Nothing But Blue Sky

I do indeed like doing puzzles, but they often come to the same conclusion.  I quickly assemble the edges (Sheldon Cooper would be so proud), and sort the sky, sky and land, and land parts.  Then I assemble the edges where the sky and land meet.  Then I fill in the land parts.

Then I am left with the sky.

The Blue sky.

As you can see, I might have left the daunting part for last.  Actually, there is no "might" about it.  I have left the most daunting part last.  If not for clouds and sky gradation, I would have to try each piece in each part.  No, that's not true. I would have to try half the parts (the vertical versus the horizontal parts) in each spot.

As for this puzzle, also another dollar store find, it was of much better quality than the last one.  It was a little more challenging to assemble, but that is probably a good thing.  I also appreciated being able to use the box bottom as a sorting tray--something I was not able to do in the last puzzle.

I think this is my last puzzle for the foreseeable future--but who knows.

A Quick Puzzle Before Christmas

Despite being the king (oops, I meant jack) of all hobbies, I have to admit, I haven 't done a lot of hobby related things lately.  I could blame the weather, or I could blame myself and the fall TV schedule.  Either way, I haven't had a lot to write about.

I have been writing my other blog, whose links you can find on the right side of this page under the title "cool blogs".  Mine is called Today's Perfect Moment.  I have been putting a lot of energy there and have grown a rather large community in a short time.  There seems to be a lot more cross blogging done there and the page is set up to encourage followers.

HOBBY HAPPENINGS

While I haven't done a lot, I have done some things.  Most recently, I got the itch to do a puzzle.  Maybe it is because I associate puzzles with Christmas.  I am surprised that no one gives these things as stocking stuffers anymore.  Knowing how addicting that can be, I really wasn't in the mood to tackle a monster 5000 piece puzzle.  I also didn't want to spend a lot of money.  What was my answer...the dollar store of course.

I found a couple of decent puzzles at the dollar store (Dollar Tree in this case) and purchased them for $1.25 each.  Even with Canadian tax, that still brought in two puzzles for less than $3.

I spent a couple of nights on the first one.  There seems to be no deterioration in my puzzle building skills and I was able to do it rather quickly.  Of course, that first night, I did the usual "just one more piece before I go to bed" thing, and wound up spending a hour or more when I should have been sleeping.  This probably was to the detriment of my students but I didn't actually yawn while teaching.

The puzzle wasn't the best quality.  The fit was a little loose and it came apart a couple of times.  Some pieces still had untrimmed edges (there seemed to be extra paper at the bottom layer of some of the pieces) and one was a little crumpled.  However, it only cost $1.25, so I can't get tremendously angry about that.

When I lived in Japan, I bought frames and puzzle glue for the puzzles.  However, these days, now that I have finished, I will probably take it apart and give it to someone else to do.

Limits

When I tell people I have a lot of hobbies they mostly ask what they are and leave it at that.  The more adventurous ones might wonder how I can afford it.  Funny though, no one wonders where I keep it all.

I have written a couple of blogs about storage, but that's common to all hobbyists.  We've all got tools and supplies and various other equipment.  It takes up space, but most of that is "out of the way" or stuffed into a closet.  There is always room for that stuff.  What nobody really stops to consider is what do you do with the finished products.

If you have a hobby that results in some finished product, you might want to display it.  In some cases you've got to display it.  Sure, you can give some of it away--some people do crafts that turn into Christmas presents.  But, how many times do your family and friends want that stuff?  If it is a quilt, you probably don't mind having six or seven of them, but how many wool sweaters do you want?  How many hooked rugs do you need?  How many paint by numbers can adorn your walls?

Okay, some of these crafts are beautiful.  Hence the reason I wrote that you've got to display them.  Sometimes these crafts are so integral to your life that everyone expects to see them on display at your house.  No problem there.

I, Jack of all hobbies, however, have so many hobbies, and do not often produce things of display quality.  What do I do then?

Limits.  I have limits.  There are only so many of one thing that I can have before it needs to get pared down.  If I make a good car model, it usually displaces a model I am less happy with (though some parts end up in the parts box for that diorama I am going to do someday).  I've only go so much shelf space, and the better models make the bad ones look rather poor.

New magazines displace old ones--or more likely, deluxe editions of books put out by these magazine publishers displace the magazines.  Realizing that they had me paying twice, I read the magazines at the library and only buy the books....but this is a topic for another day.

Train stuff....well, I can always make more room for train stuff.  I am into N scale, and that doesn't really take up  a lot of room.....besides, you've got to have priorities, and you've got to rationalize.

Take my latest puzzle.  I did it because I liked trains.  I thought about putting it up over in the room where there will be a train...but then I realized that wall space was at a premium, and I had already done a couple of other train puzzles that I thought were better than this one.  So what could I do?  Despite my pack rat nature, I am going to pass this puzzle off to someone else who will have to figure out what to do with it once they are done.

Thoughts on puzzles

Puzzles are not everyone's favourite hobby, but I always find time to do a few a year.  The fact that trains are often featured in puzzles is a bonus.  I wouldn't call it killing two birds with one stone.  That's silly.  I would call it synergistic....but that's probably because I was an English major and I need to utilize that expensive (albeit subsidized by the government) vocabulary.

standard assembly...edges first

Puzzles are a pretty solitary hobby with me.  I have known others who treat it as a family activity, but that isn't the case with me.  Perhaps it's selfish.  Either way, the best thing about puzzles is that you can easily see your progress, and more often than not, you do reach completion--which is not always the case with my other hobbies.

If I am lucky, I can put it in a place where the cat won't disturb it and work on it from time to time.  I don't usually put in big chunks of time unless I get sucked in by fitting lots of pieces, or because I should go to bed...and I keep telling myself, "just one more piece."  In these cases, I seem to devote a lot more time to it.

I am a typical puzzle maker....I think.  I start by assembling the edges first.  That seems logical, but I wonder...is there someone out there who starts in the middle and works their way to the edges?  That would be pretty cool to see.

assembling the train is a priority

Since most of my puzzles feature trains, the train gets assembled first.  The worst thing is that I am usually left with sky, and lots of it.  This isn't bad if you're doing the puzzle under natural light, but under a light bulb differentiating light blue from lighter blue isn't so easy.  This latest puzzle was rather odd in that I got the sky done before the mountains.  No complaints, but it just isn't the way things have been going lately.

not just sky left...this time

I happy it is done, and I won't be doing another puzzle until September or later....It's funny how I think I can plan these things, when I know that's not true.  I'll do a puzzle when my fancy strikes me, not when I plan it.  I could have a hundred other projects before I see another puzzle.

You Get What You Pay For

 

I would never say no to a bargain.  Who doesn't love a good deal?  In my hobby life, I have come across some great deals.  Once I got a fantastic Ford Fairlane model kit for two dollars (I bought 3....because there were 3 customizing options).  Twice (and despite the deals, I do find this to be sad) I came upon hobby stores that were having going out of business sales.  My latest find were some puzzles.  While these weren't $1 puzzles (which were a pretty good deal), they were on sale.  When I opened the box I understood why.

Maybe I should just stop complaining and call this a puzzle review.  Maybe then I could be more objective and less annoyed.  Either way, this puzzle leaves a lot to be desired.



a poor, but effective taping

In terms of packaging, I usually want to use the box top for something.  With car models, and puzzles (when I am not looking at the picture) I need the two box parts for sorting.  As you can see with this puzzle, this is going to require some work before that can happen.  My dollar store puzzles allowed me to use both box parts, why not this one?



I did what I had to do, and taped up the box.  Although this was neither time consuming nor money consuming, it still felt like an extra step that I did not want to take.  Usually unboxing something makes me pretty excited.  Based on my YouTube video of unboxing the Statue of Liberty kit in an earlier post (72 views as of today) it seems pretty cool to most of you out there as well.  This unboxing event left me a little cold.

a lot of my work done for me



Another annoying thing was the amount of already done pieces.  When I was a kid, I enjoyed this.  It meant less work for me.  However, as an adult, I feel a little cheated.  Usually there are only one or two already connected pieces, but there were quite a few more than that in this puzzle.  It isn't a big deal but.....



The box also contained quite a bit of box dust, or box debris.  I expect a little of this, but certainly not the amount that I got in this one.  Again, if I compare it to my dollar store purchases, those had less.

A lot of debris in the box.

Did I learn a lesson?  I would like to say yes, but only time will tell.  My instinct to purchase train themed things and to look for a good deal usually trumps the voice of caution.  I have gotten better at this, but I would be lying if I said I always took the high road.



If any of you have had similar get what you pay for experiences, please feel free to comment.  Maybe hearing it from you would make it finally sink in.

DONE

 

 

An unfinished jigsaw puzzle just seems to hang over my head.  I usually do them in the guest room so I don't have to look at them everyday.  In fact, I might even "forget" about it for a while, giving me some respite.

This time I opted for the dining room table, and paid for it.  Every day it nagged me.  Every day it harassed me.  It taunted and tested me.  Today, however, that taunting is over.  It is done, and now there are many more important things to do.  More housework, more studying, and occasionally more procrastination.

Puzzle Pieces Prompt Procrastination

Just one more piece.  These are the famous last words of anyone hooked on a jigsaw puzzle.  Okay, these aren't the last words, these are just the words that cause them trouble.  One more piece, then I will go to bed.  One more piece then I will make dinner.  One more piece and then I will... you get the idea.

It is funny how something so simple can cause so many problems.  Maybe that is precisely it.  It seems so simple, but that one moment of searching for a piece can turn into hours.

I remember once, a long time ago in a country far far away, I said to myself, just one more piece and then go to bed.  The next time I looked at the clock several hours had gone by and my eyes were stinging.  I guess that is just the way it is.  I guess that is just what puzzles do.

When Things Come Together

I like trains.  I like jigsaw puzzles.....can you see where this is going?  Call it luck, call it weird, call it whatever you want.  While browsing in the supermarket I came upon two puzzles with train themes.  They were on sale too, but that really isn't the point..... or is it?  No, the point is that I came across these puzzles, bought them, and now I am sharing them on this blog.  That's it.

unusual packaging

As you can see I am a edges first kind of puzzle builder.  I don't know why that is.  Everyone who I have ever done a puzzle with has always built them this way.  I have never scene a centre outwards builder.  I am not really even sure that such a person exists.  Maybe edges first just seems like something you do, and nobody questions it.  I guess you would either call it common sense, or logic, or an unwritten rule.  Regardless of what you think, this is the way I do it, and it seems to be working for me.



sort those edges

This puzzle had a few negative points right off the bat with me.  The box didn't really lend itself to my typical sort and sift method.  Normally I would use the top and the bottom of the box for this.  This particular box was not built for this, and I had to tape up the insert box and use a Rubbermaid container along with it.  The other problems with this puzzle is that too many of the pieces were still together from the initial assembly.  I find that rather frustrating. (I have a friend who considers that cheating--I won't go so far myself, but I can sympathize with his point).  The pieces also have a lot of cardboard dust attached to them, making it a slightly messy experience.  I guess I can see why it was on sale.  The puzzle also purports to be a "sure-lox" puzzle.  The last puzzle I built fit together so nicely that I could pick it up an wave it like a sheet.  I highly doubt that will be the case this time.  If, however, that turns out to be true, I will make a video of it and put it on YouTube.

Get those edges done first



Hopefully this puzzle will look good when it is finished, but who is to say for sure.  I think the theme is good, so I am looking forward to the result. 



The Completed Puzzle

Done, that is all I can say about my jigsaw puzzle adventure.  I enjoyed it, despite moments of frustration and, thanks to the heat in the room I was working, sweat.  I had great moments of accomplishment (getting all the sky or snow done) and moments of great aggravation when I couldn't locate a piece I was looking for.  Either way, it is done now.

A friend commented that it wasn't a particularly hard puzzle--he may be right, but not having done one for years, it seemed hard enough to me.

As far as accomplishments go, this one doesn't rate very high.  It was fun, but since it isn't a primary hobby I can't really jump for joy.  In addition, what am I going to do with it now?  Most likely, soon after finishing this blog, I will take it apart, put all of it (hopefully) back in the box and give it away to somebody who would appreciate doing it. I don't have room to keep it (though I do have a large bottle of puzzle glue, so I could keep it--but it isn't about trains, or Japan, so ..... not likely going to happen.)

The same friend who watered down my accomplishment said that he hates completing jigsaw puzzles, that there is in fact a kind of melancholy associated with it.  I can't really agree, but I understand where that feeling comes from.  I experience it with good books, or even watching the final episode in a TV series that I have followed.  In this case, though, I was pretty happy to slam that last piece home.  I did it without ceremony, or pause to consider how final the act would be.  I was just happy to be done.  Now I can move onto something else.

the complete puzzle

One interesting thing about this puzzle that I should note is that it is very well constructed.  I was able to pick the thing up and wave it like a flag and it did not come apart.  That is pretty incredible.

Goodbye Zellers--thanks for the 1000 pieces of frustration

Needing a few Lego blocks (I needed a customizable right angle to ensure that a railroad building I am working on is actually square) I headed off to my local Zellers, only to discover that it is closing.

Farewell Zellers.  You've gone the way of Towers, Bargain Harold's, The BiWay and other Canadian retailers.  I will miss you.  When I got back into model cars after years away from the hobby it was Zellers that had that provided that car.  It was Zellers that supplied my first collection of paints and paintbrushes.  Come to think of it, I have bought more than my share of hobby paraphernalia there.  Puzzles, board games, camping gear, sports equipment, stuff with the Maple Leaf logo on it--all of them were bought at Zellers.

My trip there was not really nostalgic, nor fruitful.  The 30% sale ensured that there was very little Lego left.  I could have bought a huge box of Microblocks (not to be confused with Nanoblocks, but bearing more than a passing resemblance to Lego) but I really only needed about a dozen blocks.  In fact, there was quite a bit missing from the store, and I expect most of it to be gone by the end of the weekend.

I, of course, was not immune to the lure of a good sale and I bought some stuff.  As concerns this blog, I bought myself a jigsaw puzzle--1000 pieces of pure frustration--okay, not exactly true.  I imagine pure puzzle frustration to be something like a 5000 piece puzzle entitled whiteout.  I have started the puzzle, and I guess I am about 50% done.

maybe 50% done

This is not one of the deluxe Japanese puzzles I wrote about earlier.  However, at less than four dollars, it isn't a bad timewaster.  I looked at some other jigsaw puzzles of trains when I was at the train shop the other day, so I am sure I was influenced by that.  I thought about buying one that day, but it really wasn't in the budget and the subject matter was good because it was about trains, but not specifically the subject I was looking for.  I wish my Zellers purchase had been a train picture, but this was the best of the lot.

The remarkable thing I find about doing puzzles is how quickly you learn to spot patterns and minor differences between pieces.  In a couple of days this skill has been sharpened considerably.  The other remarkable thing is how much time can disappear when you are doing a puzzle.  The other night I decided to put in a "couple of pieces" before I went to bed.  Those couple of pieces turned into more than and hour and a half.  Good thing I am a night owl.

Project Update July

I haven't updated my hobby progress in a while.  This is probably due to a lack of progress.  I have done a few things, but I wouldn't call this a particularly productive summer for a hobbyist.  Of course, in Canada, the best indoor hobby time is winter.  When it is cold outside, unless your playing hockey or skiing (two very fine pursuits) then being outside either means that tough walk to the bus stop, the pull your kids up hill so they can slide down in 1/10th the time, or the dreaded driveway shovel.  Being cold outside provides the perfect opportunity to work on models, puzzles, the train, or something along those lines.

Lately here the weather has been rather warm and the flower garden has been demanding a lot of my attention.

Fear not, I have done some things.  First and foremost, I have committed myself to this blog.  The second thing is that I picked up (well, in fact I had Amazon send me) some new train books.  I have read quite of bit from each one and I am happy with the purchase.  The third thing I have done is get the bike tuned up so I can ride around and enjoy this weather.

Sadly, my tennis partner is relocating and I am afraid my game will fall off to nothing.

Truth be told, I have neglected my models, my trains (well, I got some books, and I have made a decision about my layout--but I will save that for another blog) and my Japanese study.  I have put off the Lego purchase.  I have spent time reading, but I have not quite gotten used to loading books on the e reader.

I finished my book of Codeword Puzzles (all 150 of them) and started my book of logic puzzles.

I am not worried, and I am not short of topics for this blog, so even if this officially becomes a lazy summer, I will still have a progress report for you in August.

A Puzzling Development

You've probably heard that old cliché that Japan takes something and makes it better.  While I am a big Japan fan (as you might have guessed from previous blogs) and I think Japan is much better at presenting me with hobby opportunities I don't buy into that cliché wholeheartedly.  Nonetheless, where jigsaw puzzles are concerned, they have made it better.

I know what you're thinking.  Ridiculous.  There are great jigsaw puzzles available in North America (and I suppose Europe--though I have never checked) so how could Japan possibly have made this better?

You're right.  They haven't made the jigsaw puzzle better.  It is still just a picture on cardboard.  The subject of them might be different (there are a lot of Mount Fuji puzzle pictures in Japan, and some fantastic Ukiyoe puzzles) but beyond that a puzzle is a puzzle.

What they have made better is the building of puzzles.  Maybe it is because they treat it more like a hobby, and less like a diversion.  This has been done in two ways.

Each puzzle usually contains the puzzle (of course) advertising for other puzzles, the ability to send away for a puzzle catalogue,  a service card that tells you how to resolve any problems that arise from missing pieces (quite ingenious actually--you have to trace out the piece and send it to them, and they will send you the piece you are missing), glue for making the puzzle permanent and a small sponge to apply the glue.  All and all, a pretty complete package.  They even have a point system whereby if you buy enough puzzles you can get one for free.

The other thing that they have done is make puzzles in standard sizes--a lot of standard sizes.  The result is that on the puzzle box they will print a number (like B6) which corresponds to a frame that will fit that puzzles-- and fit it well.  These frames are available at a reasonable price where you buy the puzzle.  What makes these frames useful is that they tray the puzzles sits on has a lip, so the pieces will stay in place, and can be used in the construction phase to keep everything together, and define height and width of the puzzle.

Granted, my experience with puzzles involves getting them from Zellers whenever I see one with a train theme, so maybe there is this kind of thing available here or in other countries, but Japan just seemed to make it easier.

I have done a couple of puzzles in Canada (as I mentioned, a CP train crossing a river in the prairies)  but it wasn't quite the same.  I have the glue, but no frame.  I want to put it in the train room (eventually) but I am not sure how that is going to work.

I have seen some high end puzzle at a game room store--I think we only have one in Canada.  The puzzles looked cool, but once again no frame.  I guess the internet will have to provide a solution for this too.