Teacher, the homework is done. 😉

Looks like today was gears day :-), I made some too

I'm very happy to made my first cigar box puzzle based on the Beaver tail guidance :-) My version is simpler than master ;-) but working and I filled it with some decorated elements. I think I add some more element to make more difficult to open. The hardest step was removing the ugly stickers that the zealous German cigar sellers had stuck on the box. :-) :-) I covered the rest with a self-made board on top.

As we begin to create an identity around being a puzzle maker, do you have little ways of mirroring that? I am pretty sure pens and mugs have been done to the hilt. Over the last few years I began making little stickers that are 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square. It turns out that this size fits perfectly around a BIC lighter. Even if people don't smoke, there is usually a lighter around for candles or whatnot. Business cards get lost, and this sticker has no other info, so they will have to google, what a fun little search they will do. Additionally, I get to include a local artist in helping create the image too, keeping as much as I can in my community. The artist I engaged with for this year is Remy de Boer from near-by Milton. What innovative ideas are you using or brewing?

How do you organize? I am sure everyone has their way of sorting or keeping offcuts, ...or maybe you don't? With the expense of the the original exotic wood, who really wants to just throw it out? This quick little video will show what I have done. At one time in my youth I was part of a research team that documented the process on how to recycle wood waste from local factories. Some of what I learned is reflected here. To sum up the video, I keep offcuts sorted by length, then the small bits are sorted into bins that match the wood type. To go further, specialized pieces that have had work done to them, like inlay, dado, rabbet are sorted into their own bin (might not have showed that one), custom dowels, and the short bits have a bin too. The extra parts from past projects also have their own bins. Often I can make a single puzzle box from the parts in these bins, I call them Snakenstein's. What is your system?