Place the Message Board Under the Puzzle to Make It Easier to Move
Along with the hand sanitizer and toilet paper companies, puzzle makers and retailers have had a brisk business lately. Since everyone has been confined to their homes in the past few months, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had more time for slower activities. If your family jumped on the puzzle board and either ordered some new ones or solved the puzzles hidden in the back of the closet, we have a tiny hacker for you. Here’s what you need to know.
Find a message board
Unless you have a dedicated puzzle-solving table (which I suppose applies to most people), it can be difficult for you to decide where to put your puzzle while you work on it. You don’t want to just leave it on the floor for people to trip over, but if you try to pick it up to move it, chances are good that you ruin all the hard work you’ve already put into the project. … You can of course use your kitchen or dining table, but you will likely need these surfaces for other activities, such as eating. So what’s a puzzle lover to do?
For ease of movement, solve the puzzle on the notice board – so you can simply pick it up and move it anywhere in the house without breaking it. This tiny hacker is kindly provided by a very smart friend of mine who posted on Instagram a photo of her two daughters putting a puzzle on top of a message board. When one of the commenters asked about this method, my friend informed her that it was supposed to make it easier to move the puzzle. Genius!
And this is not what she came up with during the pandemic – this is a method that she has been using for years. If the kids want to work on the puzzle, she can move it to a corner so they are not in the middle of the room. And if they work on it at night, they can put it in front of the light. So many options!
Why Bulletin Board?
If you’re wondering what makes a message board so ideal for this kind of use, let’s take a look at it. While you may be familiar with this strategy of solving a puzzle on a piece of cardboard, you should know that the bulletin board method is better. First, if you’ve ever tried it with cardboard, you know how slippery this sucker can get. And if you use a disassembled box, the cardboard may wrinkle, so the surface will not be completely flat. A smooth (and potentially uneven) surface can cause the puzzle to slide all over the place (including all over the cardboard).
But the bulletin board isn’t as smooth as cardboard, so the puzzle pieces stay in place. On top of that – and this is the key point – message boards usually have some kind of inline frame. This way, even if your puzzle slips a little, it won’t completely slide off the board (unless you throw it away deliberately). The frame also makes it easy to pick up the notice board and move it around the house. You are welcome.