3-in-1 Puzzle
This 3-in-1 jigsaw puzzle was created to go against the idea that puzzles are an image that you create with each piece you put together, but rather a process. So, I decided to design a template for a puzzle that would have no image and would be made of acrylic, once again to contrast with the traditional cardboard or wooden puzzles concept. One good reference I had was the Accident Puzzle, created in clear acrylic and it looked like shattered glass, almost like someone has broken a window. I laser cut a very difficult sixty-piece puzzle in three different colours: pink, blue and beige. These puzzles would come together in a box and since the template was the same, you could mix and match colours and therefore create endless possibilities of different puzzles. This outcome was created thinking about people who actually enjoy the process of building a puzzle, so only the player determines when it is finished or not, meaning they can change as many colours as they want to. I would say this puzzle is definitely not for beginners and would be almost impossible to complete without a template to follow through. But, for people who truly enjoy a good challenge this would be perfect. With this outcome I truly believe I disassociated the jigsaw puzzle with the idea that it is a children toy.
Puzzle Packaging
As I mentioned before, the 3-in-1 jigsaw puzzle was too difficult on its own and at this point not transportable. So, in order to solve these two problems, I decided to make a box that would fit all of the 3 puzzles as well as having the guideline. At this point I wasn’t able to laser cut the 3-in-1 puzzle yet due to lockdown, so I had no idea how big and heavy the pieces would be. My first attempt at a packaging was made from cardboard and I designed these illustrations and made a logo for the puzzle. When eventually in May I was able to properly produce my outcome 1 I realized the boxes could not hold the weight of the three puzzles and trying to stay within theme I designed an acrylic see-through box. Each part of the box was only supposed to be connected to the bottom, where the puzzle template was engraved, and you could only properly see it when the box was open. I used clear acrylic hinges and then a lid would close/support all the four sides at a perfect angle. The front part of the box has its logo engraved as well. The shape of the packaging is really funky, just like the template of the puzzle, but unfortunately when I glued down the hinges the box would not close properly. In the future, I hope to create another clear acrylic box that would close properly and therefore be used as storage as well as a way to transport the puzzles.
Anything Everything Is a Puzzle
For my last outcome I had this cool concept in my mind for a while, that if you think about puzzles as a process rather than objects then almost anything and everything can be considered a puzzle. My first idea was to film one person trying to put up some kind of furniture but without any instructions. Unfortunately, after a while this idea fell through as I was not completely satisfied with it. During one of my tutorials my tutor mentioned the artist Anni Albers and her artwork with jewellery. I felt a huge connection with my work as she used daily objects like nails and screws and transformed them into jewellery, but as a DIY kit. This was a great kickstart to my project where I decided to make my puzzle into necklaces. Once again, I laser cut two small puzzles of two different colours with the same template but cut small holes in them so they could act as beads as well. I decided to make it a DIY kit as well. To stay in theme, I sewed my own cloth bags and in them I put the puzzle pieces as well as a piece of wire that could be adjustable. This project basically incorporates my first one, only with two colours this time as well as serves as a necklace kit, having numerous possibilities of combinations as well.
