Made to order jigsaw puzzles?

July 20, 2011 8:50 PM

Where can I get a custom photo jigsaw puzzle made? The catch: The "photo" file would be an image from X-Men.

I know there are X-Men jigsaw puzzles already out there, but I wanted to get my boyfriend a puzzle (300-1000 pieces) featuring his favorite character (Bishop). I haven't found any Bishop-only puzzles, so my plan was to find a high-resolution image from a cover featuring him and submit that to a custom puzzle maker.

1. Is this against copyright law?
If so, any suggestions for an alternative that still captures the essence of what I intended to do? I'm really attached to this idea because he loves puzzles, he loves Bishop, and it would be fun to work on something together that could then be framed & hung.

2. Any recommendations for a U.S. custom puzzle-making company? The most legit one I've googled up is Jigsaw2Order, but was wondering if anyone has been happy with others.

3. Where to find an image on the internet that would be high-enough resolution for a puzzle? I'm not even sure how to determine if the "dpi" is high enough. Would I be better served tracking down an issue/poster and scanning it in myself? (And in that case, would ebay be my best bet for a reasonable price? ... I know nothing about comics or the market for them. Any pointers would be appreciated!)

posted by amillionbillion to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

I remember seeing ads several months ago for a jigsaw puzzle you could make into any picture you wanted over and over again. The way it worked was that there was a computer program you plugged your picture into, and it would output a puzzle of symbols that were printed on one side of the puzzle tiles. The other side of the puzzle tiles had various gradient colors on them. You'd put the puzzle together upside down according to their symbol puzzle, then flip it over and you'd magically have your picture. I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in (since it wouldn't be a Bishop puzzle, but a puzzle with the potential to be a Bishop puzzle), but it's a pretty cool concept nonetheless.

However, I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, and the several minutes of googling have been fruitless. Maybe someone else remembers?
posted by phunniemee at 9:31 PM on July 20, 2011

1. Probably. They'll tell you if you can't do it.

3. Google image search> advanced mode> minimum picture size. You can also find a higher-res version of a picture by clicking the camera button in the search box and giving the url to a lower res image.
posted by devnull at 11:28 PM on July 20, 2011

I used Jigsaw2Order last year for a christmas gift, and was very happy with the results. The one thing I wished was different is that the puzzle box didn't have my photo printed on the outside, the way a store-bought puzzle would. But it did come with a nice printout of the photo that I ended up taping to the inside cover, so the recipient could see what I had given them without having to spend hours assembling the puzzle first.
posted by vytae at 11:57 PM on July 20, 2011

Try this guy. All I know is that he lives in my small town.

[e-mail]
posted by Hobgoblin at 7:40 AM on July 21, 2011

phunniemee: "I remember seeing ads several months ago for a jigsaw puzzle you could make into any picture you wanted over and over again. The way it worked was that there was a computer program you plugged your picture into, and it would output a puzzle of symbols that were printed on one side of the puzzle tiles. The other side of the puzzle tiles had various gradient colors on them. You'd put the puzzle together upside down according to their symbol puzzle, then flip it over and you'd magically have your picture. I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in (since it wouldn't be a Bishop puzzle, but a puzzle with the potential to be a Bishop puzzle), but it's a pretty cool concept nonetheless.

However, I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, and the several minutes of googling have been fruitless. Maybe someone else remembers"

You're thinking of Jigazo and it's awesome though certainly not what the OP was after...
posted by turkeyphant at 2:04 PM on July 21, 2011