Jigsaw Puzzle

[Keith]

Hi.
I have a customer who has a jigsaw puzzle that he wants framing. I've done 2 before (a long time ago) and as I remember they were both glued down by the customer, this puzzle is just made up and quite big!!!

Any help on the best way to go about this would be appreciated.

Thanks Keith

[Mary Case GCF]

Hi Keith,

Well, throw out any ideas about archival framing for your jigsaw, the materials used tend not to warrant it.

the easiest way, with your customers permision would be to turn the puzzle upside down, take off the release film on a sheet of 5mm sticky fomecore and plonk the fomecore straight on top of the back, pressing firmly down.

other options would be gluing it down to a suitable substrate with a neutral PH adhesive.

If it is a valuable peice you could encapsulate it between two sheets of Melinex.


WHATEVER YOU DO - DO NOT put the puzzle into a hotpress if it is covered in foil.

[Keith]

Hi Mary.

Thanks for thr reply, I think I'll go with that, I've already had the famous last words of "nothing special" and "not too dear" so I don't want to spend a lot of time on this one.

Thanks again Keith

[Jonny2morsos]

A Hotpress will do the job nicely as the vacuum action sucks all the bits nice and tightly together. Slide it on your board/dry mount tissue carefully though unless you like doing jigsaws without a picture to help you!

The above assumes it has no real value.

[prospero]

I did one the other week. Mounted onto a board. Dark green in this case. The board was cut about 3" bigger all round than the puzzle. I first pre-mounted a sheet of drymount film to the board, slightly smaller than the puzzle. Out of the press and peel off the release paper and slide the puzzle on top. The film is slightly tacky so easy to jiggle into alignment so that the film touches all the pieces but doesn't show past the edge. Then a quick squeeze in the press to fix it. After that I checked the borders and trimmed the board. The frame used a gold slip under the glass to add a decorative edge to the frame and to act as just enough spacing to lift the glass clear of the puzzle.
I've done a few this way and I think they look good.

[Mary Case GCF]

Just be careful not to use heat with the Hot Press, especially if the jigsaw has a foil finish. Once, hundreds of years ago, I made this mistake. Spent 4 hours sticking back the pieces of foil. Luckily the customer didn't notice a thing.

[Mary Case GCF]

BTW. Just noticed Grahame had already replied in my name.