a puzzle team up to twelve months. The puzzle hobbyist can hone his or her puzzle skills in competition where contests are conducted by jigsaw puzzle manufacturers and prizes for the fastest puzzle assembly. It would take a competitor about an hour to make a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
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