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Custom Puzzle Craft Maker of Fine Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles |
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You have entered the "Art Objects" section of Custom Puzzle Craft. Here you will find some explorations by me (John Stokes), within a realm other than my Custom and Gallery wooden jigsaw puzzles. Three areas of Art Object Exploration have emerged:
| Product Line | Description |
| Compulsories | Small jigsaw puzzles with a set of "compulsory" requirements (just as the Compulsory Ice Dancing sport has prescribed elements). Think of these as a form of Jigsaw Puzzle Haiku! |
| Shape Puzzlettes | Small wooden shapes, no picture, cut into a few pieces. Shape Puzzlettes are customizable, in both shape and cutting style. |
| Wood Dances | "Major works" |
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The idea for Compulsories came to me in the fall on 2003, after testing some puzzle blades. I was cutting particularly intricate patterns as I was interested in seeing how the different blades performed when pushed to my limit. A visitor to my shop in late 2003 noticed a couple of my test pieces and wanted to buy one. As I had grown attached to them, and because they contained some imperfections, I offered to make a new one, and thus a new product line was born! Before I started cutting I thought about what I was going to do and was reminded of the Compulsory Ice Dancing sport in the Winter Olympics. In this sport, the dancer is free to dance to the music as s/he pleases, however, during the dance routine, eight specific movements must be performed, thus the name "Compulsory". I then decided that I would define an art form - puzzle cutting performance art - used to make Compulsories - free form cutting but with some specific figures required!
Initially I defined Compulsories as being 9" x 3" with five cuts, generating six pieces. I wrote an "official" set of rules for how to cut Compulsories (see the Historical Note, below).
Initially Compulsories were "plain wood", later ones have been frequently painted. In 2008 I redefined a Compulsory as an Art Object having anywhere from 2 to 9 pieces. If more than 9 then the work is officially counted as being a "Puzzle" and is formally numbered. I know this is problematic as some customers consider all of my Creative cutting style puzzles to be "art" or vice versa. Anyway, what is, is. Confusing the issue is that some Compulsories have been offered as puzzles within the 100 Puzzles Project! Compulsories originally had to have six pieces and be 9" x 3", later I did one with nine pieces, sized 6" x 6" and put it on eBay. I later cut a prototype 9" x 3" Compulsory meant to be fully painted with five pieces instead of six, by mistake. A customer saw the picture and ordered some. Thus the decision to broaden the scope to a range of 2 to 9 pieces.
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# Pieces
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Size
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Unpainted
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Painted
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2
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3" x 3"
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$100
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$125
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3
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3" x 3"
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$100
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$125
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4
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6" x 3"
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$100
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$125
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5
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9" x 3"
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$125
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$150
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6
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9" x 3"
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$125
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$155
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7
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6" x 6"
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$150
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$185
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8
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6" x 6"
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$175
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$215
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9
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6" x 6"
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$175
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$220
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Compulsory Examples
Six Piece Compulsories
Six Piece Compulsories #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 (top to bottom) - All coated with Tung Oil
Six Piece Compulsories #14 and 15 - Both coated with Tung Oil
These are the same size, 9" x 3", as the earlier ones, just the picture is bigger
In August 2004, I made my first "painted" Compulsory. This one was made from an earlier work I had abandoned, but kept in my shop. When working on a Pelican sculpture, I decided to resurrect the work and apply some of the sculpture colors to the Compulsory. The result looked fantastic and the work became Six Piece Compulsory #12. It was sold on September 11, 2004 at Concord, MA at a gathering of puzzle cutters. The "Desert Sand" style involves painting two pieces black, two either gray or silver, and leaving two pieces unpainted.
Six Piece Compulsory #12, painted (desert sand variety 1) - with one of the best Whirly Gears (black, center) ever!
Life Pulse prelude
Six Piece Compulsory #16, painted (desert sand variety 2)
Made on February 17, 2008
Five Piece Compulsories
Nine Piece Compulsories
Nine Piece Compulsory #1, painted, with stand
The work is 6" x 6"
Nine Piece Compulsory #1, painted, with stand - other views
6 Piece Golden Ratio Compulsories
On October 9, 2008 I made my first "Golden Ratio Compulsory" at the suggestion of a customer. I decided on a larger size: 10" by 6.18". Cutting the Compulsory in a larger size gave me more room to roam, and I think the work is excellent - usually there is some curve or other cut I wish I could do over, this one is really nice. When I cut it, I deliberately left out some of the common patterns I frequently include, so as to let new creativity flow to the wood! This one is not for sale.
Six Piece Golden Ratio Compulsory #1
Lots of areas with cool stuff happening
A peek at the stand, between "clamps", still drying
Made from Peruvian Walnut
In March of 2009 I made a second one with a similar coloring scheme, as #87 of the 100 Puzzles Project. With stand, it sold for $381.54.
Six Piece Golden Ratio Compulsory #2
See Golden Ratio Compulsory #2 for extensive information about my thought processes while cutting this work.
Art Puzzles
I have made some works with more the 9 pieces, officially counted at puzzles.
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Puzzle #
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Date
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Size
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Pieces
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Pc / Sq"
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Surface
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Name / Link |
1st Cost
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Current
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636
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Oct 8, 2005
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7" x 7"
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69
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1.49
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Painted
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Painted Creative Style #1 - Life Complexity |
Experimental
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n/a
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741
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July 3, 2007
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12.5" x 12.5"
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149
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0.95
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Tung Oiled
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Creative Art with Tricky Egg |
$432
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n/a
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794
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June 9, 2008
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31.5" x 16.5"
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571
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1.10
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Tung Oiled
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Creative Art with Six Tricky Eggs |
$1500
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n/a
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799
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July 15, 2008
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14.1" x 14.1"
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201
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1.01
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Painted
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Painted Creative Puzzle #2 |
$1000
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$2000
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805
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Oct 15, 2008
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18" x 15"
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270
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1.00
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Tung Oiled
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Creative Art with Four Tricky Eggs |
$810
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n/a
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831
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Nov 24, 2009
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25.25" x 16.25"
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466
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1.14
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Tung Oiled
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Creative Art with Five Tricky Eggs |
$4244
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n/a
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I have settled on a piece size of about 1 piece per square inch for Art Puzzles. I am not accepting orders for Art Puzzles at this time; the "Current" price is a general guideline for what I'd charge for this kind of puzzle. In these puzzles my Creative style pieces are larger than I normally cut, and thus take a lot more time to cut.
Historical Note - The Original Compulsory Rules
These are the original "rules" I made up shortly before cutting the first Compulsory in November 2003, a six piece 9" by 3" Art Object. I have since defined Compulsories as having anywhere from 2 to 9 pieces with a set wood size depending on the number of pieces (described above). I have since "unpublished" the rules, and have relaxed requirements regarding the saw's' speed, pausing, taking breaks, etc.
Arena
- Rectangular board, wood, 9" x 3"
Saw
- The saw has to run at least 700 rpm
- The saw's speed may not be changed at anytime during the course of the performance: from the initiation of the first cut until the completion of the last cut.
Cutting
- Five cuts. A cut is completed when a section of wood is divided into two pieces. 5 cuts means 6 pieces.
- The distance of each cut may be as long or as short as desired.
- The cuts may be located anywhere on the board
- A cut may loop back to itself, ending the cut
- Dead-end cuts are not permitted (no backtracking of the blade)
- No patterns may be used to guide the cutting in the form of overlays or drawing on the wood
- Once a cut begins, the saw has to remain in motion, unless a blade breaks
- If a blade breaks, the replacement blade must be threaded to the same location as the break, a closing cut from another direction is not permitted
- It is OK to pause the movement of the work during a cut, but the saw continues to run
- There is no limit to the elapsed time between cuts, but the cutter should (not compulsory) remain positioned in front of the saw for the duration of the performance.
Movements
Compulsories are not as tightly bound as the Olympic Compulsory Ice Dances! The cutting is freeform with some strongly suggested movements.
- At least one very tight gear curl
- An interlude with parallel lines
- At least one very fancy curl
- Some basic Swirl Curl movements (sway curl, mushroom reversal, bow-tie, etc.)
- Strong emphasis on flow-cutting; may be thought of as "puzzle cutting feng shui"
- Odd-numbered bubble runs (usually 3 or 5 bubbles).
Some of these strongly suggested movements must appear.
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Shape Puzzlettes are small wooden shapes cut into a few pieces. Unlike regular jigsaw puzzles, no picture is attached to the wood. The wood is usually stained to highlight the cut. Currently the maximum size offered is with a longest dimension of 10" and with a maximum of 10 pieces. One Word piece or up to two Figure pieces may be requested.
At this time no web-based ordering mechanism has been established. The price is $50.00. If you want to order a Shape Puzzlette, contact john@custompuzzlecraft.com.
A Shape Puzzlette
Whale shape cut into seven pieces, including a "TAY" word piece.
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Moved to another location on the Internet, details some day.
© John S. Stokes III - Puzzle Crafter & Webmaster
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