# Love's Pilgrimage Puzzle



## chrispuzzle (21 Feb 2007)

Here is a new puzzle. This one is a Maxfield Parrish painting called "Love's Pilgrimage" part of a set of murals he painted for a rather swish boardroom. It's taken from a calendar.







I have been trying to cut smaller pieces recently. This one has 132 pieces and measures a little under 12" x 4", for almost exactly three pieces per square inch. I've got a new pair of reading glasses (well, my first reading glasses) and they helped enormously in cutting the small tabs.

With such a long narrow picture I decided not to do a large number of whimsies, and still have a good solid interlocking border all the way round. So there were only four of them:






I rather like the dragon one. Does anybody know if there's a puzzle cutter out there already using a dragon as a signature piece? If not, I think I might.

Chris


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## PowerTool (21 Feb 2007)

Stunning work again,Chris  

See - admitting your age and having to wear glasses isn't _all_ bad.. :lol: 

Andrew


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## Gill (21 Feb 2007)

It's always a delight to see your puzzles, Chris. You keep your pieces a consistent shape and size; everything interlocks, yet the original picture retains its integrity. It's very skilfull.

There's just one thing I've noticed - on the top right edge of the puzzle it looks as if you've inadvertently gone over the very edge of your picture. Would it be too late to trim it?

I think your idea of using a dragon as a signature is excellent.

Gill


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## chrispuzzle (21 Feb 2007)

Andrew - I hate this two-pairs-of-glasses thing. Can't read the forum and watch TV at the same time!! Unfortunately my prescription is too strong for varifocals.

Gill - Thanks! And well spotted - no it isn't too late - a quick shave and that unsightly white bit will be gone. On the "integrity of the picture", I tried to let faces and other focal points in the picture come through with a minimum of cuts through them. For example, the balcony at the top - the pillars are partly cut along the colour line, and the girl leaning over the balcony is cut out in outline with just a couple of tabs into the blue sky around her.

Part of it is just about seeing the shape you're cutting in the picture before you cut. I find it easier to follow an imaginary line than a pattern line. It's easier to do than it looks.

Chris


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## StevieB (21 Feb 2007)

Very nice Chris - as usual! But could you do me one favour - slow down :lol: You are making me look bad, I have not even been able to turn my new saw on yet let alone attempt to cut anything with it. Apparently tiling the kitchen comes first - SWMBO rules :wink: 

I would think if not having a picture to go by, that puzzle would be particularly difficult due to its unusual dimensions - only 4" wide.

I am not aware of a dragon as a motif - it does look very much like a Welsh dragon though, not sure if there is a restriction on the use of such a well known symbol? 

This is a personal comment not a criticism, but I think it would be more aesthetically pleaseing to have a non linear but defined edge to the puzzle rather than cutouts that make it look like another piece is missing from the edge. Just a personal preference but your image could in fact be a segment of a larger puzzle. Something like this :

http://www.custompuzzlecraft.com/Evolve/puzzle94.html

This guy is in fact a master at what he does, my favourite at the moment has to be his Imperial Silver Dragon:

http://www.custompuzzlecraft.com/Evolve/puzzle76.html

Truley awesome examples of the puzzle cutting craft IMHO.

Keep 'em coming!

Steve.


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## Carter Johnson (21 Feb 2007)

Chris.....

Excellent! It's really fun to watch you developing your own style. I truly like where it's going and disagree with comments that the pieces and edges should be different than they are.

I know John Stokes, whose puzzles are referred to in the previous post. He is probably the most artistic of all of the private puzzle cutters in the U.S. Brilliant stuff. To me, however, his puzzles present dilemmas for the average assembler that are a little excessive.

Keep up the good work. Here's an idea. At a craft store I bought a set of 40 or so permanent markers in a whole variety of colors. I use them to touch up places where tiny nicks show up - as in a couple edges of your dark pieces at the top part. 

Have phun.....Carter


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## Paul Chapman (21 Feb 2007)

Brilliant, Chris =D> I know nothing about scroll work but I love looking at stuff like yours.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Anonymous (22 Feb 2007)

Yet another nice puzzle from you Chris =D>


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## chrispuzzle (23 Feb 2007)

Thanks Steve, Carter, Paul and Alan.

Steve: I understand where you are coming from regarding the shaped edge. I don't myself mind it looking like a piece from a larger puzzle. I don't think I would do quite the same thing with a picture that already had a shaped edge, such as a circular puzzle. Of course the main intention on my part is to have the boundaries of the puzzle, the edges, reveal themselves to the puzzle assembler as part of the process rather than advertise themselves in advance. 

Carter: Thank you so much! The marker pen suggestion is a good one and they are always selling collections of them at the store across the road. Have you any thoughts on how to avoid those little nicks completely?

I also think John Stokes' puzzles are extraordinary. He appears to have an ability to see perfectly the shape that he cuts and the shape he is leaving behind simultaneously, with the most intricate cuts. It seems to me it's like being able to visualise a photograph in normal and negative at the same time. Quite apart from the very precise cutting.

Chris


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