The Puzzle Gallery

A gallery wall that I started a few years ago is finally coming along. I hung a few things after finishing the bathroom project and then it all went dormant. One thing or another took precedence including not really being in the mood.

I did complete a few more puzzles in my chosen category of minimal color with a transportation theme. But I wasn't motivated to get them glued and ready for hanging. Puzzles are generally not in standard frame sizes so actually framing them means custom and we all know what that means.

However, recently I got the bug to get them off my dining room table. Well, truth is, I haven't had anyone over for a couple years due to Covid so they just hung out like we all did. Now that the virus seems to have tapered off, I am planning to have a small gathering for Easter. Consequently, all those things I have put off doing now have a reason to get finished.

Mind you, I have also gotten a couple years older during that time and the sedentary lifestyle hasn't improved my flexibility. I won't go through all the details of what it took to prepare the puzzles for hanging. Suffice it to say, it was a bit of trial and error, but they are now hung and I pray they stay on the wall.

Here are the three latest additions:

The puzzle itself does not have those rays of sunlight. That happens to be how the sun fell on the puzzle as I took the picture. This one is quite large and needed some reinforcement on the back to keep it from collapsing. Besides the glue I added a layer of cheesecloth so it was safer to move it around. That's a whole other story. ( I foolishly tried to flip this one to glue it and it ended up on the floor in a heap. So I have actually assembled this one twice.) I attached a board in the center to allow it to stand on end without folding. I really didn't want to add a board to the entire puzzle because that would make it quite heavy. So the rest of it is duck tape and cardboard strips.

Fingers crossed it holds up. There was probably a better way but an engineer I am not.

This one is just glued and has a layer of cheesecloth on the back. I did rest this one on a rail rather than figuring out some way to hang it.

With this one I did experiment with some of those little cloth pieces that have a little grommet opening. You glue the cloth to the object and then hang the piece the piece on nails.

These are the three pieces I managed to hang over the last two days. There was a lot of measuring and remeasuring involved. And I must admit, the removal of some nails to adjust for some miscalculations. There is one that I plan to raise up about an inch but I thought it best to leave that for another day. Right now I am just grateful they are on the wall and I can move on to something else.

Here they are in the second floor hallway. There are three bedrooms and a bath off this hall and also the stairs leading to the third floor.

Not everything in the gallery is a puzzle. Here are some closeups of everything else in the grouping.

I did my best to avoid the glare on these but this one picked up a reflection from somewhere.

So that's it. A little "off-the-wall" for some but it suits me just fine.

On The Upswing

After the last post, it seemed a good idea to do a follow up post to report that things are moving along nicely. This shot was taken before the remodel started. The door at the end of the hallway leads into the bath now being remodeled. This is where the changes started. The trim is off the doorway and the door opening will be enlarged to the width of the hallway. This shot taken of that same area now looks like this. By closing the entrance from the hallway, that bathroom will now be the master bath by keeping the entrance from the bedroom only. This is how it looks from the bathroom side. the door on the left leads to the hallway and the one on the right into the bedroom. Now it looks like this. Part of the hallway has become part of the bathroom. This is where the vanity will be installed. The partial doorway you see on the right leads to the bedroom. Turning 180 degrees and looking across the room to the opposite corner, you see the window and the en

Out of No Where

Isn't it uncanny how a project can sneak into an already crowded schedule? Recently a friend invited me to do a walk through on a two-family he was planning to buy. A couple pieces of furniture had been left behind and they were dumpster material to him. Did I go with him thinking there was something there for me? NO. Was I looking for something in particular? NO. Did the thought of finding a new project ever cross my mind? NO! But, see for yourself. Could you have passed this up? It was sturdy (translates to a little heavy). There was nothing wrong with it. It even had all the shelves and the pins that hold them in place. And without the shelves it was not quite as heavy. (Try telling me that as my friend and I are hauling it down a flight of stairs.) More shelving on the side made it even more practical. I'm sure they could be used for something besides VHS tapes. Here it is in my studio where I could do a complete assessment. Looks like a good cleaning

Small Storage Containers RECYCLED

With the way grocery products have skyrocketed this past year, it has somehow made the containers they come in seem more valuable. To be transparent, I have always saved glass jars from jam, pickles, and spaghetti sauce.=) You know, small, medium and large. I also saved yogurt cups, sour cream containers, etc. When I was painting furniture and mixing colors, the small containers came in handy. This past summer I got a good laugh when I found a stack of yogurt containers in the back of a cabinet in my studio...at least 60! Needless to say those made it into the trash. More recently I have collected a fair amount of plastic containers with lids that are similar to the food saving containers you buy for that purpose. These are fairly large, about 5x7 inches and approximately 3" deep. They are great for leftovers but also good for storing a multitude of other smallish items. The bottoms are see through which makes them perfect for organizing hobby/craft and workshop items. But once a

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