New York City Window Puzzle

Started- September 2019

Completed- December 2020

Duration- 16 Months

Hours-Over 600

Average hours per month- 40

Difficulty Level- High

Assembly process- 3 people
Started- September 2019 Completed- December 2020 Duration- 16 Months Hours-Over 600 Average hours per month- 40 Difficulty Level- High Assembly process- 3 people

TIP: Once Bag A was completed, my daughter discovered the puzzle grid pattern. So we decided to work smarter and not harder. We determined we would work Bag B on top of Bag A and see what happens. Sure enough, she was correct. There are four sections of approximately 500 pieces in each 4000+ piece bag so we referred to them as quadrants.

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New York City Window Jigsaw Puzzle Article Content

Just looking at the number of pieces and the actual completed size of the Ravensburger 32000 piece New York City Window jigsaw puzzle is daunting enough. To actually assemble it and see it connect together into a mammoth image on the wall is a Puzzler's highest reward of achievement.

No heavy cup to lift over your head or a plaque to hang on your wall - only a very extreme level of accomplishment and some disbelief. As a matter of fact, six months down the road, if your still looking at it on the wall, you won't believe that you actually spent all that time and endless hours of staring at pieces that look the same either in shape form or colour shades. But you will still be thrilled with your accomplishment knowing that you did THAT!

I can tell you this. There were many many 'trying' hours. There were thoughts of 'impossible' and yes, thoughts of giving up. So, what is it about jigsaw puzzles that 'drive' a person to complete a massive beauty such as this NYC Window? I would have to say, for me, it's the end result vision on the wall. I have seen this one accomplished in the past and said to myself, "I want to see that one on my wall". Call it determination, sense of accomplishment or pure pride. Regardless of what the description is, you'll be beaming as other Puzzler's eyes gleam over your photos - well worth it indeed!

It was determined the only place in our home the entire puzzle would fit was in the corner wall of the living room. The idea would be to have the corner wall appear to have a New York City window view. It was also difficult to get the entire puzzle image into one camera shot but there it is, placed on the wall with all it's glory.

I am grateful for all the help I had while working on this project. My adult daughter helped put the pieces together with me. I can give her credit for about one-third of the entire project. She loved doing the sky area and it was determined she enjoyed large sections of similar colours.

My Husband is the muscle behind this project and it sure needed muscle many times so a special thanks to him for the many times the boards needed to be moved. His skills saved us from a few spills especially when it came to turning the puzzle over for taping.

Also, we used clear tacks to hold the 8 sections to the wall which can be very painful on the fingers since we used about 14 tacks per section. When we completed each section, we would turn it face down and use wide clear packing tape on the back and then tack it to a space on any random wall in the house. This gave us plenty of time to enjoy viewing each section.

Here's how we did it...

To give you an idea of the process, here's a brief explanation of how we did it. Maybe it will inspire you to try this as there is a simple technique that will speed up the process. But you won't know about that until later in the article. It's more about getting a good board that's big enough and strong enough to hold the pieces which also has an edge on it. More on that later too. Then, having the manpower when required once each of the eight bags is assembled. At some point, these massive assembled bags of puzzle pieces need to be moved somehow, so that needs to be considered very early on in the process.

There's More To Jigsaw Puzzles Than Pieces Book by Linda Richard. A compilation of 50+ jigsaw puzzle related topics, tips and tricks written in conversational format for easy, light reading.There's More To Jigsaw Puzzles Than Pieces Book by Linda Richard. A compilation of 50+ jigsaw puzzle related topics, tips and tricks written in conversational format for easy, light reading. Click Here
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We have collected a massive list of jigsaw puzzles in numerous categories on our Amazon Store link. It's a quick way to browse most current puzzles and/or specific seasons, accessories and themes. Makes for a terrific one-stop jigsaw puzzle gift giving shopping centre. CLICK HERE

THE ASSEMBLY PROCESS

First the board for each bag of 4,032 pieces was measured to be about 5 feet x 4 feet. Hubby located a board at the lumber store that they use between piles of different thickness of fencing such as 2x4's or 2x 6's etc. It's heavier than wall panelling but way lighter than plywood. Also, we used 2-way taped foam insulation around the outer edge of the board so the pieces would not slide off.

Next, each individual bag, starting with Bag A, was sorted into the ByAllison Trays by associated colours. Then, the trays with the most 'similar' pieces were assembled first on 20" x 30" foam boards so more than one person was working on each bag at the same time. Eventually, large sections were connected to the main board then the remaining mixed pieces were completed right onto the main board to fill in the 'blank holes'.

The next step was to turn the entire puzzle over so it was face down and we could use wide clear packing tape strips across the back to turn it into a 'poster'. That's where the "muscle and field fit" Operations man (a.k.a. Hubby) stepped up, armed with enough strapping gear to tie down a hot air balloon in a wind storm. But that was exactly what we wanted. We 'clipped' 6 foam boards over top of the puzzle to be sure every corner was covered. Then we ran the Cam Buckle Lashing straps under the bottom of the wood board and wrapped them over the top of the foam boards.

The Cam Buckle Lashing straps were then tightened as much a possible to secure the entire 'package', then moved the buckles as close to the one edge as possible so there would be access to them upon the 'flip'. It took three of us to carefully flip the board upside-down. Once it was on the floor in a big space, we undid the Buckles and carefully slid the blue/black lashing straps out from under the boards. Next we had to 'very gently' pull the white foam boards out from under the puzzle pieces so the finished puzzle, upside down, laid flat on the hardwood floor.

The only step left after that was to apply the 2" wide clear packing tape across the back of the puzzle. We started at one edge and worked across from side to side and from top to bottom so that the untaped puzzle section was always in front of us. It was quite tricky and we had to be very mindful and careful.

Each of the 8 Bags are labelled with a set of digits and the capital letter A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H is centred within the numbers. Each separate bag measures 59"x39"(150x100cm) so your puzzle space board should be slightly bigger than that.

This photos shares a visual over-view of the size compared to human shoes. Those shoes are a size  six. 

We have collected a massive list of jigsaw puzzles in numerous categories on our Amazon Store link. It's a quick way to browse most current puzzles and/or specific seasons, accessories and themes. Makes for a terrific one-stop jigsaw puzzle gift giving shopping centre. CLICK HERE