Missing Jigsaw Pieces?

Hello to all from 'The Jigsaw Doctor'!

No matter how careful we are with our beloved jigsaws, there comes a day when that sinking feeling starts to emerge as you realise you have more spaces left than pieces. We all react and deal with the problem differently:

We cry. We’re sad. We’re angry
We look for someone or something to blame? The manufacturer? The dog? The children? Whoever used the vacuum cleaner last?
We ignore it and hope that the piece turns up before the puzzle is finished.
We start a compulsive search, looking again and again in the same place, but never finding it
We give up there and then and never look at the puzzle again
We don’t really care and finish it anyway

Well if the piece never is found, then there is the dilemma of whether to keep the puzzle or bin it. I know that I always hated to do puzzles that I knew had pieces missing, and they would usually languish in the attic, never to see the light of day again.

Like many of us I’m sure, I’ve tried to make replacement pieces in the past, with no success. You just can’t cut cardboard accurately enough to make the right shaped piece, never mind getting the missing bit of the picture right.

That was until last year, when I revisited the problem. I’d found an old puzzle with a photograph of Piccadilly Circus in London, that I remember doing at an aunt’s house as a child in about 1968. The puzzle was in a biscuit tin, but still had the picture from the box lid. I was expecting to find pieces missing, and sure enough, there were. I once again started going through the thought process of how missing pieces could be made and started experimenting.

To cut a long story short, I eventually came up with a method that made a perfectly shaped replica of the missing piece, and a way to reproduce the missing part of the image. Thus the Jigsaw Doctor born, and the website was launched in August 2007 at www.jigsawdoctor.com

Since then, the Jigsaw Doctor to rescued many jigsaw puzzles and there are plenty of examples to see on the website, plus comments from satisfied customers.

http://www.jigsawdoctor.com/images/Hilary_Head_missing.JPG
http://www.jigsawdoctor.com/images/Hilary_Head_replacement2.JPG
http://www.jigsawdoctor.com/images/Hilary_Head_replacement.JPG

So now, whenever I do a jigsaw puzzle, especially a second hand one, there will be no problem if there is a piece missing.

What are your experiences with missing pieces? Did you know that the Jigsaw Doctor existed, and what do you think about this service?

Please add to this thread and let’s start talking!

Hi Andy,
It's a brilliant concept and a solution to something that has caused frustration to many. Personally I find losing a piece rather aggravating but I'm not sure I would pay your price to have a piece replaced as my puzzles always go back in the box to be redone at some time in the future. To me doing the puzzle is more important than the end product.

It would seem however that a lot of our members, especially the American ones like to hang their puzzles when finished so I imagine to them you would be a godsend!!

Lesley http://www.smileycons.com/img/Christmas2007/3245.gif

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are saying about the price, but each replacement piece is hand crafted and takes quite a while to make. If you've spent months on a 3,000 plus piece puzzle, the cost doesn't seem so bad, escpicially if the puzzle is irreplaceable. If I costed the time it takes to make a replacement more in line with the other services I offer at Quantum Enterprises (http://www.quantumenterprises.co.uk) (such as making handwriting fonts), I should be charging more like £15 a piece, but I know that would put most people off.

You're right about the American customers hanging their puzzles. I've rescued several like this - some that have lost a piece after hanging, and others that were due to be hung before a missing piece was discovered.

Andy (The Jigsaw Doctor)

I totally understand why you charge the price you do. Obviously it's a complicated procedure. I only do 1,000 piece puzzles most of the time, mainly for convenience sake I have to say, so I'm not the client you are catering for.

It makes me wonder if it's really a national trend...perhaps you should open a branch in America! Or have you?

Lesley http://www.smileycons.com/img/Christmas2007/3251.gif

PS Just looked on your other site and bought 2 t shirts!!

What would be the procedure for a missing piece? Do we have to send the puzzle away? Or is it enough a goon picture with the missing piece, eventually with a ruler in it for scaling?

I found your site a few months ago and it would be interesting to complete a 3000 pcs I have by filling the empty place of a missing piece. It's about "the bombardment of Algiers" from Ravensburger, a missing piece from a boat.

Dear Sergiu,

Thanks for your message.

You do not have to send the whole puzzle - just the surrounding pieces. If you can e-mail a copy of the picture from the box it also helps make the missing part of the image. There are full instructions on what to do at http://www.jigsawdoctor.com/purchase.htm

I hope that we can be of service to you!

I totally understand why you charge the price you do. Obviously it's a complicated procedure. I only do 1,000 piece puzzles most of the time, mainly for convenience sake I have to say, so I'm not the client you are catering for.

It makes me wonder if it's really a national trend...perhaps you should open a branch in America! Or have you?

Lesley http://www.smileycons.com/img/Christmas2007/3251.gif

PS Just looked on your other site and bought 2 t shirts!!

Dear Lesley,

Thanks for your order! The 'Original' Round Tuit website is very popular at this time of year as lots of people know someone who needs to get around tuit (Round Tuit). Did you see the brass medallions? They are really good quality.

The internet site is our only outlet at the moment, but is open to the world. Please do a search on Google for 'missing jigsaw pieces' and see who comes top... |l