The 2021 VPEPE

Puzzle montage created by Deb Dana

The 2021 VIRTUAL PAGEY ELLIOTT PUZZLE EXCHANGE

Below are the nine 2021 Virtual Pagey Elliott Puzzle Exchange puzzles. Each participant mailed their nine puzzles to Deb Dana, the exchange coordinator and also a participant. She repackaged the puzzles into sets for each participant and one for the Strong Museum of Play for their permanent collection. Imagine getting a box filled with eight different puzzles to play with! Click on an image below to see more about the puzzle.

LOTUS POND WITH KOI

3 CAT MAX

Book of Worms

I KNEW AN OLD LADY...

SHAY CHARMICHAEL

SHAY'S PUZZLE
WORKSHOP

Book of Worms

LITTLE BO'PEEP

GRAHAM CURTIS

GLENWOOD PUZZLES

BLACK SWAN

DEB DANA

PIXEL PUZZLES

GOING STAG

RON DAVIS

QUILL PIG PUZZLES

LIZARD INFINITY PUZZLE

jESSICA ROSENKRATZ

NERVOUS SYSTEM

RUTH ST. DENIS
IN A COSTUME OF INDIA

jOE SEYMOUR

DEP QUA PUZZLES

BOOK OF WORMS

THOM SPENCER

JIGSAW ART

REMOTE ARCHIPELARGO

CHRIS YATES

CHRIS YATES STUDIO

LILY POND WITH KOI

Maker: Janell Amely at 3 Cat Max
Website link: https://3catmax.com/
Size: 8"x6" Pieces: 100

A multi-layered, multi-media puzzle laser-cut puzzle designed and crafted by Janell Amely of 3 Cat Max, curiously peculiar puzzles. Quite a challenge to put together!

Note included with puzzle:

Lotus Pond with Koi
From Janell Amely at 3Catmax.com
Size: 8"x6"
Pieces: 100 acrylic, 50 wood with base
2021 Virtual Pagey Elliott Puzzle Exchange

Statement:
I created this puzzle for the koi pond that I wish I could have. I wanted to combine different materials and techniques, such as watercolor-on-primed-wood and hand-dyed acrylic. The pond critter layer is filled with all the life one would find in a real koi pond, and the seasonal extras are made with laser cut watercolored paper. I made it extra tricky by having all of the pieces be double sided!

Puzzle as received

Several of the "stones" that make up the edge of the koi pond. These are spray-painted 1/4" plywood

Assembling the bottom water layer

Figuring out the order of stones

First row of stones and first layer of water assembled

BACK TO TOP

THERE WAS AN OLD LADY . . .

Maker: Shay Charmichael at Shay's Puzzle Workshop
Website link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShayzPuzzleWorkshop
Artwork: Leslie Alison Murray
Size: about 10"x7" Piece count: about 120

A whimsical puzzle based on the nursery rhyme "There was an old lady"

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – Perhaps she’ll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
. . .
(last verse)
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – Perhaps she’s dead
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse;
She’s dead, of course!

The larger animals are on the top edge of the puzzle, but a very interesting figural in the center has a fly inside a spider inside a bird. Note the use of accent cuts to provide details of the spider and the fly. Also cleverly done is the fly, which Shay has signed and dated, holds together two of the three pieces making up the spider. The irregular bottom boundary and all the interlocking "?" as to why she swallowed the fly...

All the animal figurals

Puzzle back

Why did she swallow the fly? ? ?

Note sent with puzzle.

BACK TO TOP

LITTLE BO-PEEP

Maker: Graham Curtis of Glenwood Puzzles
Email: gkcurtis@casscomm.com
Size: 7"x9.5" Pieces: 122

Based on a nursery rhyme, the puzzle is filled with other nursery characters.

Figure pieces are from nursery rhymes as well: Humpty Dumpty, I Love My Pussy, He Went to Market to Buy a Fat Pig, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Hey Diddle Diddle, Little Boy Blue, Three Men in a Tub, Cock a Doodle Do, There Was an Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, Poly Put the Kettle On, Ride a Cock Horse, and Graham's signature piece, the woodsman.

Puzzle Back

Signed signature piece, the woodsman

Box and Label

BACK TO TOP

BLACK SWAN

Maker: Deb Dana of Pixel Puzzles
Website link: http://www.pixelspuzzles.com/
Artist: Sas Tizauber (SasTi)
Size: 8"x8" Pieces: about 90

An whimsical irregular edge puzzle with a swan within a swan.

Puzzle Back

Some of the special shaped pieces and the swan figure

Puzzle detail and plywood

On edge picture

BACK TO TOP

GOING STAG

Ron Davis of Quill Pig Puzzles
Email: contact@quillpigpuzzles.com
Artist: Hienrich Schlitt
Size: 9"x5 5/8" Pieces: 97

Frogs in all the corners and mushrooms on the ground. The frogs in the upper corners form irregular outlines. The frogs in the lower corners are accentuated with circular dropouts.

Figure pieces including Ron's signature piece, a quill pig.

Puzzle back

Enclosed card with puzzle

Detail from top of box

Box and Label

BACK TO TOP

LIZARD INFINITY PUZZLE

Jessica Rosenkrantz of Nervous System
Website: https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/

A puzzle that goes on and on in either direction. the pieces on the left fit into the right side and piece on the top fit into the bottom. Jessica decided to add some color to make it a little easier!