Preserve Us

Let me tale you a tale of a puzzle. 

Long time ago (this Spring) in a land far far away (The South), Terra from Chestnut and Hemlock and Janell from 3 Cat Max thought it would be a wonderful idea to create a puzzle together. Janell with her art + laser skills, and Terra with her art + scrollsaw skills would create a new puzzle for the Ball (Puzzle Jam South).

After searching the creative depth, they came up with the idea that the puzzle could be equally split into two pieces, right down the center. This made it possible for each team member to keep their own pieces of the puzzle! With this idea in mind, they came up with an image that could be split and still look like it's own puzzle. First step was to draw out all the line work:

Then they took that image and input it into an artificial intelligence painting program, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get a single output that had all the colors right. So they did each section separate, the merged all the images together to make one image with all the right colors.

Ah, but even though they finished the artwork, that was only a small portion of the tasks that needed to be completed!

Terra waved her magic saw and tapped the now-physical puzzle into hundreds of puzzle pieces, and then fed them back into the mystical dragon (computer). Janell tickled and tweaked the dragon until it burped out a bright flame and a completed file for the concentrated magic light to cut (laser cutter). And then they had to do size comparisons to make sure the pieces weren't too big or too small, but just right!

Now to prepare the plywood! They both waved their magic wands and sent the plywood away to be painted by a far away tribe of brownies (Desired Designs Youngstown, in Ohio). But alas! The Dark Wizard intercepted them and magicked the plywood to never be able to cut with their concentrated magic light! Try though they might, the only thing that they got when applying the magic light was black black black charcoal (a bad batch of plywood had the wrong core wood that doesn't laser well). 

With soot everywhere, they reached out to their puzzle friends to see if any one could help in their hour of need! One such White Knight appeared on the far horizon (Arizona), and offered his help (Hidden Piece Puzzles). Through determination, speed, and some appropriate sword thrusts, the White Knight defeated the Dark Wizard! With one last tap of his magic sword, the White Knight replaced all the broken puzzles, and sent them winging their way back to the kingdom where Terra & Janell anxiously waited. 

Delighted that their friend, the White Knight, was able to help them in their time of need, they worked into the night to lovingly package up the new puzzles into chests (boxes). The puzzle went on to stump everyone at the Speed Competition with their beautiful difficulty, and, if you listen closely, you can still hear the swearing generated as a whisper on the wind.

Now that the Speed Competition was over, and the day saved, Janell and Terra wish to offer you the option to be a part of the story, with a new batch of highly spicy and magical puzzles. Once they double checked to make sure that the Dark Wizard had not tampered with the new plywood, they are ready, once again, to cut some gorgeous puzzles for you!