How I make puzzles

It all starts with a blank sheet of wood. I use only the finest quarter-inch Baltic birch plywood, which gives your puzzle superior strength and solidity so it can last for generations to come. The wood has a pleasing thickness that helps the puzzle take shape as each piece clicks into place.

Next, I fix a picture to the wood using a hot press. This hot-melt glue process is the best way to permanently adhere the picture and is the same process used in framing shops and art galleries for mounting prints and photos.

It’s important to use ultra fine saw blades. I use blades with a thickness of only 0.007 inches, which is about 20 percent thinner than those used by some other puzzle-makers. These Swiss-made blades make for a very enjoyable, tight-fitting puzzle that you can pick up without any pieces falling out.

As I cut each piece, I am looking at the picture, making constant changes to make the puzzle more interesting and tricky. I may choose, for example, to follow the edge of a color in the print (known as “color line cutting”) or create a false edge where the colors look like those on the edge of the picture. I enjoy using a variety of different ways to create tricky edge pieces that appear to be interior pieces.

While doing all this, I also endeavor to make every piece pleasing and unique, making your puzzle a work of art.

I enjoy cutting figurals (also known as “whimsies”), which are pieces cut in the shape of animals, people or other items. I endeavor to make each figural relate to the theme of the picture of the puzzle as well as symbolically place them within the puzzle itself. For example, a bird figural might be found flying in the sky.

Your puzzle comes disassembled inside a lidded wooden box with a secure metal clasp. The Puzzlemonk logo is hand wood burned on the box, along with the puzzle's name and the number of pieces.  I usually glue a small picture of the puzzle inside the lid for reference, but is not the exact duplicate of the puzzle so that it will not give away all of the secrets.

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