Christmas ?

I thaught as well as many howers that Christmas could be a good time to send our puzzle. But I'm afraid it will too close. It depends of the number of people who'll participate and the design of the puzzle.

I'd love to send it for Christmas. But is it realistic ?

What do you think ?

Yes, I think Christmas is good and it can be done till then. We are not talking about A4 paintings here, and a small puzzle piece can be done on an afternoon. Carol will also be in the middle of her chemo (?), so its the best time to send some encouragement. Right?

Ok Christmas is later than I had thought but it's fine by me.

I had thought that as soon as we got our piece finished we'd post it and she'd get the bits at different times.

Well I was afraid that we could not be on time...

but it's a good idea to send the piece not at the same time.

the waiting will one of the good thing of it^^

The sooner, the better. I am just aware that not everyone has more time like me now ;-) I could do it next week.

I'm heading for crazy season in the 2 months before Christmas working as a postie, any energy I have left after work is spent eating and sleeping. So for me, sooner rather than later is better

But getting the pieces one at a time over several weeks would be fun perhaps

Juliejools wrote:I'm heading for crazy season in the 2 months before Christmas working as a postie, any energy I have left after work is spent eating and sleeping. So for me, sooner rather than later is better

But getting the pieces one at a time over several weeks would be fun perhaps

maybe the last piece in time for Christmas^^

We have to take into account that we can't control how long the post takes from place to place. I've sent things to Switzerland that took 2 days and others that took 2 weeks, stuff to NZ can take a lot longer even by airmail

I'll try to improve my super powers. what about telekinesia ? (moving objects with mind control)

well... we are at the beginning of it, maybe we could try to wait a little and talk about that with the others ?

Chirstmas is fine with me, or Thanksgiving (fourth thursday in November), or any time in between.
We just have to make sure that they all get done. A puzzle with pieces missing is not much good.

I think the idea of staggering the pieces so she does not recieve them together is a good one. If we get Guen on board, then she could give her the last piece on Christmas
The rest of us would just have to make sure we get ours there by then, with something in our letter (I'm assuming that you all, like me, can't resist writing at least a little note with anything you send ;o)) implying that there's more to come.
In which case, mid-November would be our deadline for sending from NZ, at the latest, just in case of slovenly couriers
And I'm guessing the situation would be similar from Europe.

Christmas is so ideal in my mind, I am really hoping we can work that out. I think we are capable of it.

InKi just wanted to use the reindeer smiley.

I think it would be great to have the pieces staggered in their delivery, with a shipping deadline from anywhere outside the US to be by December 1. Within the US they could probably be shipped as late as 7 days prior to Christmas Eve.

Here is my concern (and it goes back to the PM Janet sent via the forum), how quickly are the puzzle pieces going to be sent to "us" so we can begin working on them? I think Janet pointed out some good ideas in her PM, and if she hasn't had a chance to do so I hope she will re-post it here.

Avara wrote: how quickly are the puzzle pieces going to be sent to "us" so we can begin working on them? I think Janet pointed out some good ideas in her PM, and if she hasn't had a chance to do so I hope she will re-post it here.

Once a decision has been made, I think that has to be very soon btw, then, if Graeme is doing to puzzle pieces we can get them shipped by the middle of next week

Oooh good, I hope so! And then it would be best everyone shipped their pieces to me right after that?
Or would it make more sense for all them to be shipped someone and then shipped all together to me?

OK, here's my next thought: (you're all dying of anticipation, right?)(heavy sarcasm)

If Graeme and Jools can get them cut, sanded and marked and sent next week, we should all get them (hopefully) before Nov 1. If we can turn them around and send them to Inki in week's time, she would have a week to do the finishing and could get them to me in a few days(might have to use priority for that?)--so I would have the finished product by about Nov 20. That would give me exactly 24 mailing days--up until the 20th of December, to send each piece separately. Each Piece should have the sender's name on the back, so if Inki keeps and sends all of the original padded envelopes, i can just slide the original into a plain envelope addressed to Carol and send one everyday.

It's a rather precise schedule and one trip to zanzibar will mess the whole thing up, or one Hower who can't get things done and sent in a timely manner (I'm not mentioning any names here). But it just might be doable.


So what are your thoughts?

Sounds very tight but feasible if we all stick with it.

My problem would be the material - I don't have any paint etc. to use on wood.

I know we said somewhere else that sending money all over the place is not a good idea, but I'd happily chip in some to InKi to help with the priority shipping to Vegas.

That is an incredibly tight schedule, especially considering some of us procrastinate. And like Alanna said, some need to purchase supplies. I'd purchase supplies in advance if I had any idea what I was going to do.

Time is of the essence, some work better on a tight schedule anyway

I'm coming up with a way around the buying other art materials that you may not use again, don't worry too much about that

You know the saying.."where there's a will, there's a way"

I don't really mind buying the materials. There is no guarantee that I might not use them again. I've always wanted to buy one of those little trinket boxes to customize.

Pencil and permanent marker and paint pens also work well. Pencil has to be sealed.

Acrylic paint is really cheap here,I don't know about elsewhere.

If I could get an acrylic paint pen, I'd be in business.

FIRST; I love the idea Janet, the only drawback that will happen;
There will be weekends to perhaps alter the arrival of some bits.
I've sent letters to the East Coast at the same time as ones I have sent to Germany, and
had the German ones arrive first.
My point; mail even moves funny in the USA, no matter how close or far you are from a state.
So, maybe a somewhat wavering pattern is something we'll have to count on and live with.

As for acrylic paints; AMERICANS, I can just say go to WalMart or a craft store, and you can easy find
a kids sent of acrylics.
FOLKART is a popular brand that comes in squeeze tubes, washes easy, and I work with often for crafting on wood.
They are touted for things like mailboxs, birdhouse, crafting, etc.
I painted my Mouth of Sauron Helmet and sword with those paints. I WILL SUGGEST THAT EVERYONE GIVE EACH PIECE SENT TO ME A LIGHT COAT OF FIXATIVE/FIXATIF on each piece for safety for transit.


Acrylic pens and and markers also work swell, but BE WARNED; Some pens and markers will run or bleed with fixatives, or act strange on wood.
Cheap Markers seem loaded with more alcohol-like liquid, and tend to make oozy too-much-lipstick ooze lines away from the source.
I don't want to scare people, and it'll probably be alright to give it a light coat of something like fixative and then I can vinyl seal it.

WHAT is the exact material thee puzzle shall be made of?

Waitaminute... They actually make acrylic pens and markers? Cool. I think I'll have to head to the craft store next week. (No time this weekend.)

I'd be happy to chip in some dollars towards shipping and materials, just let me know who is paying for what and I'll send a money order.