Kim Katrell Thoughts

Had to spend an hour with a 6 year old so I brought out a small jigsaw puzzle of Spiderman and dumped the pieces out on the dining room table. There used to be years of my childhood with a puzzle on the dining room table for days at a time as the family took turns finding the right pieces to complete the puzzles. A lot of shit was discussed over doing a puzzle back then, great opportunity for “good quality time”.

I was surprised that he had no idea what to do with the puzzle, so I showed him my methodology for working simple picture puzzles. As I explained each step, I showed him how to work along with me and we spent about an hour putting together Spiderman, with each piece becoming a small triumph. First, I turn over all the pieces so that the photo or picture side is facing up. As I turn over the pieces, any piece with a straight edge gets set to one side and the non-straight edges go to the other side. After all the pieces are facing up, I go back through the rest of the fucking pieces to pull the rest of the straight edges. As I work through finding the straight edges, the four corners are noted and set out on the table in the approximate locations, based on the photo or picture colorings. Then it’s time to work with the straight edges to fill in between the four corners make a complete frame. Then, the rest of the pieces are fitted inside the frame, usually based on the colors or designs. Building a puzzle this way has proven to be successful for several hundred jigsaws over the years. And it kept this little shit occupied for well over an hour.