Whimsicalwood - Painting and Cutting Puzzles

The gallery shown here shows,step-by-step the process I have used for painting an artwork on ply prior to cutting as a jigsaw puzzle.

The line drawing on paper is transfered onto a finely sanded plywood sheet by coating the back with graphite. Transfer paper could also be used.

A pyrography tool can then be used to trace over the linework with dark incised lines. These lines also serve to contain paint washes from bleeding  out beyond them at the painting stage.

This method of producing the linework is necessary when it is intended to retain the wood grain as integral to the look of the puzzle picture after transparent colour is applied.

If the plywood is first primed with a coat of gesso then the whole process is similar to working on any substrate with ink and wash. So using the pyrography pen is not necessary, just use inked lines prior to the coloured washes.

Thinned acrylic paint, coloured acrylic ink and coloured pencil can be used to paint diectly on the plywood and the linework can be traced over again with black ink to ensure the pyrographed lines are not relied upon as they have a tendency to fade.

A final clear varnish coat and the pictire is ready for cutting as a jigsaw puzzle.

Painting and Cutting Puzzles