I saw this term in a Facebook group and thought it was appropriate. The term refers to small puzzles that do not require a lot of space or time to complete. I had previously made some small 4 x 6 puzzles to attempt to sell at craft fairs, but people at craft fairs did not seem to be looking for hand crafted jigsaw puzzles. In other words, they did not sell. Nor did they really sell on Etsy. I am not overly surprised, as a hand cut puzzle is still pricey, even when it is small.
I sometimes do not use my photo printer for a couple of months at a time. When I do print something, if I do not prepare the printer beforehand, I will waste a full 13 x 19 page of photo paper along with the corresponding ink. At today’s prices, that is about $10.75 in materials. I have learned the hard way that I need to clean the heads, clean them again, and then run a test print. So, I have a small package of 4 x 6 Kodak paper that I use for small test prints. If that test print looks good, I will run a full-size print.
That leaves me with a small handful of 4 x 6 prints in a drawer, wondering what to do with them. Most of them are not exciting, but I found a couple of prints of the fall pin oak leaf that I have made some large puzzles of. I thought I would mount them to some small pieces of cherry plywood and see if these will sell or not.
I did not take any pictures during the cutting process, but I do have pictures of the finished products. One of them has 29 pieces, the other has 36 pieces. That works out to roughly 3.7 and 4.6 pieces per square inch, respectively. I cut these in the same sessions as I did the Dragon Tails puzzle, so I finished the backsides the same way with four different tints of Danish Oil.
Pile of pieces with finger for reference
As usual, these will be listed on my Etsy store unless they are sold. FiveFrogsWoodworking – Etsy
Happy Puzzling,
Bob