Before we could start the 4th quadrant, we needed to get the puzzle mat back. The 3rd quadrant was still rolled up. Jen's kind of running out of room to store these quadrants, so she decided the best course of action would be to seal up the 3rd quadrant so it was easier to move around. This was also a test to see if our adhesive plan would work: to tape the back of the puzzle with packing tape instead of gluing the front. The amount of glue we'd need to glue the puzzle together would be a lot, not to mention expensive.
Here we see Jen sweeping off a slab of drywall. Our original plan was to sandwich the puzzle between 2 pieces of drywall and flip it on its face so we could tape the back together.
This is eve laying on the puzzle itself. Why? Well, she's doing this for 2 reasons.
1. Who doesn't want to say they've laid ON the puzzle?
2. I was attempting to flatten out the puzzle after we'd unrolled it.
After lifting one slab of drywall with difficulty, we realized we were NOT going to be able to sandwich the puzzle between two slabs due to the weight. With our puzzle ingenuity, we decided instead to sandwich the puzzle between 2 flattened cardboard boxes. Thankfully, the day before Jen and Tommy had purchased two large tvs and still had the boxes:
Here we are, praying that when we flip the puzzle it didn't fall apart completely.
SUCCESS!!! Here's the puzzle after we removed the top box and puzzle mat. Minimal crumpleage!
The tape idea worked perfectly. Here's the puzzle flipped back over after being completely taped:
Next up, puzzle table area before and after photos:
BEFORE
AFTER
The usual pile of pieces that mark the beginning of a new quadrant:
Finally, the picture from our first puzzle session. This was an AWESOME kick off session with visible progress! Jen got all the pieces sorted into their various bags and I managed to finish the boat in the picture already.
Will we manage to get this last quadrant done before we reach the 2 year mark? *fingers crossed* we hope so. We want to start on the next largest puzzle!!! Plus, Jen wants her dining room back.
