The image is from a calendar I purchased featuring famous disasters of the Twentieth Century © 1998 Golden Turtle Press Inc.

This puzzle is historic for Custom Puzzle Craft as this is the first "'Swirl Curl" cutting style puzzle I cut. No other puzzle I made prior to this one comes close to being like this style, a quantum jump was made in a single puzzle. This style resonates deeply with my artistic bent, and I've adopted Swirl Curl as one of my premier styles. Note: later Swirl Curl puzzles tend to have fatter curls and less blocky shapes, as the thin curls in this puzzle challenged the structural integrity of the lithograph.

Significant milestones

• My first "Swirl Curl" cut puzzle. Several of my earlier puzzles did contain some swirls and curls, but this puzzle is a quantum jump and has spawned more ideas for future variations.
• My first puzzle with precision figural pieces other than my signature piece
  
• My first puzzle with a "story": the picture of the German Hindenburg Airship in flames foretold the disaster that awaited Nazi Germany during World War II - I added some forward looking figurals, real and imaginary - a fighter jet, the Star Trek Voyager, the Nazi symbol in flames. Also in reaction to the flaming disaster are two figures running towards the puzzle's edges, and more whimsically, a gecko hitching a ride on the front of the doomed blimp, a howling wolf in the docking structure, and a cloud with a lightning bolt.

Problems

• Extensive litho peeling. The paper from the calendar was evidently a cheap grade. Also, the use of the tight curl cutting style placed extra stress on the paper, something I'll be more aware about going forward. The photo of the puzzle, above, was taken after extensive repairs.

Hindenburg is frequently spelled as Hindenberg. On the internet, Hindenburg Disaster is about five times as frequent as Hindenberg Disaster, so I'm going with that, even though my Adobe Go Live! spellchecker says Hindenberg is the correct spelling. By the way, on the top right of the scaffold, there appears to be a man standing there. Anyone know if he was all right and wrote down his tale?

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