Hobby Thread - February 22, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin. Turns out, the Wheel is always looking for a challenge. It said JIGSAW PUZZLES. Let's put the pieces together.

Jigsaw puzzling is a good indoor, winter activity. Puzzling can also be good brain food.

Are you a puzzler? Do you like always having a working puzzle on a table that you can tinker with from time to time? Are you a serious puzzler that must finish once you start a puzzle?

Do you have favorite themes? Do you attempt difficult puzzles with abstract patterns or a Where's Waldo style theme with pieces that look very similar? Have you ever attempted a puzzle without a picture? How about a two sided puzzle so you have to figure out which side of the puzzle piece belongs with which picture?

How many pieces do your puzzles usually have? 100? 500? 1000? 3000? (The interwebs say 1000 pieces is the most popular.)

Do you have a room with a perfect puzzle place? Do you have animals that wreak havoc on your assembly projects in process?

Have you ever framed a finished puzzle to preserve it?

What are you hobbying these days? As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Your participation does not need to limited to the theme. All hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants, as always, are optional.

Nurse Ratched sent a photo of her present puzzling project:

Looks like a lot of pieces and a good puzzling place! Thank you!

Five pieces of jigsaw puzzle trivia:

The first jigsaw puzzle was created in 1767 by a British mapmaker named John Spilsbury. He mounted a map on a piece of wood and cut it into pieces to help teach geography. The resulting puzzle was called a "dissected map."

While they started as educational tools, jigsaw puzzles became a popular form of entertainment in the 1930s.

During the Great Depression, people looked for affordable ways to pass the time and escape the difficulties of daily life. Puzzle makers produced puzzles with images of idyllic scenes, such as country farms and beach vacations to provided an escape.

The term "jigsaw" refers to the original tool used to cut the pieces, which resembled a hand held saw with fine teeth.

Early puzzle makers may have intentionally left out a piece to symbolize life's imperfection. Hard to find proof, so the rumor may be more lore from storytelling than fact.

Looking for a gift idea? Transform a favorite photo into a jigsaw puzzle. There are many, many places online that provide such services. Here is one from a well-known puzzle maker but AoSHQ makes no formal recommendations or endorsements.

Jigsaw puzzle championships!

Science time. What do jigsaw puzzles do for your brain?

Why limit puzzling to two dimensions? Let's go 3D!

Impressive technology demonstration but completely beside the point of puzzling:

Touring a jigsaw puzzle factory!

Making a jigsaw puzzle from scrap wood:

Struggling for space? Build a puzzling table with a rolltop style top that can be rolled out of the way for puzzling and rolled back for daily use.

"Ye Who Are About to Enter Here, Abandon All Hope." Watch on mute per Dr No.

Horde Hobbying with paint:

Tankascribe did a lot of painting in the Fall and Winter.

Hans and Ciar (no relation) were King and Queen for a group that celebrates the best cultural and historical aspects of the Middle Ages. Tankascribe painted both from photos. Hans came first and Ciar was next. Sadly, Hans passed away, but his widow loves having the painting. Ciar was very pleased with hers.

This 5x7 portrait in oil took 13 hours.

These two scrolls for a husband and wife are each 11x14. The red circle represents the red wax seal that will be applied after the Royalty who gave out the awards have signed. This lets you see how the seal ties in with the recipients' names in red ink above. Both recipients have an early Irish persona, so the scenes are set off the coast of Northern Ireland. She likes castles and he likes ships. Her scroll took 11 hours and his took 12 hours. They are executed in india ink, gouache, and bordered with 23-karat gold leaf (hers) and palladium leaf (his).

Amazing. Beautiful. Thank you!

Horde Hobbying Update:

From Patches who is making progress on his Porsche 936/78. In real life, this prototype raced on the world stage in the late 1970s, and early 1980s. This kit was purchased 21 years ago and is finally getting a chance at assembly. Final decals still to come, but worth sharing work in progress. Also worth the reminder that kits on the shelf are still kits worth building.

More Horde Hobbying:

From last week:

Ham radio on the HF bands, what we used to call shortwave. So far, I have made over 14000 contacts to 159 countries. My main antennas are EFHWs, which are wires hanging in trees. They work fine, but I am really chuffed about learning about these loop antennas.

Thank you, gp! Anyone else messing with home-built antennas to talk with space aliens?

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week with a theme of bargain hunting? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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