March 11, 2010
Thursday 5:48 pm - The auction is over. wow, Wow, WOW! A bidder once suggested that I think about Carnival of Harlequin for a puzzle, which I eventually did. This bidder came in with less than a minute to go and placed a single, gigantic bid of $17,171.00 and he LOST! This price is way beyond anything I ever dreamed of, not even for the last puzzle of the project! Time for celebration!
Thursday 1:01 pm - Finally, after working all morning, the logo collection phase of the next puzzle is done. From Abbott Laboratories to Zions Bancorporation. I'm going to take the rest of the day and tomorrow off.
There are logos all over the internet, some people sell digital images to graphics artists, but nowhere have I seen any art made from a collection of logos. So maybe this will be the "forbidden puzzle" of the 100 Puzzles Project. I'm currently seeking legal advice. I'm going to make the puzzle, selling it is the issue. I suspect the auction is going to be by invitation only, that is only to those in my 100 Puzzles Project Email Notification List (see 100 Puzzles Project near the top - "Join My Auction Notice List") - if you want to be notified about this puzzle's auction.
March 10, 2010
Wednesday 3:56 pm - In a very long effort since early this morning I got another 50 logos done, now up to 450 for puzzle #835, the 99th puzzle of the 100 Puzzles Project, Corporate Logosphere Celebration. I expect to complete the gathering tomorrow. Then a break and then figuring out how I'm ever going to manipulate 500 files into a single image! I do in fact plan on going to an Apple store and seeing what kind of super large screens they have for working with very large images.
The auction for 100PP #98, Carnival of Harlequin ends tomorrow. The auction has followed the standard pattern of lots of bids in the early going and then nothing going into the last day. Even with the outstanding bid of $4150, there could be some sniper action in the last few minutes tomorrow.
March 9, 2010
Tuesday 6:36 pm - I'm continuing to work on the logo project and now have 400 logos on file. I've renamed the proposed puzzle from The S&P 500 Puzzle to Corporate Logosphere Celebration. The logo set will continue to be those of the 500 companies comprising the S&P 500 Index. The new puzzle name is tentative.
March 8, 2010
Monday 7:44 pm - I'm continuing to work on the logos, now have 366 done. I'm currently seeking legal advice regarding the project. If there is a legal problem, the puzzle will be auctioned off eBay via private bids, as I will make the puzzle and offer it for sale. The puzzle will be a limited edition of one. An alternative, if there is a problem, is to auction on eBay with obscure language and no pictures.
March 7, 2010
Sunday 11:30 am - Got up early and knocked off 46 more logos with about a half dozen requiring a lot of work to get decent ones. I now have 300 and that's it for today - too much staring at the computer screen. Many companies have changed their logos in the past few years unbeknownst to me until now. For example Kraft Foods:
Kraft Foods Inc. - old and new logos
The general shade of blue used for the lettering is very, very popular when it comes to logos!
I'll resume work on this project tomorrow.
March 6, 2010
Saturday 3:41 pm - This logo collection thing I'm doing is taking a huge amount of time. I now have 254. I've been dissatisfied with the quality of the art for a bunch of them and found out that I can occasionally find a better one on the back cover of annual reports - so I went back and tweaked a whole bunch of logos. Wikipedia is an excellent source for many, but for many others the resolution is poor. Google Images fills in quite a few more, but for some I have to root through corporate websites. So there is work finding them and getting the art. Sometimes good ones are in black and white while the real logo is in color so I have to transfer the colors to create an excellent logo. Some logos have changed over time and I have to be sure I have the current one. New logos in Green and Blue are popular. Even the the S&P 500 index has changed since I started with two companies dropped and two added! From one perspective there may be massive copyright problems in what I'm doing, but from mine there are none. Andy Warhol painted a Campbell Soup can. This is what I'm doing in spirit, but celebrating the personae of 500 big public companies! Six hours today, a lot of work. I will pace myself going forward at about 50 a day - no more going back and tweaking, so the time spent going forward should be more streamlined.
The Auction is, well what can I say, but stupendous! The 100 Puzzles Project has really blossomed into a thing of itself, beyond puzzles, maybe a bit about me? And about the puzzle collecting community! I just have to keep a steady course, because these last two puzzles are going to be such an effort. And then it will be done. I must have received a dozen emails from people wanting puzzles in the past week. I'm going to have to collate them all and go through older ones and come up with a solution beyond lotteries and auctions on eBay for order slots. The puzzle auctions over the past couple years have gone to a very concentrated group of bidders, so there are people who are going empty handed - all I can say is patience. When the Project is done, I am going to take a major, major break before I resume in some fashion (excluding the work I have to do to prepare for the August Puzzle Parley - a presentation about the Project - and there will be some smaller puzzles for sale, one per customer).
March 5, 2010
Friday 4:34 pm - For the first time in months I am totally caught up with email, not a single one left unanswered!
The Auction is certainly off to a super start, with the current bid at almost $1.93 per puzzle piece, well more than my custom puzzle pricing of $1.10 per Swirl Curl style piece in the Small piece size. So far all of the bidders have been bidders who have bid on previous puzzles in the 100 Puzzles Project. I wish eBay wouldn't scramble the bidder names for others to see, there was more of a bidding community when bidder names were all public.
Today I continued work on collecting logos for the next puzzle. I now have 200 logos collected. 500 logos will take up a huge amount of area to display them nicely - I'm going to have quite a bit of work figuring out how to design this puzzle and manipulate the art work, 500 layers in Photoshop will be virtually impossible to work with. I might have to go to Apple and purchase a really big screen! With the shape of the puzzle being a $ sign, that means the dimensions of the puzzle will have to be even bigger due to the irregular shape. The $ sign will have to be very "fat".
March 4, 2010
Thursday 10:10 pm - Other sections of this website have been updated to reflect the launch of the Auction. The auction is off to an excellent start, thank you! In the auction description I discuss some of the features of this puzzle, including "false clc".
This afternoon I did a little more prep work on the 99th puzzle of the project, The S&P 500 Puzzle. I went back and standardized the sizes of the logo images I had collected so far and collected some more, I now have 140 of the 500 logos on file.
Thursday 5:44 pm - Auction launched. Will update rest of website after classes are done.
March 3, 2010
Wednesday 6:05 pm - I've now completed the unusually arduous inspection / cleanup process for #834, Carnival of Harlequin. Final piece count 1322.
Puzzle 834 - cleanup - the pieces in the top row with whiskers before cleanup - bottom row, afterwards
I plan to launch the auction tomorrow afternoon - I will have more to say about the puzzle and will have more pictures.
March 2, 2010
Tuesday 10:53 pm - The "dewhiskering" of the pieces of #834, Carnival of Harlequin is taking longer than expected. Sometimes puzzle pieces don't need any work or just a little, others quite a bit, perhaps due to minor variations in the wood. I have 600 of the estimated 1300 pieces done. Between sets of 100 pieces I worked obtaining corporate logo graphics for the next puzzle, The S&P 500 Index Puzzle. A few days ago I said I had 80 done, turns out I had 70 done. I now have 120 done. The start of the auction for Carnival of Harlequin has been delayed to Thursday.
March 1, 2010
Monday 3:25 pm - Puzzle #833, Octastar, shipped.
Today I sanded the back of #834, Carnival of Harlequin and took official pictures. I'm posting the main picture here, will have some others later.
As for the tsunami action around San Diego, I've read that after the first water-out / water-in cycle that I documented, there were several more of similar magnitude - however I wasn't around to witness this as within minutes after I took the last picture, rain moved in and I moved out!
February 27, 2010
Saturday 4:57 pm - No puzzle work today, needed a break - will resume cutting tomorrow; expect to finish the puzzle on Monday.
Saturday 2:25 pm - A tsunami advisory was issued for the San Diego area after the big earthquake in Chile. Just slight tidal variations were predicted, no warnings were issued. The tsunami time was predicted for 12:02 PM. I went to my favorite observation spot in Coronado.
The surf was small with the average wave reaching an old concrete structure at 11:50AM
When this picture taken, 11:57AM, the water was noticeably receding from the structure
12 Noon - water was the furthest away from the structure
Water started to come around the structure at 12:03 PM; this photo 12:09 PM, peaked around 12:12 PM
12:19 PM - back to normal - note the darker water marks on the structure
Virtually no-one around the beach had any idea anything was supposed to happen or did happen
During winter storms, the variation is larger, just wave to wave!
Saturday 12:37 am - Between the third long day in a row spent cutting #834, Carnival of Harlequin (100 Puzzles Project #98) and attending the extended program for a grand opening of a new ballroom, I had very little time for anything else today (now yesterday - Friday). On Friday, I cut another 325 or so pieces and now have around 965 done with about 340 to go. Cutting continues to go well and I'm now well past the point where I abandoned the previous attempt at this puzzle. I expect a lighter day of cutting tomorrow and I plan to wrap up the cutting on Sunday. The auction for this puzzle will launched next week.
Earlier this week, during some spare time, I continued to develop a collection of corporate logos for #835, the #99th puzzle of the 100 Puzzles Project - The S&P 500 puzzle. I now have logo files for 80 of the 500 companies in the index. After the Carnival of Harlequin auction is launched I will step up work collecting the complete set of logos and then begin the major task of designing the image for the puzzle - the puzzle may be so large that I might have to use stack cutting to combine two boards into a single puzzle - this remains to be seen. If I'm successful combining boards, I will likely use this technique for #100, the massive Grand Finale of the project.
Puzzle #834 - Carnival of Harlequin, current status
The Auction is over, I continue to deeply thank you for bidding!
February 26, 2010
Friday 7:11 am - Yesterday the cutting marathon continued with a similar amount of time spent cutting #834, Carnival of Harlequin. I completed the second section, cutting close to 340 pieces. Lots of subtle devious color line cutting. With 640 pieces so far, the puzzle is close to half done. Cutting continues to go extremely well with no problems. In the first attempt, last January, I abandoned the puzzle around the 800 piece mark. I've decided to go for a third long day today. I cut my first "stand up" piece yesterday (a piece which may stand up within the puzzle), the Observer took the honors.
Puzzle #834 - Carnival of Harlequin, current status
The Observer made an appearance
Making a standing ovation for the Hexa Curl in the Green Globe (see first picture)
Auction ends today.
February 24, 2010
Wednesday 6:17 pm (edited Thursday 6:42 am) - I'm now in marathon mode, was at the shop for more the eight hours with about seven hours at the saw. Cut close to 300 pieces - the first major section, plus I did some subdividing work and some figural / line cutting in the second section. Cutting is going well, no errors or problems so far. I expect to put in another long day tomorrow, then slow down the pace a little until the puzzle is done.
Puzzle #834 - Carnival of Harlequin, current status
About 1/2 of the total puzzle is in the picture, there are two more big sections (uncut) out of the picture.
No bids today for the Auction (100 Puzzles Project #97) so far. Auction ends in two day.
February 23, 2010
Tuesday 6:07 pm - The second attempt of Carnival of Harlequin, #834 is underway, finally! I did the harrowing initial cuts, dividing the board into quarters, did the edges, and subdivided one of the quarters into smaller sections, cutting several figurals and some small clc'd pieces. Just seven pieces have been cut so far. This is a major puzzle, and will have around 1300 Swirl Curl style pieces. Tomorrow I hope to finish the first of the quarter sections, with about 270 pieces.
Tuesday 12:33 am - With Octastar now already bid up to $775, that puts it well beyond what I think most people would be willing to purchase it for as an ongoing Custom Puzzle Craft product. I've received more email regarding this puzzle than perhaps any other, so chances are quite good that I'll come up with something similar but not the same to offer sometime in the future. No idea when at this time.
February 22, 2010
Monday 8:29 am - I mentioned there are five general shapes in which Octastar may be solved. This morning I realized there are six; I've updated the auction description.
The six general solutions to Octastar
There have been many geometric puzzles over the years, decades, even centuries, for example the very famous Tangram Puzzle. And of course there have been many jigsaw puzzles over time. I'm wondering through - I don't ever recall an interlocking jigsaw puzzle designed to go into different geometric shapes via the trick of stack cutting. Is mine the first? Feedback on this subject is welcome.
February 19, 2010
Friday 2:36 pm - Auction launched. Final piece count 254.
February 17, 2010
Wednesday 5:03 pm - Introducing Octastar - a brilliantly designed puzzle (if I may so say) with multiple solutions!
Puzzle 833 - Octastar - Solution #1
Puzzle 833 - Octastar - Solution #2
Puzzle 833 - Octastar - Solution #3
Puzzle 833 - Octastar - Solution #4
Puzzle 833 - Octastar - Solution #5
There are other solutions, but they are in one of the five unique shapes shown here with other color combinations.
Today I inspected the pieces, repaired a void and now I'm going to try to put the puzzle together! Preliminary piece count: 253.
I will be launching the auction for this puzzle on Friday. For the first time in the history of the 100 Puzzles Project, I'm going to make an exception to my pricing policy. Regardless of what this puzzle goes for on eBay, I reserve the right to make copies of this puzzle and sell them at a price lower than what it goes for on eBay if the eBay price is stratospheric. This will be the only exception, the remaining three puzzles in the Project will adhere to my standard policy. Because I am semi-retired from puzzle making, going on to almost fully retired, and due to the weeks I spent designing and figuring out how to make this puzzle, I've set the price for copies at [EDIT February 18th - I am not decided on the price]. At this time I am not accepting orders, and might not ever. I do plan to make a copy for myself after the Project is completed, and will be bringing to the Puzzle Parley this August - not for sale, but for play!
I'll have more to say about this puzzle when I launch the auction on Friday.
February 16, 2010
Tuesday 7:22 pm - MAJOR all day marathon at the shop today - finally there is a puzzle #833! After the January disaster with Carnival of Harlequin and repeated attempts to cut Octastar, Octastar is done. Not perfect - there are issues, but for my first real trick puzzle, an impressive effort. The puzzle is still at the shop, needs to be sanded and a few non-serious voids fixed. I upped the projected piece count from 200 to 250, will have the final count later. Pictures tomorrow.
February 15, 2010
Monday 10:45 pm - I have pulled all pictures of Octastar - I'll have new pictures when the puzzle is finished.
Monday 6:14 pm - Yesterday I printed the "final" print with cutting guidance for Octastar and today I mounted it. Tomorrow is "cut Octastar day"; I plan to cut #833, Octastar my schedule has been cleared.
I'm not quite sure how I want to auction Octastar. My 100 Puzzles Project rules say that the price set by the auction will be the minimum price for subsequent puzzles of the same image and size. But with the recent high prices, the price for this puzzle may be too high for other people to purchase it, should I want to sell copies in the future. An exception to this rule is that I can sell "mini" version at a lower price, for example I have done this with my Geometric Pattern Puzzles. The question is, "how much smaller is mini?". The problem is that this puzzle is already not that large. No decision reached at this time. I'm currently expecting to auction the puzzle starting this Friday.
Thin moon this evening at 10x magnification
February 12, 2010
Friday 5:02 pm - I was at the shop for a couple hours today, experimenting with cutting Octastar using a single board - I cut quickly (that is without regard to aesthetics) and only part of the test puzzle. Works fine. I expect to cut the real Octastar on Monday. Dance workshop this weekend. Have to rush now to Mixed Media to help set up for tonight's reception which I'm going to miss for the most part. I've decided not to cut the Octastar Prototype puzzle after all, instead will cut another formal Octastar, for myself, later this year after the 100 Puzzles Project is done. Will update the Puzzle Queue to reflect this later.
February 11, 2010
Thursday 4:54 pm - Completed a rush-rush art piece Expressions of the Heart for Mixed Media's Love, No Love art how. No photo yet. Then two hours to help a friend who is moving out of town to get to the train station, seven bags, a logistical exercise that took patience to get done. I helped carry the bags onto the train, then they announced "doors closing in one minute", I had to scramble down some steps to a lower level of the rail car, and the doors closed before I could get off, then the train started to move! I had to run down two coach car lengths, find a conductor and get the train stopped, which I managed to do. Whew! I apparently should not have been allowed on the train in the first place. Didn't see any porters.
I think I've figured out a way to make Octastar from one board, this will eliminate one of the stack cuts. Tomorrow I'm going to do a quickie experiment to test this and I plan to complete #833, Octastar Prototype.
For the first time in many years I saw a "triple sun dog" this afternoon! Weather has finally settled down, nice day today and no rain predicted for at least a week.
Triple Sun Dog
