Put together a big puzzle quickly. A Guide to Effective Puzzle Assembly

Several hundred scattered pieces of cardboard. On the front side of each of them, an incomprehensible image is applied. But if you put them in a certain way, then a natural landscape or an ancient castle, graceful animals or outlandish plants, the noble lines of an expensive car or the silhouette of a big city crashing into the sky will appear before the diligent collector. Everyone will be able to find a puzzle picture to their liking. Her name is puzzle ("puzzle").

Well, first of all, there is a free way to join the puzzles: to collect them online. A very large collection of paintings located on the site Gallerix.ru is also a very large collection of puzzles. If you want to collect puzzles virtually, then here is a place where there are a lot of them:
Collect puzzles online at Gallerix.ru

And when choosing and assembling a cardboard puzzle, it is worth answering a few questions:

1. How to choose a puzzle manufacturer?

If it is desirable to obtain a high-quality picture, you should pay attention to the company that made the puzzle. Manufacturers that have earned the trust of buyers include such companies as the Polish Trefl and Castorland, the German Ravensburger, Heye and Piatnik, the Spanish Educa, the Italian Clementoni, the Russian Step.

2. How many pieces should the puzzle consist of?

It is hardly necessary to immediately choose a puzzle consisting of several thousand pieces. Such a puzzle is not cheap, and the chance to assemble it (for a person without relevant experience, of course) is small. It’s best to start with a puzzle of 300-500 pieces and after that, having stuffed your hand, start with sets of 1000-4000 pieces. Experienced collectors work with puzzles of 13,200, 18,000 and even 24,000 pieces!

3. Which picture to choose?

Of course, the most liked! But keep in mind that a puzzle with large solid areas (such as the sky area, for example) may be too difficult to assemble. Also difficult to complete is a puzzle depicting an oil painting (especially made in the technique of impressionism). In this case, only parts of large strokes of the artist's brush will be visible on the details of the puzzle.

4. How to choose the location of the puzzle?

The question is not at all idle. Assembling a small puzzle takes a couple of hours, but a larger puzzle will require several days, weeks, and possibly months. During this time, details may be lost. To avoid this, it is worth preparing several boxes in which the sorted parts will be stored. The surface on which the puzzle will be located should be flat and easily portable (we will see why later).

5. How to start collecting a puzzle?

First of all, you need to sort the details, selecting those that correspond to the edges of the future image. Having assembled the puzzle frame, we get the basis for further assembly. Having carefully examined the picture on the box, we note the places that are most easily identified. Let's collect them and place them approximately where they should be according to the picture. So the most easy stage puzzle assembly completed.

6. How to assemble solid-color puzzle areas?

The monotony of the sky, sea or vegetation can confuse a novice puzzle collector. However, do not despair! The pieces of the puzzle should be tightly adjacent to each other, and there should be no notches or protrusions in the cut lines of adjacent pieces.

As a rule, puzzle pieces alternate in a certain sequence depending on their shape. If you identify the pattern of their location, you can collect a solid area very quickly. But do not forget that a modern puzzle consists of parts of many shapes (up to 16) and it may not be so easy to catch the logic of their arrangement.

7. The puzzle is completed. What to do next?

It depends on the purpose for which the puzzle was assembled. If only for fun, then you can disassemble the puzzle in order to return to it again after a while. But after all, the assembled puzzle can also be used as decoration! Of course, the resulting picture is hardly worthy of taking a place in the living room, bedroom or hallway. But why not hang an appetizing still life in the kitchen, and attach a beautiful landscape to the wall of a country house?

So, we turn the assembled puzzle into a finished picture. We press the front part of the picture with a piece of plywood and, picking up the surface on which the puzzle is located, turn it upside down. Remove the back surface (that's why it should be easy to carry!) and carefully apply an even layer of glue to the puzzle. Some manufacturers complete the puzzle with a tube of special glue - you should use it. Adhesive tape or adhesive tape is also used to fasten parts. You can stick the puzzle on cardboard or plywood, but in this case there is some risk: as a result of unsuccessful gluing, the puzzle may arch.

I love to collect puzzles. I really want to say: "since childhood", but I can't. There were no such wonderful puzzles in my childhood.

For me, assembling puzzles is not just one of my favorite activities. It's almost a passion. Even despite the fact that there may not be so much free time, but if another half-finished painting lies on the floor, I will still find time. Sometimes even at night. Because for me it is not only a favorite form of relaxation, but almost meditation.

If you manage to devote only a couple of hours a day to your favorite pastime, the benefits of this are incredible.

First, it's very relaxing. Secondly, it becomes so clear in the head that the solution to all work or home problems becomes obvious. The main thing is to try not to think about them in the build process itself :).

We try to buy new puzzles for every New Year, so that we have something to do during the winter holidays - that's where the real storehouse of free time is.

Paintings consisting of less than 1000 pieces are no longer interesting for all members of our family to collect, and over several years of jigsaw puzzles, we have developed own system puzzle assemblies.

This is only a small part of the family collection. By the way, this is our favorite parrot Bibik, who also loves puzzles. You probably already guessed that this is why the top box is wrapped in polyethylene. 🙂

One of the main advantages of assembling puzzles is that they can be assembled both alone and together with family or friends. The main thing is that everyone present likes what they do.

How to assemble puzzles from 1000-3000 pieces?

Preparatory stage. Sorting

Pour all the details into one box and start sorting. It all depends on what is shown in the original picture. The extreme pieces that the frame will consist of are in one box (you can just take plastic bags), building details - in another, flowers - in a third, trees - in a fourth, sky - in a fifth.

In addition, we separately put aside border details in special boxes, which depict the boundaries between the forest and the sky, flowers and asphalt, water and land, etc. This method is calculated empirically(a particularly great advantage is the sorting of border details - they can be repelled in both directions). When everything is sorted, you can proceed.

Frame.

The easiest way not to delay the process of collecting puzzles for several months is to start by building a frame - it will be much easier to attach the rest of the fragments to it.

When the frame is ready, you can continue from any place that seems most attractive. We usually start at the bottom or at the edges and work our way towards the center.

The top of most puzzles is the sky, and a solid sky, even with clouds, is usually the most difficult part, so we put it together last.

Inserting the last puzzle is the most long-awaited, the most joyful and at the same time the saddest event. Joyful, because everything worked out again, we did it and we can be proud of ourselves, and sad, because this exciting and fascinating process ended so quickly.

Although, to be honest, it doesn't always happen quickly. We collected a picture of 3000 parts depicting this corner of the Vienna Park for almost 3 weeks.

It is very important not to lose a single detail in the process of sorting and assembling, because it will be very disappointing if, after such painstaking and laborious work, at least one hole remains in the picture.

What to do with already assembled puzzles?

You can glue it and hang it on the wall, you can give it to friends, or you can ... take it apart and put it back in the box.

And finally.

Yes, in order to assemble a picture even from 500 pieces, you need quite a lot of free time. If you are willing to spend it in this way, then you can be sure that you are not wasting it, but are investing this time in yourself.

After all, collecting puzzles from a large number of parts is not only interesting, but also useful - brain activity is activated, spatial thinking, attention, perseverance, perseverance and patience develop.

The more difficult the puzzle picture was, the stronger your joy will be that you had all the above qualities to assemble it. So, you have become smarter, stronger and more confident in yourself.

And make good use of your free time.

Good luck in puzzle collecting!

Which of us in our lives has not assembled a mosaic or the now common name - jigsaw puzzles. This activity will be equally interesting for both young children and their parents, especially if you do these together. Many absolutely do not recognize the mosaic as a way of spending leisure time.

Here I would like to throw a stone into their garden and point out that not every person has enough willpower to complete this lesson, besides, you need to work with your head, because puzzles are different, from 20 to several thousand pieces , from pictures of cartoon characters to beautiful landscapes.

Yes, and knowledge - how to assemble puzzles, comes with time, with experience.

Of course, it's very exciting to explore something for the first time, but a few simple tips won't get in the way of your first jigsaw puzzle.

How to quickly assemble a puzzle? To get started, you need to do a very simple thing.

You should find all the corners of the mosaic, and all its parts that are "flat" or "blunt" on one side, in general, the border of the mosaic, and after you carefully (It will be better if you sort it out carefully once, instead of then randomly sort through all the details again and again, looking for the missing detail), it is worth proceeding directly to the collection of the border of the mosaic.

After you do this, you can move on to the next item.

Try to find all the more or less noticeable parts in the drawing being assembled, for example, a tree, or some other meaningful detail that is easy to notice. You should go through all the details again and find everything that even a little bit fits the object you are looking for.

Then, of course, you must try to assemble this part, and until you have put together everything that you have enough strength for. It should be said that the game to collect puzzles is very exciting. And you can completely imperceptibly spend the whole day and even more on it.

Then it is worth moving on to all such other objects, as their significance decreases, and so on to the bitter end. If the method listed does not suit you, then you can try to assemble the drawing with two more methods, moving from the center to the edges, or vice versa. I hope everything is clear here.

If you are not satisfied with these methods, then unfortunately I can not offer anything more. But who knows, suddenly you will invent your own innovative method of how to assemble a mosaic.

And finally, let's say a few words about the puzzles themselves. You should not immediately start collecting thousands of giants, at first a mosaic of 500 pieces will be enough, and so on.

Also remember that puzzles are primarily leisure, which should not be given all your free time. If you feel that you no longer have the strength and desire to do this, then switch to something else.

And with the help of the mosaic you will be able to train not only your will, but also patience, as you will agree, there is nothing simple in assembling a giant from 1000 pieces. Good luck in your endeavors!

Collecting puzzles develops visual memory, patience, ability to analyze, fine motor skills and whole line other skills that will come in handy when playing musical instruments. From the outside, this activity looks simple, but, like in music, there are subtleties, which you will learn about in our little guide to assembling puzzles.

Where to start? With the choice of a suitable puzzle and accessories for working with it.

Choosing a puzzle and accessories for working with it

The choice of a puzzle is one of the most important and crucial moments, as well as the choice musical instrument. If it is based solely on the attractiveness of the image and the price, then this can lead to the purchase of either an option that is too simple or too difficult to assemble, which, instead of joy, will cause irritation and a desire to abandon this venture. Sounds familiar to those who have quit music lessons, doesn't it? Both here and there you need patience and a dozen more skills, in addition to practice and experience.

To estimate the complexity of assembling a puzzle, consider the following example.

Rice. 1. Difficult to assemble image.

Berlin at night looks spectacular, but we immediately pay attention to the fact that half of it is occupied by the sky of a single color (the light area of ​​​​the sky is also monophonic within its boundaries). With a total number of elements equal to 1000, the blue part of the sky will consist of about 300 elements that look the same in color. Thanks to shape ordering, the number of iterable elements will be reduced, but laying out the sky will require at least twice as much time spent assembling the city, in which you still have to deal with the river and the orange area.

Each user has a different assembly speed, but as a guideline for a puzzle with 1000 elements, it can be conditionally taken equal to 50-70 elements per hour. When laying out monochromatic (single-color) areas, the speed will drop to 20-30 elements per hour.

The larger the area of ​​the fragment in the image with solid color, smooth gradient or the same type of image, the more difficult it is to put the puzzle together with an equal total number of elements.

Sky, water, mountains, leaves, grass, flowers, animal fur, material textures - this is not a complete list of areas that can consist of elements with similar image. We can say this: doubling the area of ​​a one-color area leads to the complication of its assembly by 4 times. Which image is the most difficult to collect? Big black square!

The more difficult it is to understand what is depicted on the element, the more difficult it is to determine its location.

The complexity of the assembly increases with the growth of the number of small, fuzzy and difficult to distinguish images on them, for example, a large number of buildings in the distance.

Let's consider another example.

Rice. 2. Easy to assemble picture.

This image not only looks interesting, but also a pleasure to collect it! It is to collect, not to select. At first, the number of colors dazzles the eyes, but they all occupy small areas, and there are practically no unreadable elements even in the background.

The complexity of the puzzle directly depends on the number of elements. An increase in the number of image elements by 2 times leads to an increase in the complexity of its assembly by more than 2 times.

There are puzzles for children (up to 260 elements) and adults (from 260 elements). The most common puzzles for adults are from 500 to 1500 elements, for which assembly is not required. big table and you can easily find accessories to work with them. The option of 1000 pieces is optimal for those who have already collected puzzles. Beginners can recommend the 500-piece option, while experienced assemblers prefer puzzles from 3000 pieces.

Choosing a puzzle with 1000 pieces is

Puzzles consisting of 1000-1500 elements differ from others in a variety of images. Finding an attractive image among puzzles with 4000-6000 elements is much more difficult. The general trend is this: the more elements in puzzles for more than 1500 elements, the more difficult it is to find an image that is interesting to assemble. The "boringness" of images of thousands of puzzles is quite understandable - a large image needs to be filled with content. They still won't turn out to be paintings, so the emphasis is on the interest in the assembly, without paying attention to the fact that the hodgepodge is depicted on them.

It should be noted that the average element size in 500, 1000 and 2000 puzzles may be larger than the average element size in 1500 and 3000 puzzles, as in Castorland puzzles. Reducing the average size of the elements also complicates the assembly. In such cases, puzzles with 2000 and 3000 pieces can have almost the same image dimensions.

• Assembled image size. For comfortable composing a puzzle, a surface is required that is 2 times its size when assembled. In this case, it can be used both for laying out the puzzle itself and for placing sorted elements on it. It is not necessary to use one large table. It's about total area. For example, a table can be chosen a couple of centimeters larger than the puzzle on each side, and the elements can be placed in a drawer under the table top, in trays, a sorter, etc. Dimensions of typical puzzles:
  • 500 - 48*34 cm
  • 1000 - 68*48 cm
  • 1500 - 85*58 cm
  • 2000 - 96*68 cm
  • 3000 - 92*68 cm (116*85cm)
  • 4000 - 136*96 cm
• The average element size. As it decreases, the complexity increases.
• The attractiveness of the image
• The age of the user and his experience in assembling puzzles.
• The quality of the elements. The more complex the puzzle, the better it should be. Collecting a puzzle with poor-quality cutting of elements or an image peeling off on them after repeated rubbing against fingers is an unpleasant pleasure.
• Assembly complexity. The more complex the puzzle, the higher the likelihood that it will remain half-assembled
• Price. Do not rush to buy a puzzle in the first available store. Puzzles are not peaches, and something that costs 1,400 rubles in one store. in another it is offered for 400 rubles. similar quality
• Equipment. Some puzzles come with a tube of glue included.
• Storage of the collected image. It can be put on a table under glass or plexiglass, glued and hung on the wall in a puzzle frame, rolled up with a puzzle mat, put in a large puzzle organizer, or taken apart after admiring and photographing.

About the quality of the puzzles different manufacturers I'll tell you what I've experienced myself.

The Russian company Step Puzzle produces budget jigsaw puzzles for beginner assemblers. This is due to the fact that the assortment contains only a few puzzles with more than 3000 elements, and the sizes of the elements themselves vary quite widely, which, together with the nature of the images on them, the shape of the protrusions and recesses, simplifies assembly. I also note the relatively large backlash of the connected elements and the manufacturability, which does not allow the manufacture of the missing element, as stated in one of the messages on the forum. In a thousand for 260 rubles. I came across only one element with a peeled substrate under the ledge, but in a two-thousander for 390 rubles. there were already about a dozen uncut elements, among which there was one in which two elements simply could not be separated from each other without using a knife. In addition, there were under-glued and deformed elements that cast doubt on the advisability of gluing the puzzle to insert it into the frame. Fortunately, it was bought for a table under glass, where these defects will not be evident. These and other points explain why experienced aesthete assemblers do not even look at the rack with Step puzzles. The advantages of Step are the price and variety of the assortment, which includes the sights of Russia. I would not give puzzles from Step to a puzzle lover, but if you really liked the image on some puzzle, there is no alternative and it is not planned to turn it into a picture, then you can take a thousand for yourself.

Puzzles from Castorland also belong to the budget segment, but I did not notice a single defective element in the thousands. I can also note a rather high-quality cutting, which also gives a tighter connection of elements compared to Step. As an inexpensive gift, Castorland puzzles are quite good.

The Ravensburger line is positioned as a premium, but the millennium that came across to me did not justify such a high rank at all. In the process of its assembly, more than a dozen elements were found with under-glued protrusions and other defects, despite the fact that the price of the puzzle was more than 3 times higher than the cost of a millennium from Step. It is impossible to judge the quality of the entire line by one product, and, perhaps, some kind of fake came across, but certain conclusions for the future were made.

If, after all the above, it is not clear which puzzle to buy for yourself or as a gift, choose the universal option - for 500 or 1000 elements. Almost any table is suitable for their assembly and there are many assemblers who prefer to assemble puzzles for 1000 - 1500 elements. The interest here is in assembling the puzzle without looking into the sample image.

Thousanders are also interesting in that their size allows you to collect them while sitting at the table. Puzzles with a large size cannot be assembled completely while sitting, and it is a pity to immediately think about whether you are ready to bend your back to assemble them while standing.

For more convenient operation special accessories are sold with puzzles.

Puzzle mat

It is a dense fleecy fabric on which the elements will hold securely. This is especially true when using a small table.

Rice. 3. Mat for puzzles.

The mat also allows you to carry the puzzle and store it compactly in partially or fully assembled form. To do this, it is rolled into a roll on the roller that comes with the kit. Some rugs have markings for the borders of the image area for puzzles with a different number of elements.

Puzzle organizer tablet

Plastic case for assembly and storage of puzzles. Has compartments for storing sorted items and storage space for several small completed puzzles

Rice. 4. Tablet organizer for puzzles.

The assembly of the puzzle is carried out on a dense caron sheet included in the kit.

A puzzle sorter is a set of trays or a tray with partitions for storing sorted items.

Rice. 5. Puzzle sorter.

Puzzle frame

It is a frame for placing the assembled puzzle on the wall. To place small puzzles in a frame, you can do without gluing its elements.

Glue for the puzzle

Used to glue the elements of the finished puzzle. It can be applied on the front side, but some connoisseurs of quality prefer to apply it on the reverse side. Before gluing the puzzle, think about whether it is really necessary? A glued puzzle will not allow you to exchange it with other assemblers.

Accessories for puzzles are selected based on the size of the puzzle, the number of elements, the approach to assembling puzzles and financial possibilities. Accessories are not cheap, and it makes sense to look for alternatives.

A branded sorter for puzzles from 6 plastic trays 19 * 19 cm costs about $ 25. Comes out at $ 4 per tray. Sales in stores office supplies you can find plastic paper trays (21 * 31 cm) for 70-80 rubles. You can use puzzle boxes, boxes with drawers, plastic boxes, tool boxes (as a storage system for sorted items), plastic trays (including cat trays), inexpensive storage systems, shoe box lids, and even candy boxes.

A branded organizer tablet costs $100. If you purchase plastic trays measuring 40 * 30 cm for 100 rubles. per piece, then they can be used not only for sorting and grouping elements, but also for laying out fragments, which is especially important when working with large puzzles, when it is not possible to occupy the entire table for a long time.

Suitable for assembling trays and tablets 3- or 5-layer sheet corrugated cardboard. It is not as strong as plastic, but it is cheaper and makes it possible to independently manufacture containers of any given configuration. To store puzzles, a box is cut out of the sheet, and the assembled puzzles themselves are stored in envelopes made of corrugated sheet, folded in half and fastened on the sides with stapler clips. In this case, small assembled puzzles can be stored vertically. Corrugated sheet can also be used as a substrate when gluing a puzzle.

Using desk with a drawer under the tabletop, the organizer can be made in it.

In case of absence suitable table to assemble the puzzle, a tourist folding table for 500-1000 rubles is suitable.

If there is a small table (or supports) and a lot of free space around it, then it will be enough to purchase a sheet of plywood of the right size, which can be placed on top.

In addition to these accessories, I recommend getting a spatula for quickly transferring a group of fragments. To do this, you can use a small piece of thick paper. With its help, you can transfer entire fragments of the puzzle and easily join them, compared to rearranging the elements of the fragment manually.

The use of a puzzle mat (as well as other accessories) affects the technique of assembling the puzzle. I prefer sliding surfaces. They increase the risk of dropping and losing elements, but allow you to move fragments and use in-place assembly, in which elements that are supposedly related to them are grouped around the collected fragments. To protect the elements from falling from the table to the floor, make a 2-3 cm high edging for the table top out of cardboard, fastening it with tape or a stapler, or make a tray of the desired size out of corrugated sheet.

If assembling puzzles has become a real hobby, then you can think about ordering a table in your own way. individual project. At one forum of puzzle lovers, a version of the table was demonstrated with four shallow drawers under the tabletop, in each of which you can assemble a puzzle or a fragment consisting of 1000 elements.

Choosing and preparing a workplace

As a workplace, choose a table at which you can sit comfortably:

• The work surface should be well lit. The best lighting is daylight. You can also use fluorescent lamps. The entire working area should be well lit without glare. Desk lamp without adjusting the position of the light source, with a large diameter base and yellow light is the worst option
• The working surface should be a few centimeters larger than the image itself in order to avoid constant falling of elements from its edges
• It is advisable to use a separate table. It will be easier to find elements accidentally dropped from it
• Workplace needs to be protected from external influence, which can lead to the destruction of the assembled fragments - falling of various objects on them, brushing off clothes, exposure to wind, pets, etc. After the accidental destruction of an almost finished puzzle, not everyone will find the strength to start work from the very beginning

When assembling a multi-thousander, the question arises of where to lay it out and what to do with it later. Collecting a puzzle on the floor is not an easy task, and your back will not say thank you. But the docking of fragments and the final assembly of the puzzle on the floor is quite possible. Finding a puzzle mat for up to 6,000 pieces shouldn't be a problem, but finding a frame for a puzzle can be a problem if it's a non-standard size or has more than 4,000 pieces. In the latter case, you can contact the framing workshop, which will make a frame of the desired size and quality.

It is advisable to assemble the puzzle or its parts not on the tabletop itself or on the bottom of the box, but on a piece of paper. This will greatly simplify the whole further work with it, for example, gluing elements (do not stain the countertop with glue) or transferring to another place. Putting a sheet of paper under the assembled puzzle will be very difficult or even impossible. We collected most of the puzzle at the bottom of the box, but how to transfer it to the general image? Detach the bottom of the box or manually transfer 4-5 elements? When using a paper substrate, such issues will not arise. Under the substrate of the assembled puzzle, you can easily put another substrate if the current one does not suit you or quickly pull it out when joining the parts of the image also located on the substrates.

If the table cannot be occupied for a long time(it may take a week or more to assemble a thousandth), then you can use a rug that will allow you to quickly remove a partially assembled puzzle from the table or quickly unfold it on the table. A cheaper solution is to unfold the puzzle on a piece of drawing paper, which can then be removed under the table, bed, on the mezzanine, under the carpet, etc.

Before work, wipe the work surface, which may contain small particles of dirt, crumbs, etc.

After preparing the workplace, we proceed to the assembly process.

Puzzle assembly

Before composing a puzzle, it is advisable to think over a strategy for assembling it. Imagine yourself as a general in command of a thousand elements: first, an elite squad of elements with blue flag fragments will go into battle, then elements with ship hull fragments and cannons will support them, while sky elements will remain in reserve for the time being and will enter the battle at the final stage of work. Elements of the ship can not gain a foothold at the indicated line? Let's help them with mast elements and a group of castle elements with which you need to establish communication by connecting them to each other!

Lack of strategy is the path to defeat. So let's take a closer look at what we have to work with.

Element - the smallest possible indivisible puzzle unit, which is a piece of cardboard of a certain shape with an image fragment on it. Elements can be classified according to different criteria, but among their entire set, frame elements are distinguished, which play a primary role in certain cases. For convenience, you can assign names to elements that differ in shape. Below is my version of the designation of some elements.

Rice. 6. Conditional names of puzzle elements.

Shoulder - a protrusion formed by a notch. For example, in the “P” element in the figure above, there are two shoulders.

Leg - a protrusion formed by two adjacent recesses of the element. For example, in the "corner" there is one leg, in "X" there are 4 of them.

A chain is a single-row linkage of several elements. Here you can introduce additional definitions that are convenient in work: two - a coupling of two elements, a triple - a coupling of three elements, etc.

Fragment - a linkage of elements arranged in two or more rows. We attached an element to the side of the deuce - this is already a fragment, albeit the smallest one.

Sample - the image on the box, according to which the puzzle is assembled.

Place - a single section of the puzzle, for which the corresponding element is selected.

Workspace - the entire area for working with the puzzle. It can be divided into the following areas:

• Puzzle assemblies
• Sorting
• Groupings
• Auxiliary Fragment Assemblies

These areas can be separated from each other or combined to share.

The separation of areas allows you to visually see what is located where: in the puzzle area - puzzle fragments, in the sorting area - elements selected in bulk, in the grouping area - elements of the group, etc. But such a separation can significantly reduce the assembly speed due to the need to perform some and the same operations again. For example, when using an organizer, the puzzle is collected on one half of it, and the other is used to store sorted items. So, you need to sort the elements by divisions, and then each time lay them out and group them, and after completing the work, add them back to the department. If the area of ​​the table exceeds the size of the puzzle by two or more times, the table can be fully occupied for several days and you are not afraid to work with a wide variety of elements, then you can do all the work in unified workspace. In my case it goes like this:

All elements from one package (1000 pieces) are poured onto a table or a puzzle box. Next, all elements are sequentially flipped and grouped according to the image in different parts of the table. Monochromatic and incomprehensible elements are grouped separately, as well as frame elements. At first, a rough grouping is performed, since it is not clear what can be grouped immediately, and for which a rough sorting is enough. In the course of its execution, elements will increasingly come across in the field of view, on the image of which the same textures or elements are clearly visible. They are grouped immediately, and monophonic and incomprehensible elements can be sorted into bulk, as they will be required at the final stage of the puzzle assembly. Roof elements are grouped separately.

After the end of this operation, there will be several groups on the table, several heaps with sorted elements and a heap with incomprehensible and unsorted elements. You can continue to try to attach them somewhere, but this will take additional time and it is not certain that they will be selected according to their groups. So, you can leave them alone for now and do preliminary preparation- assembling chains in groups. Groups of elements on the table do not move anywhere, and chains are collected directly into them. Gradually, the chains are enlarged to fragments, which are positioned relative to each other with the help of a spatula.

To some, this approach may seem too complicated and inefficient, but its advantages are that, firstly, several operations are combined in one (sorting, grouping and searching), and secondly, each operation is performed only 1 time (with further clarification), and, thirdly, there is the possibility of contextual assembly, in which elements that presumably belong to them are located around the already assembled fragments. In this case, several fragments fall into the central region of vision at once, with large quantity elements similar to them, which makes it possible to see the connection between them and quickly connect them to each other. If attention is too much scattered due to the abundance of elements, then a more detailed grouping is performed with the removal of some of the elements from the area of ​​puzzle fragments. “And when is the frame going to?”, you ask. Then, when the right moment comes for this. If it is easier to make a chain of frame elements - it is assembled, if it is easier to assemble a sign for a store - a sign is assembled, if you need to work with a plain area, then the frame is assembled at the very beginning. Sample verification is not used at the initial stage. This is a waste of time and attention. A bright pole, signboard, flag, windows and other understandable fragments are perfectly assembled without peeping into the sample.

In the process of working on puzzles, various operations are used, the main of which include:

• Sorting - selection of elements according to some criteria (color, shape, purpose)
• Grouping - single-layer arrangement of selected elements next to each other
• Ordering - sequential arrangement of group elements in a certain order
• Search - sequential application to the selected place of all elements suitable for it until a match is obtained
• Orientation - rotate all ordered elements so that they are oriented according to the place, which will match the shape of the place to the shape of these elements
• Search (item or place)
• Bypass - successive application of the selected element to several places of a similar form to find a match
• Positioning - the location of an element, chain or fragment in a given place in the puzzle according to the pattern

Why is everything so complicated and detailed? In the process of communication on the topic of assembling puzzles, they are often limited to general concept sorting elements, which speeds up the assembly of the puzzle and is a necessary operation when assembling multi-element puzzles. This is understandable, but what exactly is meant by sorting? Some understand this as the distribution of elements in trays, others - in piles on the table, others - as a single-layer grouping in rows or in a mixed way, fourth - selection of elements by color, etc. To eliminate this ambiguity, one can either refine the concept of sorting, or introduce new definitions into circulation, which we did.

The degree of effectiveness of each operation depends on many factors, including the possibilities of the workplace and the characteristics of the puzzle. The more elements in the puzzle and the more complex it is, the more carefully you need to prepare, select and perform operations, and the more time it takes. In their implementation, you need to monitor the balance between practical necessity, effort, time and result. Too detailed execution of one operation will lead to a waste of effort and time in others, as well as its too superficial performance. The puzzle uses many elements, and it can easily turn out that after performing one operation, you just have to carry out a huge amount of repeated and unnecessary operations with each next approach to the puzzle, which could be avoided. As a result, the collection of three-thousanders can take many months. A simple example is storing sorted items in bags stacked in a box. The box takes up very little space, but imagine the amount of work that will need to be done each time - get and untie a dozen packages with elements, pour the elements out of them onto the table, group them, after work, distribute all the elements back into packages, tie them and put back to the box.

Sorting

This operation consists in selecting elements according to similar characteristics - color, texture, nature of the image, etc. Thanks to this, it is possible to plan a phased collection of the puzzle and significantly reduce the number of elements for current work when compiling a multi-thousand puzzle. If a city is being assembled first, then the elements of the sky can be set aside so that they do not take up space and do not distract attention. The selection of elements for storage can be made in various containers - trays, boxes, bags, etc.

At the initial stage, it is enough to make a rough sorting. It will be especially effective for elements of the same type that occupy large areas on the image. For example, if the foliage occupies half of the landscape image, then selecting it in the tray will reduce the number of elements by half.

Tank sorting has the advantage of being able to store the elements in a compact manner. The disadvantages of sorting elements in bulk include the need to re-lay them out and group them. They poured it out of the tray, laid it out, collected how much it turned out - they put it back into the tray.

If you plan to assemble a small puzzle quickly, then sorting is combined with grouping.

grouping

This operation requires large area to arrange all elements of the group in one layer with the picture up. Grouping will be effective when working with a small number of elements (20 - 50 pieces) with a unique and well-read image. At first it will not be clear what to group, but after a while, elements with the image of the same roof texture or brickwork will come across, which can immediately be grouped separately. This will help in the future to immediately proceed to the compilation of chains and fragments.

Grouping, like sorting, is preparatory stage puzzle assembly. Place several groups at once on a large working area.

Grouping is not effective when working with solid colors or elements of the same type. In this case, the most powerful, but the longest and most costly operation is used - enumeration.

Bust

With this operation, you can assemble a puzzle of any level of complexity. Its effectiveness increases as the number of elements iterates over decreases, and it is better to perform it at the very end of the puzzle, when the smallest number of elements remains. If the image consists of several areas similar in color and texture, but located in different parts of it, then, in my opinion, it is better to collect them in order of increasing the size of the uncollected areas, all other things being equal. What will give you more satisfaction, completely cover a small area in a couple of hours or slightly reduce a large one?

The efficiency of enumeration directly depends on the quality of another operation - ordering.

ordering

When performing this operation, the most working area is consumed, which is required for a single-layer and orderly arrangement of elements in a given order. In this case, the grouping of elements by form comes to the fore. First we place “bricks”, then “targets”, then “corners”, H-elements, etc. Organizing by shape helps you filter out element types that don't fit in the given snippet location. If, for example, a fragment gives place in the form of an angle with recesses in its sides, then, obviously, H-elements with opposite protrusions are not suitable for it and they can be immediately removed from consideration.

Finished puzzle pieces will offer a large number of places to find pieces for. Does it matter where you start from? There is! Try to choose those places that either clearly indicate the appearance of the leg, shoulder or notch, or allow you to filter out the most elements. For example, if you need to close 10 places in the puzzle, among which there is one heart-shaped, then start with it. Iteration over elements with a heart-shaped leg is performed simpler than H-elements, which still have to be turned over when selecting in place.

The total number of H-elements is greater than the rest, and it is them that should be filtered out first, choosing places for which they are not suitable.

Orientation

Used to reduce the number of elements to iterate over. The ordered elements are not always oriented the way the place on the fragment is, and turning them in the right direction will help you see more clearly how each element of the selection fits the shape of the place. Among puzzle lovers there are those who spend a lot of time looking for patterns in the arrangement of puzzle elements from different manufacturers and nuances in the shapes of elements, but I have enough visual memory, analysis, probability theory and intuition.

Search

With one of the varieties of searching for an element - enumeration, we met earlier, and now we will consider two others - searching for an element and searching for a place. They are used when working with unique and highly readable images.

The need to search for an element arises when there is enough data about what to look for. For example, there is an element with the image of one part of a window or a pillar, and you need to find the remaining parts, or find an element that closes the place inside the assembled fragment. In the latter case, there is a desire to find it at all costs and close the issue, but with experience you stop paying attention to such trifles. After a while, the number of remaining elements will decrease, and it will definitely fall into view without the need to make an effort for this.
Element search works well when composing chains in groups, searching for elements with straight and slanted lines, unique and easy to read textures.
Finding a place helps to solve the inverse problem - determining the installation location of the selected element. To do this, first, the location of this element on the sample is searched, and then, if successful, the element is installed in the corresponding place of the puzzle. If you collect the puzzle in a separate area with a lined frame, then the element can be installed inside it quite accurately. I like to collect thousandths in a single workspace (more on this approach below) and the relative positioning of the found place is enough - somewhere to the left and above something on the already assembled fragment (there may not be a frame).

Where to start assembling?

The assembly begins with what is easiest to assemble - a frame or fragments that are unique and clearly distinguishable in color and texture.

If you have made a grouping of elements, then it is logical to start by compiling twos and threes. Work with multiple groups at once. This may seem like a waste of attention and a waste of time, but this approach has a significant advantage - independence from the accuracy of grouping elements. In practice, it will not be possible to exactly group all the elements, and it may turn out that desired element is located somewhere else. During the time that will be spent searching for it, you can easily make 10-20 chains of elements in different groups. It is more efficient to work with several fragments at once (with rare exceptions), rather than resting on the calculation of one.

If the grouping of elements was not carried out (due to lack of space or its inefficiency in relation to this case), the assembly begins with an incomplete or complete layout of the frame (if there is room for it). In high-quality puzzles, elements can be picked up on one side, which will be given by the frame, but when assembling two-dimensional fragments, there will be two or three sides, which will increase the speed and accuracy of selecting elements from them.

Laying out a full frame increases the efficiency of using the location search operation. You can’t do without a frame when laying out a single-color image. If it is completely unclear where to start assembling the puzzle, then start with the frame. Often the foreground objects are adjacent to the frame, laying out which will help start their assembly.

Assembly of fragments, consisting of monochromatic and hard-to-distinguish homogeneous textures

Here it is very important to initially properly tune in to laborious work and allocate at least an hour for each approach. This will be more effective than the option when 15 minutes a day are given for a month, and at the end the question arises why the puzzle could not be completed. Assembling these areas may cause the puzzle to never be completed, which can be found in the messages of various assemblers. Turn on background music, radio, or engage in a conversation with someone to divert some of the attention from the assembly and not get into an overload situation when the sky assembly completely pisses you off and you just want to give up everything. Perhaps, in the case of a puzzle, this is not so scary, but in life you often have to do simple, but boring and monotonous work, a burnout on which will lead to more sad consequences and frustrations.

The speed and efficiency of laying out such areas depends on the number of remaining elements and the quality of the ordering operation, during which it is necessary to group the elements in rows, taking into account:

• Colors
• The nature of the image on them
• Number of projections and recesses
• Size
• The form of protrusions, etc.

The more detailed the ordering is, the faster and easier it will be to enumerate the elements. For example, if a fragment gives a corner place with a hole in each of its sides, then, obviously, H-shaped elements with two protrusions on opposite sides will not work and you can immediately remove them from consideration. Try to close first of all those parts of the puzzle that help to filter largest number elements or reduce the number of iterated options.

When iterating, you can use the bypass operation, when the selected element is applied in turn to several places to find a match. Suppose a patch of sky gives 3 places of the same shape. It is easier to attach the selected element to them one by one than to iterate over the elements for each place separately.

To increase the speed of enumeration, take two elements at once (one element in each hand). In this case, first one element is applied to the place, and then another. You can increase the speed even more when working with two elements and two places at the same time. We checked all the options, swapped the elements and checked all the options again.

Often a situation will arise when the shape of the place indicates that the same element can be installed in it in several different positions. In the most unfavorable case, you will have to check the four positions of the element, turning it 90 degrees each time. Rotating an element with the fingers of your dominant hand is not difficult, but it is important to learn how to simultaneously rotate the elements in each hand, which will allow you to work with two places at the same time to increase the speed of enumeration.

The enumeration of elements can be performed both with an assessment of the conformity of the shape of the place with the shape of the elements, and without it. The second option is simpler, since you just need to apply elements, but the first one allows you to reduce the search, especially in cases where the place has a shape that only a few elements fit. It makes no sense to iterate over all elements of a given type if the shape of the place indicates an element with a very thin shoulder or a huge heart-shaped leg.

Assembly of thousands of puzzles

The more elements are included in the puzzle, the more carefully it is necessary to produce preparatory work and its assembly. The lack of one operation can lead to the need to perform a very large amount of unnecessary work. If at the first stage it is enough to confine oneself to rough sorting when assembling a thousandth, then here this operation is one of the key ones, it requires increased attention and a lot of time (several hours).

After sorting and grouping, the number of selected elements can be quite large. In order not to pour elements out of trays and bags every time, not to group them on the table and not to fall back into trays and bags after work is completed, you can work on grouping and assembling fragments on auxiliary surfaces, for example, on trays. During the sorting process, elements with incomprehensible and monochromatic images are selected into trays, and elements with a similar texture and image are immediately grouped into trays. This will require a lot of space, but it will eliminate the need to perform repeated operations, since the elements of the group and the chains and fragments assembled from them will be stored in trays, without the need for their constant shifting and grouping. Put a few trays on the table and you can immediately get to work. After use, the trays are quickly stacked for compact storage.

For even more comfortable work with trays, you can purchase a tray trolley. They cost decently, but they will allow you to pull out and insert trays independently of each other.

Trays are no longer suitable for assembling huge puzzles and you will need to think again about where to collect them and how to store the sorted elements. Shelving units with drawers, storage systems, large production tables, etc. come to mind. Here it is possible to use several large removable drawers to collect fragments and store items in them. When using a rack, you can do without a table at all at the stage of assembling individual parts of the image: the light is turned on, the drawer is pulled out, a chair is placed and the assembly begins. A table will be required to connect the parts into a single image, if the floor is not used for this. To quickly pull the assembled part out of the box, its hardboard bottom can also be made retractable: the parts are assembled on a sheet of paper, after assembly the bottom of the box is pulled out, and the paper is pulled out from under the assembled image.

So, the puzzle is completed, but what to do with it next? In addition to the options listed in the guide, I can recommend the exchange or sale of the puzzle through social networks or specialized sites. Even more interesting is the exchange of puzzles blindly without providing the original sample image. The collector does not know what he is collecting. The only thing you need to take care of is not to get what you already once collected.

There are many questions left outside the scope of this manual, but I think that after reading it you will be able to feel more confident when working with other types of puzzles.

My wife and I decided to put together a puzzle. We thought the puzzle would entertain us for four months, if on weekends. And now, when two years have passed and it is almost assembled, we will tell you how it was worth doing. Our story is unlikely to be of interest to connoisseurs, but it will answer the questions of beginners who are going to buy their first puzzle.

You don't need to be an expert to assemble puzzles. But if you don’t know the basics, it’s easy to stall and become disillusioned with a hobby. To prevent this from happening, it’s worth a little preparation: find a place to assemble and store the puzzle, sort the parts, learn the selection methods and understand what to do with the finished puzzle. Let's take everything in order.

Find a place for the puzzle

Problem: The puzzle takes up a lot of space. The size of our card is 116 by 85 cm. It is inconvenient to assemble on the floor, and it is impossible to empty the table for a long time. If you leave the puzzle in place after assembly, there is a risk of damaging or losing parts: stepping on, spilling tea or sucking it into a vacuum cleaner.

Solution: buy a mat for puzzles. The kit includes a rectangular mat, an inflatable roller and 2-3 belts. For puzzles with 3,000 pieces, it will cost 3-4 thousand rubles. The rug is made of fleecy fabric which does not allow details to slide. It is convenient to collect puzzles on it even on a soft sofa. After assembly, you can wind the mat with the puzzle on the roller, fasten it with straps and put it in a corner until the next time. With a rug, puzzles are more convenient to assemble and easier to store.

How did we. My wife and I didn't know about rugs. It's the beginners who ask Google "how to put together a puzzle." We decided that everything for the assembly should be sold along with the puzzle. If not in the kit, then in the store. And we found that only the puzzle itself comes with the puzzle, and the sellers do not understand us. Travel option for construction market for plywood we shoaled - we wanted to start as soon as possible. I had to invent. We were lucky - in the store there were sheets of whatman paper in half of our puzzle. We glued them with tape, and we got a homemade rug.

We assemble the puzzle at IKEA coffee table, but we store it in the corner of the room under an old rug. It prolongs the life of the table and the blanket, but it is inconvenient for us. Even a covered puzzle is covered with dust, and it takes two to move it to the table. Sometimes I want to collect, but I'm too lazy to carry and clean. Over time, we adapted, but it did not become more convenient.

It is worthwhile to figure out in advance where to collect and store the puzzle. The back should be comfortable, and the details should not fly around the room. This is easier to achieve with a puzzle mat, but if space permits, you can get by with a piece of plywood or cardboard. If you organize the assembly correctly, the inconvenience will not distract from the process.

Have pity on your back - buy a rug

Sort parts

Problem: how to start assembling the puzzle. You made room, laid a rug, opened the box with the puzzle, and in it - a bag of parts. If the puzzle has 3000 pieces, then it is quite weighty. What to pay attention to?

Solution: sort the parts. Carefully look at the picture on the cover of the puzzle and mentally divide it into parts. Imagine what the details look like different parts. What color and shape they are, what pattern they have. And put the pieces in piles, turning one big puzzle into several small ones.

Start with a frame. Most pieces of the puzzle have uneven edges due to bulges and depressions, or "bulges". The parts for the frame have one even edge, and four of them even have two, these are the corners of the frame. Due to the unusual shape of the details for the frame, it is easiest to find.

Pieces of parts need to be stored somewhere. Knowledgeable people recommend candy boxes or special organizers. In them, the parts can be laid out face up and quickly find the one you need during assembly. Puzzle organizer costs from 2,000 rubles. If there were no boxes at hand, but you don’t want to spend money on an organizer, the parts can be sorted into packages. It will become more difficult to search for details - you will have to pour everything out and sort it out again. But on the other hand, all packages will easily fit in a box with a puzzle. Each method has its own merits.

When sorting for the first time, do not divide the parts into too small piles. There will be too many of them, and it will be easy to get confused. Finer sorting is best done when assembling individual pieces of the puzzle.

How did we. The historical map of the world is rich in characteristic areas. In addition to the frame, these are the rims of the hemispheres, the equator, the ocean, the continents, a motley area around the hemispheres with tablets and an inscription along the upper edge. We got 7 piles: the frame was assembled immediately, the remaining 6 were laid out in bags.

Probably, there are people who at first glance determine what kind of detail they have in their hands. They correctly lay them out in piles, and then everything converges. It wasn’t like that for us: we didn’t even find the details for the frame right away. We were upset that there were holes in the puzzle, although we ran out of suitable pieces. But then they got used to the fact that the sky is covered with a detail from the bag with the ocean and vice versa. For complex puzzles, this is normal.

When sorting through the details, jargon quickly developed. The equator is a railway, the inscription is letters, the continents are a swamp. For some reason, among the colorful details, a pattern resembling an auricle often came across, so they became ears. Later, you could say “oh, I have a railroad” or “try your ear on your man,” and it’s immediately clear what it is about. When solving a puzzle with someone, the jargon helps to communicate.

Sorting parts is boring. Sorting through 3,000 pieces of cardboard is boring even for two people. But without sorting, a complex puzzle cannot be assembled.

Divide the puzzle into pieces

Assemble the puzzle

Problem: how to select parts. Even if you divide the puzzle into parts, it takes a lot of time to find the part.

Solution: Start with simple snippets and choose the right search method. I know three methods: search by pattern, by puzzle and enumeration.

Pattern search is suitable for puzzle pieces with a characteristic pattern. Consider the detail, remember the pattern and look for it in the sample picture. If you can't find it, look in another part of the puzzle - perhaps it fell into the wrong pile when sorting. If patience is running out, put the part aside. When there are fewer holes left, a place for it will be found by itself. It is easier to search for details according to the model at the beginning, when nothing is clear from the puzzle yet.

It's not scary if you can't attach the part to the assembled part of the puzzle. At first, there will be most of these details. Just put it in the right place, and when a few disparate parts come together, they will begin to connect with each other, and this is magic.

It is worth starting the search for the puzzle when the drawing is already taking shape and it is clear what part to look for. Imagine what pattern should be on the part, what color it should be and how it should be located. View all the details from the desired pile one by one. Attach all similar pieces to the puzzle, even if it doesn't seem to fit. Sometimes a detail comes up that you would never think of. When half of the fragment is assembled, the sample is no longer needed.

It is necessary to sort out the details when assembling one-color fragments. The details are similar to each other, and it is impossible to understand where they fit from the pattern or the puzzle. It is necessary to apply one after another and look for matches in size, shape of irregularities and shade of color. Lesson is not a fun one - fortunately, there are usually few such fragments.

How did we. We began to collect a historical map of the world from characteristic areas: a large inscription along the top edge, “ railway» the equator in the center, the orange frame of the hemispheres. The pattern on the details for these areas is easy to recognize, so we put everything together and put it together with a simple enumeration. The equator and the hemispheres divided the puzzle into parts and became its skeleton.

After that, everyone collected what they wanted. It would be more correct to divide the map into fragments, so that everyone would do their own thing and not interfere with the other. But we didn't succeed. Here a strange detail attracts attention - and you are already at the other end of the map trying to attach wings to the "chaffinch". And is this a cloud or a beard of a sedate husband? Let me see!

We enjoyed the magic of the manifestation of the artist's canvas from the chaos of incomprehensible pieces. Every centimeter of order is a small victory. And methods were invented along the way. Not surprisingly, two years later, the puzzle is not yet complete.

You can collect puzzles in different ways. You can start with simple pictures, learn techniques and train. If you want to become a cool puzzle collector, there is no other way. And you can not think about the methods and collect as you want - or experiment. It won't stop you from having a good time.

Method on method does not fall

Turn a puzzle into a painting

Problem: the puzzle is assembled - how to hang it on the wall so that everything does not crumble?

Solution: The easiest way is to glue on the front side with puzzle glue or self-adhesive film.

Glue is poured between the parts and tightly fastens them. Good glue is transparent, does not become cloudy and does not dry out over time. This pleasure costs from 100 to 1000 rubles. The disadvantage of glue is that then the puzzle can no longer be disassembled.

The film is glued to the front side of the puzzle and holds the pieces together well. To make the picture clearly visible, you need to choose a glossy film. It’s not worth saving on film - a good film does not stretch or bubble, and if it sticks unevenly, you can peel it off and try again. A roll of film half a meter wide will cost 500 rubles.

After gluing the parts, the puzzle must be glued to the base. It can be cardboard, plywood or canvas - with or without a frame. The easiest way is to give the puzzle to the framing workshop, where it will be beautifully decorated and laminated. For a puzzle with 2-3 thousand pieces, it will cost two thousand.

If you do not glue the puzzle on the front side, the parts may crumble. Experts write that you can turn it over without fixing the details and that you can glue the puzzle from the inside out. But why take the risk?

How did we. We have not yet assembled the puzzle and have not decided how we will turn it into a picture. I am for the film, my wife believes that we will not succeed in gluing it exactly. But we have already decided that we will frame it and hang it on the wall. I want to admire the masterpiece.

After assembly, the puzzle can be disassembled and put in a box until the next time. But you can fix the details with glue or film and turn them into a picture. Over time, the apartment can become an art gallery!

Cast your puzzle in bronze

Putting together puzzles can seem like a frivolous activity. But in practice, it helps to develop spatial imagination, decorate the interior and have fun. To solve puzzles faster and get more pleasure from the process, remember some simple rules.

1. Get ready to assemble. Buy a puzzle mat or make your own out of cardboard or plywood. Find a place to assemble and store the puzzle.
2. Sort out the details. Turn one big puzzle into several small ones. Start with a rough sort and divide the piles further as you build.
3. Learn a few simple techniques for finding parts. Start assembling according to the pattern on the lid of the box, then focus on the assembled pieces of the puzzle. Solid parts are faster to assemble by sorting through the parts.
4. Think about what you will do with the puzzle after assembly. You can fix the parts with puzzle glue or self-adhesive film. If you want to glue from the inside, the puzzle will have to be turned over. This is easier to do if assembled on plywood or board.

I am learning to write and abbreviate in the Advanced Course of Glavred Maxim Ilyakhov and Luda Sarycheva. I post on my blog so you don't get lost.