Life is a Puzzle: Visualize the Pieces of Your Life

A Visual Arts & Crafting Project


"The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissable to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men. . . . The light which these souls radiate is responsible for the progress of the world and the advancement of its peoples. They are like unto leaven which leaveneth the world of being, and constitute the animating force through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest. . . ." --Baha'u'llah (Gleanings, LXXXI)

  1. Life is a Puzzle: Visualize the Pieces of Your Life
    Our lives are filled with things that are important to us and give us joy: people, places, activities, colors, words, etc. This project attempts to create a three-dimensional puzzle that includes images which literally, or symbolically represent what is important to us, or what we desire for ourselves.

    Many Aspects of the One (thumbnail)

    Many Aspects of the One
    c. 1999 L. Early

    Preparation:

    *You will need some large pieces from an old jigsaw puzzle, preferably a sturdy children's one, but the overall condition is not important as you will either be using them as templates or covering the existing picture. These pieces can fit together or not, the final composition is up to you. You can start with a whole, completed, puzzle (with all pieces intact), an irregularly shaped portion of the puzzle, or individual pieces that do not fit together at all.

    *You will also need construction materials including, but not limited to: heavy cardstock paper or cardboard, glue, pencil, scissors, colored pens/markers, embellishments such as glitter or charms, x-acto or craft knife.

    *Decide if you will be covering the actual puzzle pieces or creating puzzle-piece shaped bases out of cardboard. Prepare actual pieces to cover by roughing up any smooth surfaces with sandpaper so that the glue will adhere a bit better. Or, create new base pieces by tracing around the actual pieces onto cardboard with a pencil and cutting them out carefully. If you want your pieces to be thicker, cut several out of the same shape and glue together in layers.

    *And, finally, you must collect images, words, colors, shapes, patterns, and small charms or 3-D objects, from printed sources such as magazines, catalogs, greeting cards, and around your home. Try to find images that are smaller or just a bit larger than one puzzle piece - if you want to include a larger image this is also possible by joining together enough puzzle pieces (big enough) to mount that image on.

    Process:

    *Let you mind become very calm and quiet and decide what the theme of your piece will be. Some ideas might be a collection of images that represent people places and things from your past, or, happening in your life right now, or, things you would like to do in the future. Or, you could choose images and words that are a combination of the past, present, and future.

    Other themes to consider are: a special day or event in your life; a photo montage of the important people in your life--using color copies not the actual photos; colors and words to inspire you; as a gift for a friend select images that relate to that person or words and images of things you've done together; baby shower, birthday, or wedding gift--images, colors and words that correspond with the event. Come up with other ideas? Please write and tell me what you've done: art4all@gmail.com Send me a photo!

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