Puzzle 163 - The Attractor

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Puzzle 163 - The Attractor
The black area is the easy part!


Puzzle 163 - Detail - Colors inverted to bring out the puzzle piece edges

The Black area of this cool design was cut in my Creative Style while the blue and red area was cut in Long Round. Pieces which straddled the two areas changed from one style to the other as they crossed the line.

I kept progress of this puzzle out of my journal, the customer's wife occasionally reads the journal!

Heather later wrote:

Ron says that you're going to be disappointed to hear that I have the center of "The Attractor" completed. It took about 12-15 hours to get that far. The first 4 hours were 2 hours each by my Mother and I (she also loves puzzles), so we had 2 sets of eyes looking at the very center differently. I think I learned a lot working on "Spectra"! I immediately separated the pieces by color type (all black; black with blue; blue and red only; blue, red and black; and pieces with white in them). I started with the 'white in them section', as that was small it went pretty quickly. Then I saw enough to figure that I needed to go to the 'red, blue and black'. This was tough but I noticed a pattern to the black areas. Then came the 'blue and red only' - AHHHHHH - this was TOUGH! I then decided to change my attack and brought in the 'black with blue' pieces and worked those. I then ended up with a solid square that had to be placed in the square outline. Hmmm, but which way does it go? Ron happened to walk by at that point and I when I posed that question to him he said "well this piece sticks out the furthest on the solid square, maybe you can find where it fits in the 'frame'." At which point he took the piece and found it's location on the 'frame'. That was his entire contribution to this assembly. :-) Even once I had the solid inside the 'frame' it took me quite a while (3-4 hours) to finish the remaining 'blue and red only' section!! I'm now working on the black outer area. I have learned to let my mind go and the pieces fall into place better. I'm really enjoying putting this one together!

My in-laws were here for Christmas, as well as my Mother. They were all AMAZED by your work! My Father-in-law does some wood working himself (makes some furniture and picture frames as a hobby) but couldn't imagine how you cut these puzzles.

THANKS for another GREAT puzzle!!!!! I'll let you know when I finish it up.

- - - - -

Well, with another couple of hours work I've completed "The Attractor". It is a GREAT puzzle. Ron's muttering that it was too easy, but it was challenging without going over the line to overwhelmingly hard. I should make him put it together! Then I bet we'd hear a different tune. :-)


Specifications
Name
The Attractor
Artist
John S. Stokes III
Date Completed
November 24, 2001
Size
12 1/2" x 12 1/2"
Cutting Style
Long Round interior, Creative in the black area
# Pieces
464
Color Line Cutting
None
Figurals
Fractagon

© John S. Stokes III - Puzzle Crafter & Webmaster

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