Michele Hratko
Reflecting on my childhood through a wooden jigsaw puzzle.
As a personal creative project, I designed a laser cut wooden puzzle my senior year of high school to represent my childhood and growing up. I've been an avid puzzler since I was little and have always wanted to design and construct my own puzzle.
Illustration & Fabrication
Time: October – November 2022
Role: Sole designer
Tools: Illustrator, Linocut blockprint, Laser cutter, 1/8-inch wood
The design of the puzzle was inspired by children's book illustrations, with their graphic patterns and simple shapes, along with board games like Life, with tiled pathways. The illustration includes a winding pathway over the hills, reflecting childlike exploration and discovery. I was heavily inspired by Liberty Puzzles throughout this project, particularly how they embed shapes into the puzzle pieces. In addition to designing the image of the puzzle, I also designed how the pieces interlock, and embedded shapes and memories from my childhood within the pieces, including sand dollars, paint brushes, and figures of my sister and me.
Process
Final puzzle piece design and puzzle art design: This project was full of experimentation and discovery as I learned how to block print and how to use a laser cutter. One challenge I ran into was figuring out how to cut the prepainted wood without burning it and ruining the printed illustration. I solved this problem by putting tape over the painted wood so that the tape would burn and the paint would be protected. The paint still did burn a little bit but it was less noticeable.
Reflection
This is one of my favorite projects I've done, partially because it fulfilled a long-term dream of mine to make a puzzle and because it was so personal to me. I loved the experimentation of the materials and creating something with my hands. The satisfaction of putting all of the pieces together at the end was amazing. I also gained confidence exploring new analog techniques and now know how to use a laser cutter!
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