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Image of the day – 175

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

My Sister, Rachael decided she wanted to learn to make traditional wooden jigsaws and bought a power scroll saw to learn the skills and processes involved. Having mastered the process she asked me for a clear photo of the lion picture I made in 1969. I had to take the picture out of the frame to avoid reflections in the image. I also had to adjust the image shape in GIMP to correct the geometry, and I increased the contrast to bring the black and white parts of the image closer to the way they originally appeared. Rachael used my image file to get the lion picture printed on plywood ready for cutting. She didn’t tell me she was making the jigsaw as a gift for me, so it was a lovely surprise when she handed the pieces over in a decorative container. I’m so impressed that Rachael has learned to design and cut jigsaws. She is also restoring old jigsaws, cutting replacement pieces if they are missing and lost. She even paints the new pieces to match the rest of the puzzle when necessary. So clever!

With the help of my wife, daughters and grandchildren, I was able to put the puzzle together during a recent holiday in the Lake District. A jigsaw is a family tradition for us every year, we usually do a 1000-piece, commercial cardboard puzzle but I’d say the lion was rather more difficult. Today’s image shows the completed jigsaw.

The jigsaw of life

Life is sometimes a bit like doing a jigsaw. Nothing seems to fit at first, but once you have some pieces in place it begins to get easier as you recognise more pieces with just that shade of colour or a similar texture. It takes a long time, but you get there in the end. Perseverance is necessary to complete a jigsaw, that’s another thing that’s true in life, you have to persevere; giving up is not an option. Attention to detail is crucial for a successful outcome.

Can you think of other parallels between jigsaw building and life? If so, drop me a line in the comments section below.

Two short videos about cutting the jigsaw

The two videos below show my very clever sister, Rachael, working on the jigsaw. In the first one she talks briefly about the cutouts and little lion shapes (or ‘whimsies’ to use the proper jigsaw terminology). You can see these clearly if you look at the photo at the top of the article. The second video shows a small extract of the cutting process.

Techie video

A techie maths video all about jigsaws and the number of pieces in each, picture shape ratios, piece shape ratios, probably far more than you want to know. None of it applies to the Lion jigsaw as that’s hand cut, each piece is unique and there are no rows or columns.

See also:

• Bob Armstrong’s Old Jigsaw Puzzles – Webpage
• British Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Group – Facebook group
• Hand-Made Artistic Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles – Armstrong puzzles
• Jigasaurus, The – Website
• Scroll saws – Google search
• Wooden jigsaws – Google search

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