05/23/16 3-D Puzzle Display

  We have a new display up for you to view, Sharon & Sarah Krueger of Manchester, have a 3-D Puzzle Collection.  A jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle that requires the assembly of tiles or interlocking pieces in such a manner as to form a picture, or in this case a three-dimensional structure.  The puzzle pieces may be made of cardboard, wood, plastic, rubber, metal, or foam.  Sarah & Sharon like the Styrofoam pieces best because they don’t separate as easy. 

                Puzzles can range in difficulty from very easy 3 piece puzzles for toddlers to the current record holder, Life-The Great Challenge, with a whopping 24,000 pieces.  Sarah & Sharon have puzzles that go from 50 pieces to the one they are working on now which  is over 1400 pieces.  They tried regular puzzles first but Sharon said those never seemed to get finished and sometimes the animals would  knock them off the table.  She also said  that the 3-D puzzles take the sisters about a week to finish, maybe a bit longer if the pieces are very similar in color. The Great Wall of China was the very 1st puzzle the girls put together and that is one of the puzzles that is on display. 

                It is said that the first jigsaw puzzle was constructed around 1760 by British mapmaker John Spilbury. Spilbury took one of his world maps, pasted it to sheet of hardwood and cut around the borders of the countries with a fine-bladed saw. The result was a useful visual aid to help children learn world geography.  Cardboard didn't become the material of choice for jigsaw puzzles until the 20th century, when puzzle companies began using dies.  The popularity of the jigsaw puzzle reached its peak during the Great Depression, as piecing them together was an inexpensive way to pass the time during long periods of unemployment.  Sharon & Sarah both greatly enjoy the puzzles which they pick up anywhere they can find them, stores, rummage sales, etc.  The puzzles will be on display for the next month so stop in and take a peek.  Maybe it will inspire you to try a new type of puzzle!