What to do with jigsaw puzzles

amother

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:16 am

We have a newly discovered hobby of doing puzzles as a family. We just don’t know what to do with them when done.

First off, where to hang them. Most of them are not appropriate style wise for hanging in main areas of the house.

Second of all, how to secure them? I know laminating on wood is an option, how much does this run and where can I get it done in the lkwd area.

For a cheaper option, I know there’s puzzle glue. Can someone walk me through this? Which glue? And what do I stick it on to? And then do I buy a picture frame to put the whole thing into? And does this last well?

Any other tips?

BrisketBoss

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:21 am

If doing puzzles is your hobby, why would you render them unusable? A good puzzle is like a good book. You want to return to it again and again. I have never heard of preserving a finished jigsaw puzzle.

amother

Canary

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:23 am

We glue our puzzles together with puzzle glue. Good tip is to put together the puzzle on a poster board. Then when it is done you glue the front of the puzzle and let it dry overnight. Some of the glue will make it stick to the poster, which acts as a backing. Then trim the extra poster and put in a frame. We use frames like this from Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mai.....L1200

Our puzzles decorate the walls of our playroom, which is in the basement. Adds lots of color and character and makes no difference if they are odd. We even have a picture of the kids that my family made into a puzzle as a birthday gift for me!

amother

Canary

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:25 am

BrisketBoss wrote:

We take pride in our completed puzzles and love viewing the finished pieces, which are like artwork. Not as much fun to do the same puzzle twice and we would rather start a new one, but want to preserve our hard work.

amother

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:30 am

amother Canary wrote:

Thank you this is so helpful.

Amarante

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 11:33 am

If you run out of wall space you can store them in the kind of cabinets that are used to store large posters.

You can swap them out as you get *tired* of the ones on display.

If the matting boards are the same size it would be relatively easy to swap them into the existing frames.

I would suspect there is going to be a limit in terms of how many puzzles can be displayed at one time. I had this problem years ago with needlework as I had no use for the many pieces of embroidery I completed. I now have a large bin of finished stuff that could be theoretically be made into lots of stuff but I don't have the room or the need for them.

LiLIsraeli

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 12:04 pm

We recently got into this as a family and have been using Elmer's glue. I watched a youtube video about it.

Basically once the puzzle is done, you slip parchment paper underneath to protect the surface it's on, and then smear glue all over it, making sure it gets into all the cracks between the pieces. After 10 minutes, you push down any pieces that are slightly sticking up in order to get the smoothest finished product possible. When the glue is dry flip the puzzle over and do the same to the back. When this is dry repeat with a coat of glue on the front and then again on the back.

I've been hanging them in my basement playroom with binder clips and pushpins. So far so good!

Chayalle

Wed, Aug 24 2022, 12:11 pm

We love doing puzzles - there's usually one going on on our coffee table. But we stopped gluing them together because we had too many. We now recycle. This summer I got some new ones, but we re-did some oldies, and it was such fun - there's one or two in particular that are really fun to do that we had just as much fun redoing.

Brachie69

Tue, Aug 30 2022, 11:27 am

We use Mod Podge. It creates a matte layer that sticks the pieces together. It's not strong enough to mount but good to make the puzzle not fall apart.

hodeez

Tue, Aug 30 2022, 12:00 pm

amother Canary wrote:

Love this! Can't wait for my kids to get older so we can do the same

effess

Tue, Aug 30 2022, 12:50 pm

We give ours away to other families
Our walks would be plastered otherwise
(Think7-10 puzzles per summer)