From the laying pattern to the box: Step by step, Schongauer Ian Pye creates his own jigsaw puzzles by hand.
He wants to show that it doesn't always have to be goods off the assembly line.
A visit to his workshop.
Schongau – Ian Pye has set himself up completely in a few square meters.
Next to the wide workbench in the middle of the room is a boxy, levered device that can bend and cut metal.
In the corner, the big press is waiting for someone to turn its heavy roller, and gloves, tongs and cardboard are stacked on the shelf in front of the wall.
A Bluetooth speaker plays "Sweet Home Alabama".
Everything there to get started.
Pye comes two to three times a week to the workshop in the passage on Münzstrasse, which he moved into about a year ago.
Mostly in the afternoon after work.
Pye works full-time as a social worker at the Diakonie Herzogsägmühle in Weilheim.
“I can manage my time very well there,” says the 54-year-old.
Luckily, this gives him more time to tinker.
Production completely self-taught - "Companies keep it a secret"
A good three years ago, the Schongauer started developing his own puzzles.
He likes to do jigsaw puzzles a lot, he says.
“I must have 100 pieces at home, my own puzzle library, so to speak.” However, little things always bothered Pye when it came to the jigsaw puzzles he bought.
The coating on the parts that makes you wash your hands so often, or that everything is wrapped in plastic.
"I thought to myself: This can be done better."
In a long process, the Schongauer devised a technique that he uses to make his jigsaw puzzles today.
Up to 20 a day if he hurries.
He had no instructions.
"Big companies keep it a secret," he says with a smile.
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A heavy roller punches the puzzle shape through the recycled cardboard on which the motif is printed.
A tour de force for Ian Pye.
© Theresa Kuchler
Pye slides narrow strips of metal into the bender and shapes them to create the characteristic puzzle corners.
Then he sticks the parts into a styrofoam sheet in an even pattern.
Pye particularly likes this meditative step, he says.
It takes several weeks until a jigsaw puzzle template is complete, i.e. all the pieces fit together and the heights are right.
Finally, Pye casts the spread pattern into a solid template with resin.
When the Schongauer tried to punch the puzzles at the beginning, he reached his limits.
He can't apply the pressure with his hands.
Pye's jigsaw puzzle manufacture could only really pick up speed when he bought his own press.
Pictures by regional artists and photographers as puzzle motifs
The dark roller slowly begins to move as Pye pushes her pointed metal arms down with full force.
Centimeter by centimeter, the emerging puzzle squeezes itself to the other side under the weight.
A rubber mat rests on the wooden frame that holds the resin cast jigsaw puzzle template.
It prevents the press from damaging the metal as it cuts the bluish cardboard into pieces.
Pye uses images from regional photographers and artists as puzzle motifs.
For example, a photo of Marienplatz taken by the Schongau doctor Martin Kayser can be put together.
Pye is always looking for new motifs for his puzzles, he says.
Wooden panels are stacked on one of the lower shelves, which are pressed together with thick screw clamps.
The recycled cardboard from the Netherlands, from which Pyes puzzles are made, is stuck between the boards.
The motifs should stick properly to the cardboard.
This process takes several days.
As the 54-year-old explains, the glue must no longer release moisture.
Otherwise, the parts will get stuck in the roller during pressing.
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The finished puzzle.
© Theresa Kuchler
No trace of plastic: "I want to show that there is another way"
Pye recently had an idea of how he can save himself from printing without having to forego artistic motifs: he wants to turn old calendar pictures into jigsaw puzzles.
He calls it "upcycling". Pye likes calendars and thinks it's a shame when the pages end up in the wastebasket at the end of the month.
Because he is sure that he is not alone in this, he is also thinking about a service.
"People could bring me their calendars and I'll make puzzles out of them."
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The puzzles are packed in boxes, which are also made in Pye's workshop.
To do this, the Schongauer shapes the recycled cardboard into cuboid boxes with the bending device.
He presses metal rivets onto the edges, which keep the boxes in shape.
There is no need for glue, and there is no trace of plastic either.
Pye wants to produce as environmentally friendly as possible.
"I want to show that there is another way."
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