# Doing jigsaw puzzles



## stirfamily (Jun 18, 2002)

DH and I like doing jigsaw puzzles during the winter. Our problem is lighting. We do them on the kitchen table but there is such a glare on the pieces they are hard to see. We have an overhead flourescent fixture. Does anyone else have this problem? 
karen in NE Indiana


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

close your eyes. That always help cut down on the glare. Have you tried one of those little desk lamps? If it's just the two of you htne you can set it towards the part of the table that noone uses:shrug:


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## Nette (Aug 17, 2003)

Here's a solution, but it ain't cheap. I bought a neat antique picture puzzle on Ebay. The pieces are thicker, a little bigger overall, and the best part is that they have a matte rather than glossy finish. I bought this one because I really liked the picture--a Saint Bernard dog grabbing a little boy by the britches to keep him from falling in a pond to fetch his toy airplane. I just like the "feel" of this puzzle so much, that I'm sure I'll be watching for some more. This one is probably from the 1940's, I think.


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## bluesky (Mar 22, 2008)

We have overhead lighting in our kitchen too and I really hate it except when I'm cleaning. We have a brass lamp on the table and a tall "buffet" lamp on the counter. This gives much nicer light and is excellent for playing scrabble and doing puzzles on the kitchen table and the atmosphere is more calm and less glaring.


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## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

Oh, I miss doing jigsaw puzzles and wish I had the lighting problem to worry about! But we have CATS that steal the puzzle pieces and then eat them so we had to give up on puzzles a few years back. Hmmm...maybe we ought to throw the cats outside...


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I second the desk lamp idea. Or a cool "take me back to yesteryear" kerosene lamp.

Otherwise...try putting/making some form of muslin shade under the light. Fluorescent generate almost no heat, so you'd be safe there. The fabric would diffuse the light a bit.


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## sancraft (Jun 7, 2002)

My Christmas puzzle, (http://www.quilterswarehouse.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=SO24218) is drying on the kitchen table as I type this. My daughter is making a frame for it from old barn wood. We use a floor lamp and a Reveal, natual light lightbulb.


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## IMP (Feb 7, 2006)

My granny and I loved doing puzzles together. We used to move the little lamp around on the table to avoid the glare. It was just a regular lamp. We'd find a few pieces chewed up on the floor from the dog. I think he was jealous.


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## midwsthomestead (Nov 8, 2005)

We love puzzles here, too. We just started a ****** hot air balloon n scenery one last night.

I've no solution for the light glare, we just lean over it n bop whoever is in the way LOL!

~~


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## sewsilly (May 16, 2004)

I got a little lamp at goodwill and it sits on our puzzle table. It took a couple of tries to find the right bulb.

dawn


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## diane (May 4, 2002)

Another puzzle person here. Love to work them in the winter. I just finished a nice 1000 piece one called the "Caretaker" by Adrian Chesterman. It was a gift from my grandchildren. Something that puzzles me  is how I can end up with two pieces missing from a brand new puzzle when I am here all by myself with only my dog and cat!!! The cat never gets on the table. At any rate, I do love to do puzzles and usually pick up a couple of the BigBen ones when they go on sale after Christmas. I have a floor lamp on an extention cord that I can move all around the table as needed for light, but I do agree that the very best light to "puzzle" by is natural. Unfortunately I seem pretty busy during the times of day when the natural light is best.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

I've got puzzles...about 25 foot (sitting on their sides) of Springbok puzzles.

Quite a few years ago I found a puzzle at a second hand store at a great price. On that Friday night, DH and I bought a pizza and spent the weekend eating pizza and putting the puzzle together. Next week found another puzzle, so did the same thing. For a couple years, on a Friday night we'd order pizza and work on a puzzle all weekend.

Then for some reason we quit doing it but I kept buying puzzles when I found a 'Bok at a good price. Sure, sometimes there was a piece missing, but it was STILL fun!

What all this adds up to is, if there's anyone going to be in St Louis (Missouri!) and wants 25 foot of Springbok puzzles, just let me know.

Mon


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## Pamela (May 10, 2002)

I have always loved puzzles. However, with this house being so small and a curious cat to boot, I just don't have room for them. So, to help me get over my frustration, I do two or three on-line every day. It is not the same as sitting down and working a large 1000+ size puzzle, but it helps.


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

take some metal (not nylon) screen like you'd use to replace or patch a screen window or door. Cut it so it fits over the lamp opening (at bottom of shade). weave some wire through it to cinch it at the top...that should cut down on the glare.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

We also love doing puzzles but our's also get the glare from the kitchen light directly under the table. I put up a card table offf to the side of the kitchen sometimes now when doing pzzles, then I can move them around too and it keeps them out from under the direct florescent light.


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

we gave a friend of ours a puzzle for Christmas, can't usually give her anything as she gets grumpy but got away with it by telling her she had to give it back once she finished it! it will be framed and will be special as she and her late husband have been like kin too us! she uses natural light when every possible, may have too get her a magnifier light soon though! we gave her a nice thousand piece wolf puzzle in the shape of a wolf pack! once she was done she sent it back home as well! http://www.sunsout.com/ wolf song http://www.amazon.com/Sunsout-Shaped-Piece-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B00064SAQ6


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