Help me put together the pieces...

November 24, 2005 7:22 AM

I want to give a gift of a custom-photo jigsaw puzzle this Christmas to a puzzle fanatic, using one of her favorite pictures of her kids. A quick google gives lots of companies willing to take my money, some small, some large. Has anyone else out in AskMeLand done this? Any recommendations for a particular service? Anything I should be careful of when selecting the pictures to use?
posted by bonehead to shopping (4 comments total)

Assuming Kipper 1 Zweibuck, 6 Hippos ate is a Canadian postal code:

I've seen puzzles offered by Black's and it seemed pretty decent with the caveat that the pieces were probably twice as large as is normal. The more edges and contrasts in the picture the better. Avoid that picture of them standing on a beach.
posted by Mitheral at 10:05 AM on November 24, 2005

I would say the opposite. The puzzle enthusiasts I know like the puzzles of the beach or of giants fields of snow. They're more challenging that way.
posted by duck at 11:37 AM on November 24, 2005

It's a bit on the pricey side, but my parents have been getting wooden puzzles from Stave for years. They're amazingly well crafted, and last forever. Haven't personally seen a photo one, but their site says they can do it. They will also carve special pieces just for your puzzle (initials, rebuses, etc.) upon request.
posted by Bezbozhnik at 2:15 PM on November 24, 2005

One indirect but worthwhile answer would be to read "Life, a User's Manual" by Georges Perec. It is a book about all the inhabitants of a Parisian apartment block. One of the main characters spends his life touring the world and making watercolour paintings which are then shipped home and turned into very high quality jigsaws. There are several descriptions of exactly how a really top class jigsaw differs from an "instant" one.
posted by rongorongo at 2:36 PM on November 24, 2005