Tips for Completing a 2000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Let's write about how to solve a jigsaw puzzle, something many of us have tried at least once.

Jigsaw puzzles come in a wide variety of sizes. There are 63-piece and 108-piece puzzles for children, and adults typically solve 1,000-piece puzzles.

So, let me explain how to solve a jigsaw puzzle.

Everyone has their own style, so you don't necessarily have to follow these steps, but they are quite useful.

Before I explain, the images I'm attaching from now on are of a 2,000-piecepuzzle. In Korea, 1,000-piece puzzles are more common, but if you want something larger with more pieces, look for 'Castorland Puzzle' or 'Ravensburger' brands. In Korea, you can easily find them on the Amazon affiliate page of 11st (international purchase).

Of course, there are many other brands out there!

1. Start by assembling the border

Finding the border pieces is the easiest. One side is a straight line, so it's easy to gather them together and match them based on the picture. Finding the corner pieces, which have two straight sides, is quite satisfying. (Naturally, there are four in total)

2. Group similar colors together

First, sort the pieces by similar colors. When we were solving the puzzle, there were some pieces with writing and similar colors, so we were able to match those first.

3. Start attaching to the sides of the border

It's a bit difficult if you suddenly try to tackle the middle. So, we target the areas connected to the border among the pieces with clear colors.

4. Gather distinct colors and assemble them

Gather similar colors together. Instead of focusing on common and numerous colors, you need to gather stand-out colors! There were many brick-like colors, so I put them all aside and started with the distinct colors.

5. If there are lines, find them and assemble them first

① In the picture, it's a horizontal line. It's easy to distinguish top and bottom because the line is visible.

② The dark blue in the middle is the door. ③ The light blue is the window. The line at the door boundary was there, so we were able to match it first.

6. Now assemble the colors you've gathered

Can you see it? It's the area with the pink flowers, and I gathered only the pink pieces and started assembling them. It gradually takes shape. And around this time, the picture frame I ordered arrived. So, I placed it underneath.

7. Solve it day and night

This is quite important, especially if you want to solve it quickly. You need to solve it day and night. If you solve it while eating cereal before going to work in the morning, you can solve it a little faster. You say it's only morning and not night?

You need to solve it at night too. I set up an IKEA stand and turned on the light to solve it. It can be hard to see in the dark.

Ta-da! How's it looking? Do you think I've made a lot of progress?

Looks almost done, right?

Nope. The sky blue pieces are pure hell difficulty T_T

8. Final tip! Compare them all and try inserting them one by one.

I spent a lot of time matching the sky. I had about 100 sky blue pieces left, and there wasn't a good strategy. I easily matched the areas where there was a distinction between white and sky blue, but there was no way to do the same-colored ones.

In the end, I tried inserting each piece into the corners. It's nice when it fits in after a few tries, but it's frustrating when it takes dozens of tries. If there's any trick, it's trying to insert corner pieces where at least two sides can connect.

Finally done!!

What do you think? Did I do a good job?

I bought a frame and hung it on the wall. The frame wasn't an international purchase, but there are places in Korea that offer custom-made frames for those who buy jigsaw puzzles through international purchases. I bought a puzzle frame + 2 packets of puzzle glue from there. I applied the glue, let it sit for about 24 hours, and then put it in the frame and hung it up.

We first encountered a 2,000-piece puzzle on a cruise during our honeymoon and agreed to buy one and frame it. It was quite an enjoyable experience. And we've promised each other that we won't buy another jigsaw puzzle for a few years :)

※ It took a total of 12 days to complete.