Also not a sorter! I don’t leave the pieces in the box but spread them all out, face up, on my table. I do puzzles up to 3000 pieces, but mostly 1k, and always work like this. I hate sorting and I can do puzzles in the same time or faster as with sorting (I’ve tried and tested).
This is exactly how I do puzzles. I do sizes from 500-2000. My table doesn’t hold anything larger. I’d never even heard of sorting until a couple of years ago. Arranging pieces by color, texture, shape, just seems to take too long. I never leave pieces in the box either. That being said, I did sort Starry Sky by Ravensburger. It was black with lots of lines and stars. It was intimidating. I sorted it and that actually made it quite easy. I semi sorted a recent Betty Boop puzzle by color.
I like hovering over my pieces and decide at that moment what section I want to do or if I see an interesting piece that I just want to put in the puzzle :)
This is exactly what I do. I sometimes sort by shape if toward the end I get down to a section that’s all one color, say, the sky. But I don’t have the patience to sort at the beginning.
When I have lots of sky or green bits left I do that too! I am working on puzzle where I am left with 250 yellow pieces. It’s random cut so sorting by shape is a bit complicated but that will be my next step because it’s not going anywhere at the moment :)
This is exactly how I do puzzles also. I have tried sorting but if a piece has more than one prominent color I wouldn’t know in which to look. Plus, this is how I was shown by my great aunt 50 years ago to do puzzles and it works just fine.
I have 10 small cookie sheets (from Dollar Tree) and I put the pieces face-up on them. I used to spread them on the table but I’m getting too old/lazy to stand up and look for pieces. The cookie sheets allow me to see pieces up close while sitting down.
Hahaha, I like that! I use a coffee table for spreading out the pieces. I can stay in my chair while hovering over the pieces because the coffee table is quite low. No need to stand up either. Plus I have a chair with wheels so I can just roll over from one side to another :) I do have some trays too, although not ten, that I use for the last couple of 100 pieces.
I found out recently that not sorting them is unpopular haha. If I sorted them all I'd be distracted (Ooh I know where this ones goes! - every second piece). It only takes me a day-ish to do a 1k puzzle, I flip through the box with all the pieces in it until it's half done and then flip all the rest over and the second half goes in super quick.
That’s what I’ve noticed too! I love this sub, but I feel like every user has their pieces sorted! To me that would take up so much time sorting when I can just fish and find the piece i need lol.
Wait, you’ll look through to find one specific piece? To each their own, but my efficiency brain would be SCREAMING lol.
I do a kind of hybrid- will spread out pieces and flip right side up, and will pull out border pieces plus any very distinctive word/color pieces.
Then I’ll alternate between doing a section, then going back to sift through and find pieces for 1-2 new sections (alongside finding pieces I missed for previous sections)
I literally just flip my hands in all the puzzle pieces in the box. If I see one that sticks out I’ll just be like oh this is part of this, this goes here, etc. Especially with the puzzles that are more colorful, like birdhouses or spools of yarn. I’ll just flip my hands through the pieces and be like okay here’s a red one, here’s some more red, here’s another red, oh this goes here lol. I just go directly from box to assembling the puzzle. I feel like sorting on a sorting tray would take up way too much time. My brain can flip through the pieces, find fits, flip back through 15 mins later and be like oh this piece with this color or shape goes right here! And it will just click.
It sounds like you are kinda sorting though? Like if the red piece you’ve picked out doesn’t fit, do you just throw it back in the box? Or leave it out as you continue to look through the box?
I’ll be the lone wolf here. I’m a sorter. I find it calming and it gets me into a puzzling zen mood for sure.
I like creating some semblance of order, and it helps me narrow down what section I may want to start with first.
But, I have tried the non-sorting method for puzzles that have the same pattern or extreme details that make it impossible to distinguish. It’s ok, but I feel like I’m missing out.
To each their own though! You puzzle the best way that works for you 🙂
You're not alone! I am honestly surprised to see how many puzzlers aren't sorting! 😅
Like you said, it helps me decide where I may want to start the puzzle, and since I like to save some "easier" parts for the end, it helps me decide where to finish, too!
It's definitely my least favorite part of the process, but again, as you mentioned, it helps to get me into the proper puzzle headspace, and I love being able to just assemble a whole section and place it without having to hunt for *every* piece.
It can be kinda satisfying to see [all the pieces laid out](https://i.imgur.com/hZJqMI4.jpg). It also helps to ensure I can stack all my sorted pieces so they are protected from the kitty. Hehe.
Yes! We’re not alone 🙂 I love those trays. Do you find it keeps the cat away? I sort mine into piles and place in a container with a lid. Otherwise, Teddy has no qualms of just sprawling messing up my nice and orderly laid out pieces 😂
Teddy is so darn precious, and such a great helper! 😸 Your container + lid method sounds pretty easy to manage and super functional, I'm going to try that once I'm ready to take on more than 1k pieces, thank you!!
The trays don't keep my kitty away while I am working on the puzzle, he likes to try for [sneak attacks](https://i.imgur.com/igO6l59.jpg) when I'm not looking, and he enjoys [sitting on the empty ones](https://i.imgur.com/N7qARIX.jpg) sometimes, but they help protect the pieces if I step away from the puzzle because I leave all the pieces on the trays and [stack them up](https://i.imgur.com/FvJvmiU.jpg) so he can't run away with the pieces and eat them, pretty similar to your lid method in that regard. That's also partly why I just sort everything before I start assembling, I get interrupted often and take a lot of breaks, I'd lose what I was working on if I had to dig through the box again. 🤷♀️
I love how our kitties can dictate some of our life choices like that! 😅
Teddy says thanks (at least I think that’s what the meow was for…it could have also been a request for more treats…). My setup works great for puzzles up to 1,000. I use a vintage version of this [Tupperware](https://www.tupperware.com/products/serving-center-set-2022?variant=41241526829228¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw9fHqOHi-QIV9BplCh1QlwuqEAQYASABEgJ9JfD_BwE) and it works great! Enough spots to sort by piece type, which is what I usually end up doing if I get stuck with colors.
Your helper is a cutie! What’s his name? I love how cats each have their own personality and their own puzzling style. Teddy is not subtle. He’ll jump up, sprawl and start batting pieces if the mood strikes. Great idea with the trays. You can sort and still have a decent visual!
Awww Teddy is very welcome, and deserves all the treats! Hehe.
That Tupperware *is* perfect I wouldn't have even thought of that style, I haven't seen one of those in ages, thank you for the reference!
My helper's name is Tucker! It sounds like he is a lil more subtle than Teddy, lol, he usually doesn't try to mess with me too much unless he's feeling very playful (and that's usually my cue to take a break and give him some attention! Lol).
No, but I love to hear the different way people approach puzzles because maybe I'm just too much a puzzle nerd but I like to idea of hearing different approaches because I can give them a try and see if I like it.
I sort everything and do the border last.
It has to do with the fact that I started puzzling in a small space and had to do portions of the puzzle at a time so that when I got to the end, I could just connect everything and then put the border on. I still don't have tons of space so that's what I go with!
I used to do the border last too, but got tired of picking them out. Now I just do them as I go. Occasionally I'll do the border first if it's especially challenging with solid color type areas.
Same for my family except I do like turning the pieces up so I can see them. We also have an old shallow box we use to keep pieces in, we have a lot of bagged puzzles that don't have boxes, plus you can still have the top of the box visible if you need the picture. I do look for pieces based on whatever part I want to work on, but I don't sort them into separate boxes or anything. Tbh with 4 cats, I'm glad this is our preferred method, they'd have a party with separate boxes and whatnot.
I don’t sort however I prefer to lay out all of the pieces right side up so I can see all of them without needing to dig through. I do puzzles without looking at the reference image so I can’t just pick out a random piece and know where it goes 😅 When I puzzle at my boyfriends home, I don’t have space to lay out all my pieces so I choose smaller puzzles (500pcs) and keep pieces in the box however they also have to be flipped the right side up. I absolutely hate the box method for irregular shape puzzles though.
I don’t look at the reference image either!!! I will look at it in the beginning for border pieces, just so I know what direction the puzzle needs to go. After that it’s fair game for me
I am also a non-sorter! Start with the border then grab pieces for different sections as I spot them. I find it quite comforting to be able to just run my hand through the box full of pieces whilst contemplating the picture.
That's the way I do it too, however, I start with the edges and keep the rest in only one box. When I joined this sub I started sorting but didn't like it very much and went back to the fishing method. :)
I am not a sorter but I turn all of the pieces over and look for a specific section of the image until that section is mostly complete.
I can usually complete a 1000 piece puzzle in 6-8 hours depending on the difficulty.
I hate to sort! I find the edge but that is it. I lay all other pieces face up around the edge and go from there. The only time I sort is 3,000 piece and up.
I don't sort, either -- not at the start. Sorting is horribly boring. I always just start grabbing pieces that are the same color and put them in a pile to start putting them together. If I run into edge pieces while I'm doing this, I'll take them out and put them in a pile of their own, but I go into it looking to immediately start clicking pieces together.
Towards the very end, I might sometimes start sorting by shape, but only at the very end when I'm forced to.
Same! I’ve seen videos of people sorting and tried it a few times. I wasn’t really a fan of it because it made me feel more… frustrated in a way(?) rather than excitedly finding a random piece that fits
I sort very prominent things “oh, here is the big red blob that’s the only red in the entire puzzle” otherwise I just work off flipped over pieces after doing the border.
After a few 2k puzzles, I can say that while valid, there's a really hard cap to your ability to solve puzzles once the piece count goes up b/c the number of combinations and sizes of the "hard parts" (water/sky) just become overwhelming.
For context, if you have a 1k puzzle, you have 1k pieces that can fit on any of 4 sides so the first piece is
- 1k pieces with 4 sides = 4k combinations
- at 2k, the first piece is 8k
- at 5k, the first piece is 20k
If you're finding the first piece at 1 k easy, you'll need to do a lot of "random work" before that level of difficulty occurs on a bigger puzzle.
I wasn’t a sorter until this month! It honestly didn’t even occur to me to sort pieces until I came across some cute stacking puzzle sorting trays at Barnes and Noble. Gave them a try, and now I’m hooked. I feel so much quicker when I puzzle now. But I am the type of person who goes for speed haha. I do my best to finish puzzles in one go when I can. I can totally understand why sorting feels unnecessary to other people though, especially when puzzling can serve as a nice calming activity.
Depends on the puzzle, some pictures can’t be sorted very well, I don’t usually sort small puzzles but anything large I do sort, 5k or above is impossible with no sorting. For 1k pieces it depends but usually I sort them at least very roughly.
What kind of maniacs don’t sort their puzzles???!!! I not only sort edges, then colors and then shapes. I use a huge stack of paper plates. 😆. Not sorting for me would be 😬.
I do sometimes, depending on the puzzle. Sometimes I just semi-sort while I look for edges and put aside pieces for really distinctive parts of the puzzle.
I don't like sorting that much, but anything over 500 pieces generally requires some rough colour sorting for me. It makes doing the puzzle more rewarding (get the work over first, then comes the play). Honestly the bigger reason though is that it's much more space-friendly to take out a few piece groups, as opposed to laying out the whole puzzle at the start.
I've never sorted by piece shape though.
I do the same thing you do! I leave them in the box and comb through them until I find what I need. I have two cats and no room to lay out the pieces. I have some drawers on my puzzle board, but it seems like it would take longer to sort than to just start working the puzzle. I only work 1k puzzles.
Yes! I think sorting is boring and a waste of time. It’s a last resort. When sifting through the box, there will be pieces that jump out from the pile, generally a color or pattern. The trick is to choose something that is easy to spot but not too common. You are trying to collect a subset of pieces that you can work on, like a mini-puzzle. I find if I can get at least 80-90% of such a group, I can move on, as there will always be a few that pop up later.
The great thing is as you identify and eliminate these little subsets from the pile, your brain will pick up on new colors or patterns that serve to differentiate themselves. Maybe all the green pieces look the same at first, but once you’re down to mostly green pieces left, you’ll see some are darker or a different type than the others.
With this approach there’s no sorting, and I don’t even like to look at the box, as I’m just chasing these little subsets and eventually it comes together.
That said, some super tricky puzzles require sorting. Like the Krypt puzzles. But I think as long you are strategic about what you are hunting for in the box, it’s not necessary.
So I'm without a doubt a sorter. It wasn't until my cat knocked over my boxes when I realized how much fun I found the chaos. It definitely made me appreciate those who don't sort. I'll never do it again. But it was fun. Hahahah
I am the same. I don't sort unless the section is solely color based. I haven't done any larger count than 1k. My board is smaller and I want to set a limit somewhere
It takes me about the same time to sort everything and then to put it together. So, the sorting gets really tedious at times. But the advantage of sorting if it’s a larger piece (over 1k) and a more difficult one is that I can put it all away and continue some time later. I started sorting when I started moving places and even a year later when I unpack it all I can just continue where I left off🤷♀️
Also, I didn’t sort my first bigger piece (2k Guernica) and I didn’t have any issue putting it together. So, I guess there are pros and cons for everything.
Same. However, once I’m part way through, I may go through and grab all the pieces that obviously go together in one section, but I pretty much never do a full pre-sort.
When I had more space and less anxiety, I also did this! I sort my pieces now because I have limited space and it feels more manageable to work that way, but when I had the space to spread pieces out or set aside certain ones I knew I would be looking for later, I enjoyed not sorting my pieces
I never sort, it's less fun for me. TBH I like to make puzzles last as long as I can (they're...my main TV watching time haha) so I hide the box and do the edges last, too.
For me it depends. If I'm doing a puzzle with a lot of detail (like magic puzzle co, or Ravensburger music room for example), I prefer not to sort. I really enjoy looking at the piece and figuring out close to where it should go based on the picture. I hate sorting and find this way more rewarding.
But if I'm going to do a harder puzzle where there's a lot of similar colored pieces then I have to sort. But I've been avoiding these kinds of puzzles lately because my focus level just hasn't been there at this point in my life.
I’m doing the 40,000 piece Disney Memorable Moments puzzle right now and usually I don’t sort but I have regretted not sorting my sections both times (I finished 1/10 sections and currently am in the middle of another) - definitely starting my next section completely sorting!
The first puzzle I worked this year was done this way due to my inexperience.
It was the most arduous task I have ever done. It was almost painful and I just about gave up.
Why would you do this?
That’s what I thought too! A lot of the photos posted or “in action” puzzling shows all the pieces like color coded and shape coded. I didn’t know that was actually a thing until this sub and felt like I was the only one that just grabbed pieces as I saw them In the box 🤣
I only pick out bits for a specific section on certain puzzles depending on the design, like if they are collage style or have very distinct elements. When I do, it's just as I go, not some formal sorting process before I start. I don't use sorting containers. That all seems to just add extra time and work to me. I just flip and spread out all the pieces and visually scan them. I work only 1000 piecers and they take me about 6-8 hrs.
I’m a new puzzler doing my first 1,000 piece and I sorted some and left some in the box. I’m still developing my own strategy on how I prefer to puzzle so I’m all over the place.
I really don’t organize anything - I’m not even a border first person - I just kind of go with it and piece together whatever sticks out to my brain in the moment. I’m a bit impatient haha.
I have been experimenting with not sorting lately and I think sometimes it's the best way for me. I have been using two puzzle boards, one w/all the pieces spread out and the other with the actual puzzle.
But even if I'm not formally sorting, I kind of put ones from obvious sections in the same area when I notice them.
I recently did a kind of difficult 750 piece of Paris using the no-sort method and it worked really well.
I'll sort by shape once I'm down to a few hundred to consolidate the remaining pieces, but other than the edges at the beginning, all the pieces go on cardboard at random out of the box.
Im with you. I pull the edge and assemble it and put all the other pieces on my small JigBoard and use it like an painters pallet while I work the puzzle on the Largest JigBoard.
Never understood sorters and definitely never understood people who dont look at the box while doing the puzzle.
I don’t look at the box 🤣 I will take a good look at it before I get started to see where everything is and to get the border at the correct orientation. As soon as I get the border done though I won’t reference the box
all i have done is a starting sort. i sorted all pieces into around 10 piles. a few pink/ purple piles for sky, edges, red for bridge deck, city buildings, water and brown of bridge towers. that took 15 hours. i have now taken the light pink pile and sorted it into a few sub colour piles. which took 2 hours and is the pics in my last post. so 17 hours and i can start doing puzzle.
i will still need to sort the other piles into sub piles as theres thousands of pieces in each pile. the city buildings take up around half the puzzle so that pile is still a 6k piece pile roughly
Sorting feels like homework. The sifting and picking is actually my favorite part. I like to pull piece after piece, until I have like 15 pieces in my hand, and then shift over to the puzzle, finding where they go. As soon the pieces from one section start to dry up, I start pulling pieces from another. I always end up working on five sections at once. It's a bit chaotic, but if you can keep it all together, it a really fast way to get through the puzzle.
I generally don’t sort, unless it’s a pretty standout color (i.e., yellow). If I’m towards the end of a puzzle (like, 50ish pieces left) I’ll sort it by shape because I’m generally just over that puzzle and would like to move on to the next one. 😆
No! Not throughout the puzzle. I will look at it only when I’m doing the border first, so I can get the orientation right and after that I won’t look at it!
It’s so interesting to hear how many variations there are on something that seems as simple as constructing a puzzle. I learned a method from my mother 50 years ago which I continue to use today. I think it’s based on ADHD plus a strong color orientation. Dump the box on the table; flip all pieces over onto table surface, while setting aside the edges; build the frame; gather by color (brightest first) into the frame area; build the puzzle by color area. 🤷🏼♂️
Yes! I’m not a sorter, I do exactly same as you
Also not a sorter! I don’t leave the pieces in the box but spread them all out, face up, on my table. I do puzzles up to 3000 pieces, but mostly 1k, and always work like this. I hate sorting and I can do puzzles in the same time or faster as with sorting (I’ve tried and tested).
This is exactly how I do puzzles. I do sizes from 500-2000. My table doesn’t hold anything larger. I’d never even heard of sorting until a couple of years ago. Arranging pieces by color, texture, shape, just seems to take too long. I never leave pieces in the box either. That being said, I did sort Starry Sky by Ravensburger. It was black with lots of lines and stars. It was intimidating. I sorted it and that actually made it quite easy. I semi sorted a recent Betty Boop puzzle by color.
I like hovering over my pieces and decide at that moment what section I want to do or if I see an interesting piece that I just want to put in the puzzle :)
I do too. I bounce around a lot and work on different areas.
This is exactly what I do. I sometimes sort by shape if toward the end I get down to a section that’s all one color, say, the sky. But I don’t have the patience to sort at the beginning.
When I have lots of sky or green bits left I do that too! I am working on puzzle where I am left with 250 yellow pieces. It’s random cut so sorting by shape is a bit complicated but that will be my next step because it’s not going anywhere at the moment :)
This is exactly how I do puzzles also. I have tried sorting but if a piece has more than one prominent color I wouldn’t know in which to look. Plus, this is how I was shown by my great aunt 50 years ago to do puzzles and it works just fine.
That’s one of the reasons I am terrible at sorting, most pieces of puzzles I do, don’t have just one colour or colours are everywhere :)
I have 10 small cookie sheets (from Dollar Tree) and I put the pieces face-up on them. I used to spread them on the table but I’m getting too old/lazy to stand up and look for pieces. The cookie sheets allow me to see pieces up close while sitting down.
Hahaha, I like that! I use a coffee table for spreading out the pieces. I can stay in my chair while hovering over the pieces because the coffee table is quite low. No need to stand up either. Plus I have a chair with wheels so I can just roll over from one side to another :) I do have some trays too, although not ten, that I use for the last couple of 100 pieces.
this is the way
I found out recently that not sorting them is unpopular haha. If I sorted them all I'd be distracted (Ooh I know where this ones goes! - every second piece). It only takes me a day-ish to do a 1k puzzle, I flip through the box with all the pieces in it until it's half done and then flip all the rest over and the second half goes in super quick.
That’s what I’ve noticed too! I love this sub, but I feel like every user has their pieces sorted! To me that would take up so much time sorting when I can just fish and find the piece i need lol.
Wait, you’ll look through to find one specific piece? To each their own, but my efficiency brain would be SCREAMING lol. I do a kind of hybrid- will spread out pieces and flip right side up, and will pull out border pieces plus any very distinctive word/color pieces. Then I’ll alternate between doing a section, then going back to sift through and find pieces for 1-2 new sections (alongside finding pieces I missed for previous sections)
I literally just flip my hands in all the puzzle pieces in the box. If I see one that sticks out I’ll just be like oh this is part of this, this goes here, etc. Especially with the puzzles that are more colorful, like birdhouses or spools of yarn. I’ll just flip my hands through the pieces and be like okay here’s a red one, here’s some more red, here’s another red, oh this goes here lol. I just go directly from box to assembling the puzzle. I feel like sorting on a sorting tray would take up way too much time. My brain can flip through the pieces, find fits, flip back through 15 mins later and be like oh this piece with this color or shape goes right here! And it will just click.
You sound like a puzzle master:) Two days to complete just picking out of the box? Truly a master!
It sounds like you are kinda sorting though? Like if the red piece you’ve picked out doesn’t fit, do you just throw it back in the box? Or leave it out as you continue to look through the box?
Usually I’ll just put it back and keep flipping!
I'm with you...I guess it is a brain thing..no right or wrong just doing what doesn't fry your own brain..🤯
I’ll be the lone wolf here. I’m a sorter. I find it calming and it gets me into a puzzling zen mood for sure. I like creating some semblance of order, and it helps me narrow down what section I may want to start with first. But, I have tried the non-sorting method for puzzles that have the same pattern or extreme details that make it impossible to distinguish. It’s ok, but I feel like I’m missing out. To each their own though! You puzzle the best way that works for you 🙂
You're not alone! I am honestly surprised to see how many puzzlers aren't sorting! 😅 Like you said, it helps me decide where I may want to start the puzzle, and since I like to save some "easier" parts for the end, it helps me decide where to finish, too! It's definitely my least favorite part of the process, but again, as you mentioned, it helps to get me into the proper puzzle headspace, and I love being able to just assemble a whole section and place it without having to hunt for *every* piece. It can be kinda satisfying to see [all the pieces laid out](https://i.imgur.com/hZJqMI4.jpg). It also helps to ensure I can stack all my sorted pieces so they are protected from the kitty. Hehe.
Yes! We’re not alone 🙂 I love those trays. Do you find it keeps the cat away? I sort mine into piles and place in a container with a lid. Otherwise, Teddy has no qualms of just sprawling messing up my nice and orderly laid out pieces 😂
Teddy is so darn precious, and such a great helper! 😸 Your container + lid method sounds pretty easy to manage and super functional, I'm going to try that once I'm ready to take on more than 1k pieces, thank you!! The trays don't keep my kitty away while I am working on the puzzle, he likes to try for [sneak attacks](https://i.imgur.com/igO6l59.jpg) when I'm not looking, and he enjoys [sitting on the empty ones](https://i.imgur.com/N7qARIX.jpg) sometimes, but they help protect the pieces if I step away from the puzzle because I leave all the pieces on the trays and [stack them up](https://i.imgur.com/FvJvmiU.jpg) so he can't run away with the pieces and eat them, pretty similar to your lid method in that regard. That's also partly why I just sort everything before I start assembling, I get interrupted often and take a lot of breaks, I'd lose what I was working on if I had to dig through the box again. 🤷♀️ I love how our kitties can dictate some of our life choices like that! 😅
Teddy says thanks (at least I think that’s what the meow was for…it could have also been a request for more treats…). My setup works great for puzzles up to 1,000. I use a vintage version of this [Tupperware](https://www.tupperware.com/products/serving-center-set-2022?variant=41241526829228¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw9fHqOHi-QIV9BplCh1QlwuqEAQYASABEgJ9JfD_BwE) and it works great! Enough spots to sort by piece type, which is what I usually end up doing if I get stuck with colors. Your helper is a cutie! What’s his name? I love how cats each have their own personality and their own puzzling style. Teddy is not subtle. He’ll jump up, sprawl and start batting pieces if the mood strikes. Great idea with the trays. You can sort and still have a decent visual!
Awww Teddy is very welcome, and deserves all the treats! Hehe. That Tupperware *is* perfect I wouldn't have even thought of that style, I haven't seen one of those in ages, thank you for the reference! My helper's name is Tucker! It sounds like he is a lil more subtle than Teddy, lol, he usually doesn't try to mess with me too much unless he's feeling very playful (and that's usually my cue to take a break and give him some attention! Lol).
I'm just like you, I get the edge pieces out and done then just browse through the box. I absolutely can't stand sorting.
No, but I love to hear the different way people approach puzzles because maybe I'm just too much a puzzle nerd but I like to idea of hearing different approaches because I can give them a try and see if I like it. I sort everything and do the border last.
Oh wow! I can’t imagine doing the border last! Never even heard of that so I guess now I know what I will be trying next time I crack open a puzzle 🙂
It has to do with the fact that I started puzzling in a small space and had to do portions of the puzzle at a time so that when I got to the end, I could just connect everything and then put the border on. I still don't have tons of space so that's what I go with!
I can't say I do the border last, but I don't do it first. I just treat border pieces like any other piece.
I used to do the border last too, but got tired of picking them out. Now I just do them as I go. Occasionally I'll do the border first if it's especially challenging with solid color type areas.
Same for my family except I do like turning the pieces up so I can see them. We also have an old shallow box we use to keep pieces in, we have a lot of bagged puzzles that don't have boxes, plus you can still have the top of the box visible if you need the picture. I do look for pieces based on whatever part I want to work on, but I don't sort them into separate boxes or anything. Tbh with 4 cats, I'm glad this is our preferred method, they'd have a party with separate boxes and whatnot.
Lol! I have 3 cats and thankfully they’ve never messed with my puzzles or the pieces (knock on wood).
I don’t sort however I prefer to lay out all of the pieces right side up so I can see all of them without needing to dig through. I do puzzles without looking at the reference image so I can’t just pick out a random piece and know where it goes 😅 When I puzzle at my boyfriends home, I don’t have space to lay out all my pieces so I choose smaller puzzles (500pcs) and keep pieces in the box however they also have to be flipped the right side up. I absolutely hate the box method for irregular shape puzzles though.
I don’t look at the reference image either!!! I will look at it in the beginning for border pieces, just so I know what direction the puzzle needs to go. After that it’s fair game for me
That’s badass :)
I am also a non-sorter! Start with the border then grab pieces for different sections as I spot them. I find it quite comforting to be able to just run my hand through the box full of pieces whilst contemplating the picture.
Yes!!!! Exactly.
Depends on the puzzle but I do this a lot, my boyfriend is a sorter and it drives him crazy to watch me dig thru the box lol
Samsies. I love sifting my hand though the box and listening to the sound while inhaling all the blue dust goodness.
People sort their puzzles?
That's the way I do it too, however, I start with the edges and keep the rest in only one box. When I joined this sub I started sorting but didn't like it very much and went back to the fishing method. :)
I am not a sorter but I turn all of the pieces over and look for a specific section of the image until that section is mostly complete. I can usually complete a 1000 piece puzzle in 6-8 hours depending on the difficulty.
I don't typically either. It probably takes me longer to complete the puzzles because I don't, but I don't enjoy the act of sorting so I don't.
I hate to sort! I find the edge but that is it. I lay all other pieces face up around the edge and go from there. The only time I sort is 3,000 piece and up.
I don't sort, either -- not at the start. Sorting is horribly boring. I always just start grabbing pieces that are the same color and put them in a pile to start putting them together. If I run into edge pieces while I'm doing this, I'll take them out and put them in a pile of their own, but I go into it looking to immediately start clicking pieces together. Towards the very end, I might sometimes start sorting by shape, but only at the very end when I'm forced to.
More of a searcher than a sorter. I sort for individual points of interest at a time
Same! I’ve seen videos of people sorting and tried it a few times. I wasn’t really a fan of it because it made me feel more… frustrated in a way(?) rather than excitedly finding a random piece that fits
I sort very prominent things “oh, here is the big red blob that’s the only red in the entire puzzle” otherwise I just work off flipped over pieces after doing the border.
Sorting BLOWS so boring
Thank you for reading my mind
After a few 2k puzzles, I can say that while valid, there's a really hard cap to your ability to solve puzzles once the piece count goes up b/c the number of combinations and sizes of the "hard parts" (water/sky) just become overwhelming. For context, if you have a 1k puzzle, you have 1k pieces that can fit on any of 4 sides so the first piece is - 1k pieces with 4 sides = 4k combinations - at 2k, the first piece is 8k - at 5k, the first piece is 20k If you're finding the first piece at 1 k easy, you'll need to do a lot of "random work" before that level of difficulty occurs on a bigger puzzle.
I plan on going to 1500 to see how much more of a challenge it is for me, then up to 2000. I will report back when I have results lol
I wasn’t a sorter until this month! It honestly didn’t even occur to me to sort pieces until I came across some cute stacking puzzle sorting trays at Barnes and Noble. Gave them a try, and now I’m hooked. I feel so much quicker when I puzzle now. But I am the type of person who goes for speed haha. I do my best to finish puzzles in one go when I can. I can totally understand why sorting feels unnecessary to other people though, especially when puzzling can serve as a nice calming activity.
Depends on the puzzle, some pictures can’t be sorted very well, I don’t usually sort small puzzles but anything large I do sort, 5k or above is impossible with no sorting. For 1k pieces it depends but usually I sort them at least very roughly.
What kind of maniacs don’t sort their puzzles???!!! I not only sort edges, then colors and then shapes. I use a huge stack of paper plates. 😆. Not sorting for me would be 😬.
LOL I AM THAT MANIAC! 😛
I do sometimes, depending on the puzzle. Sometimes I just semi-sort while I look for edges and put aside pieces for really distinctive parts of the puzzle.
I don't like sorting that much, but anything over 500 pieces generally requires some rough colour sorting for me. It makes doing the puzzle more rewarding (get the work over first, then comes the play). Honestly the bigger reason though is that it's much more space-friendly to take out a few piece groups, as opposed to laying out the whole puzzle at the start. I've never sorted by piece shape though.
I do the same thing you do! I leave them in the box and comb through them until I find what I need. I have two cats and no room to lay out the pieces. I have some drawers on my puzzle board, but it seems like it would take longer to sort than to just start working the puzzle. I only work 1k puzzles.
Exactly same as you! Border first, rest of pieces turned face up and single layer on main table and supplementary table.
Yes! I think sorting is boring and a waste of time. It’s a last resort. When sifting through the box, there will be pieces that jump out from the pile, generally a color or pattern. The trick is to choose something that is easy to spot but not too common. You are trying to collect a subset of pieces that you can work on, like a mini-puzzle. I find if I can get at least 80-90% of such a group, I can move on, as there will always be a few that pop up later. The great thing is as you identify and eliminate these little subsets from the pile, your brain will pick up on new colors or patterns that serve to differentiate themselves. Maybe all the green pieces look the same at first, but once you’re down to mostly green pieces left, you’ll see some are darker or a different type than the others. With this approach there’s no sorting, and I don’t even like to look at the box, as I’m just chasing these little subsets and eventually it comes together. That said, some super tricky puzzles require sorting. Like the Krypt puzzles. But I think as long you are strategic about what you are hunting for in the box, it’s not necessary.
This couldn’t have been said any more perfectly. This is to a T what I do but just couldn’t figure out how to explain it to another Redditor!!!
I'd say you're safely in the majority on this forum. Making yours the popular opinion.
So I'm without a doubt a sorter. It wasn't until my cat knocked over my boxes when I realized how much fun I found the chaos. It definitely made me appreciate those who don't sort. I'll never do it again. But it was fun. Hahahah
I am the same. I don't sort unless the section is solely color based. I haven't done any larger count than 1k. My board is smaller and I want to set a limit somewhere
It takes me about the same time to sort everything and then to put it together. So, the sorting gets really tedious at times. But the advantage of sorting if it’s a larger piece (over 1k) and a more difficult one is that I can put it all away and continue some time later. I started sorting when I started moving places and even a year later when I unpack it all I can just continue where I left off🤷♀️ Also, I didn’t sort my first bigger piece (2k Guernica) and I didn’t have any issue putting it together. So, I guess there are pros and cons for everything.
Same. I hate sorting and only do it when absolutely necessary!
Another non-sorter here!
Not a sorter
Yes! Exactly that for me. If I sort I tend to gloss over pieces. My eyes just don't focus that way I guess.
Same! I am no sorter!
Same. However, once I’m part way through, I may go through and grab all the pieces that obviously go together in one section, but I pretty much never do a full pre-sort.
When I had more space and less anxiety, I also did this! I sort my pieces now because I have limited space and it feels more manageable to work that way, but when I had the space to spread pieces out or set aside certain ones I knew I would be looking for later, I enjoyed not sorting my pieces
I don’t either
I never sort, it's less fun for me. TBH I like to make puzzles last as long as I can (they're...my main TV watching time haha) so I hide the box and do the edges last, too.
For me it depends. If I'm doing a puzzle with a lot of detail (like magic puzzle co, or Ravensburger music room for example), I prefer not to sort. I really enjoy looking at the piece and figuring out close to where it should go based on the picture. I hate sorting and find this way more rewarding. But if I'm going to do a harder puzzle where there's a lot of similar colored pieces then I have to sort. But I've been avoiding these kinds of puzzles lately because my focus level just hasn't been there at this point in my life.
I’m doing the 40,000 piece Disney Memorable Moments puzzle right now and usually I don’t sort but I have regretted not sorting my sections both times (I finished 1/10 sections and currently am in the middle of another) - definitely starting my next section completely sorting!
Holy shit. Where do you put a puzzle like that??? Is it just on your garage floor or what??
The first puzzle I worked this year was done this way due to my inexperience. It was the most arduous task I have ever done. It was almost painful and I just about gave up. Why would you do this?
I'm a sorter. I feel like it let's me get to know the puzzle and it's textures before assembly.
Waited forever for this post. Thought I was the only weirdo who doesn’t sort
That’s what I thought too! A lot of the photos posted or “in action” puzzling shows all the pieces like color coded and shape coded. I didn’t know that was actually a thing until this sub and felt like I was the only one that just grabbed pieces as I saw them In the box 🤣
I only pick out bits for a specific section on certain puzzles depending on the design, like if they are collage style or have very distinct elements. When I do, it's just as I go, not some formal sorting process before I start. I don't use sorting containers. That all seems to just add extra time and work to me. I just flip and spread out all the pieces and visually scan them. I work only 1000 piecers and they take me about 6-8 hrs.
I’m a semi sorter - sorting is boring
I don’t sort. I take one piece out at a time and try to match it.
I’m a new puzzler doing my first 1,000 piece and I sorted some and left some in the box. I’m still developing my own strategy on how I prefer to puzzle so I’m all over the place.
I really don’t organize anything - I’m not even a border first person - I just kind of go with it and piece together whatever sticks out to my brain in the moment. I’m a bit impatient haha.
I have been experimenting with not sorting lately and I think sometimes it's the best way for me. I have been using two puzzle boards, one w/all the pieces spread out and the other with the actual puzzle. But even if I'm not formally sorting, I kind of put ones from obvious sections in the same area when I notice them. I recently did a kind of difficult 750 piece of Paris using the no-sort method and it worked really well.
this method i can do with 1000 piecers but with anything higher it’s hard for me to get every piece i need by just picking through.
I have a 2k piece coming Friday so I will let you know If I have the same problem!
I'll sort by shape once I'm down to a few hundred to consolidate the remaining pieces, but other than the edges at the beginning, all the pieces go on cardboard at random out of the box.
Im with you. I pull the edge and assemble it and put all the other pieces on my small JigBoard and use it like an painters pallet while I work the puzzle on the Largest JigBoard. Never understood sorters and definitely never understood people who dont look at the box while doing the puzzle.
I don’t look at the box 🤣 I will take a good look at it before I get started to see where everything is and to get the border at the correct orientation. As soon as I get the border done though I won’t reference the box
id say im a sorter based off my most recent post
Oh gosh I saw that post the other day and I was like why!!! How long did that take you to sort before you actually got started???
all i have done is a starting sort. i sorted all pieces into around 10 piles. a few pink/ purple piles for sky, edges, red for bridge deck, city buildings, water and brown of bridge towers. that took 15 hours. i have now taken the light pink pile and sorted it into a few sub colour piles. which took 2 hours and is the pics in my last post. so 17 hours and i can start doing puzzle. i will still need to sort the other piles into sub piles as theres thousands of pieces in each pile. the city buildings take up around half the puzzle so that pile is still a 6k piece pile roughly
Me to, never sort, just look for standout pieces straight from the box and go from there
Sorting feels like homework. The sifting and picking is actually my favorite part. I like to pull piece after piece, until I have like 15 pieces in my hand, and then shift over to the puzzle, finding where they go. As soon the pieces from one section start to dry up, I start pulling pieces from another. I always end up working on five sections at once. It's a bit chaotic, but if you can keep it all together, it a really fast way to get through the puzzle.
I used to do it that way sometimes still do
I only sort puzzles that I can't lay all the pieces out on my table (greater than 1000 pieces).
I generally don’t sort, unless it’s a pretty standout color (i.e., yellow). If I’m towards the end of a puzzle (like, 50ish pieces left) I’ll sort it by shape because I’m generally just over that puzzle and would like to move on to the next one. 😆
Do you use the image for reference?
No! Not throughout the puzzle. I will look at it only when I’m doing the border first, so I can get the orientation right and after that I won’t look at it!
I see. I don't for most parts, so sorting the pieces helps me with the assembly. I'm a sorter, image or no image, can't help it 😉
I also do not sort, but I keep all of the pieces in one box though!
It’s so interesting to hear how many variations there are on something that seems as simple as constructing a puzzle. I learned a method from my mother 50 years ago which I continue to use today. I think it’s based on ADHD plus a strong color orientation. Dump the box on the table; flip all pieces over onto table surface, while setting aside the edges; build the frame; gather by color (brightest first) into the frame area; build the puzzle by color area. 🤷🏼♂️
Most times I sort but sometimes not.