About Jardin Puzzles

One of my earliest memories, when I was probably 3 or 4, is of helping my Grandmother and big brother put together jigsaw puzzles. I continued to do them as I grew up and as my own children grew up. However, I had never really known the truly wonderful puzzles that were made in the 30's 40's and 50's. Mine were mostly the regular cardboard puzzles with knobs or holes on four sides, or the thick, squiggly-shaped TUCO's. A couple of years ago, I discovered internet auctions and suddenly remembered the old ship puzzles we inadvertently left behind in a move when I was a child. When I checked out old puzzles, I found out what an art jigsaws puzzles can be. I started collecting these lovely and unique wooden puzzles. But, being an engineer at heart, I wanted to create some of my own.

In October of 1999 I bought a saw and began cutting puzzles. My first puzzle was a modest 5x7 with about 100 pieces. There were no figurals, the edges of the puzzles were as straight as I could get them, and since I hadn't really studied cutting styles, it was mostly free form. I was happy I hadn't cut any of the knobs off or made any other typical beginner errors.

By Christmas time, I was putting in figural pieces and experimenting with different cutting styles, creative edges, and all the other features the top cutters put into their puzzles. My son's Christmas present was a 500 piece puzzle with irregular-edged, bellowing clouds at the top and a large fire-breathing dragon hidden in the sky.

In Spring of 2000 I joined the American Game and Puzzle Collectors Association, and displayed my puzzles at their annunal conference in May. My puzzles received critical acclaim from the puzzle enthusiasts present. I opened this site in July of 2000 and featured my first puzzle on ebay.

That was almost three years ago and many puzzles later (thanks to all of you). This year, I plan to try a few new types of puzzles and a few tricks on the conventional ones. You will see new images from new artists and the current artists I work with. I also have increased my collection of antique images whose reproductions will be featured during the year in the Melinda's List page.

You may wonder how I chose the Jardin Puzzles name. I grew up in Vermont, where the short winter days and long winter nights are great for jigsaw puzzles. It was also great for gardening in the summer. I love iris and picked a stylized iris as my signature piece. For those of you who know French, "jardin" means "garden" and continues the theme. If you look in the gallery, you will find quite a few images of flowers, including a very difficult Iris puzzle .

Aside from puzzles and gardening, I studied mathematics and computer science and spent most of my early career developing computer graphics software. This was really just more puzzles with pictures. By the time our two children were grown, I was in engineering management and had very little time for puzzles. The hiatus from puzzles was good, for when I went back, it was with renewed enthusiasm. I now make puzzles full time - that is when I'm not taking care of our two Malamutes, Nikki and Tasha, and an assortment of tropical fish and plants and, of course, a summer garden with iris.

I will continue to update this site with new puzzles, new artwork and maybe more history and puzzle-craft. So stay tuned and happy puzzling.