Completeing the Uncompletable Puzzle - Making Missing Pieces

I know I have done a blog about this before but I hadn't made a video about it.
 
I thought since I was making pieces for this new / used puzzle I purchased at a second hand store, I would go ahead and make a video of how I do that so those who don't comprehend by reading as well can maybe get clarity by watching the video I made.  
 
Here is the video of how I explain making pieces for the missing ones in your puzzles. It isn't hard to do this but it may take some time depending on the color of the puzzle piece and any decorations on the piece.
 
Here is a link to one post where I show making a very old thicker piece for a puzzle.  Both are similar but just take different replacement boards.

Here is a link where I show replacing and making a piece for a child's puzzle.  

This puzzle was a fun United States Disney puzzle. It was missing four pieces. Two were small states which I can understand how they went missing. The other two pieces were an edge piece that isn't shown on the cover and the state of Arizona. 

First thing you need to do is put all the pieces around the missing pieces together making a "hole" for the lost piece. The next step is to find the right thickness of cardboard to use to make the piece. With this one, I had a super thick piece that was thicker than the puzzle and one that was thinner than the puzzle.
 
With that, I chose to use one that was thinner than the pieces and make 2 of the same piece and glue them together to get the right thickness of the pieces. This is an easy process as you don't need to do much on the under piece so the time is spent reproducing the top of the new piece. 

Cut out a piece of the cardboard just larger than the piece spot that is missing. Slide the cardboard under the puzzle and allow it to show through where the piece is missing. Take a pencil and trace the area inside onto the cardboard so that the piece is now outlined on the cardboard. 

Once it is traced on the cardboard, you can either cut it out first, or you can color it first. 

I have done it both ways and found that I like coloring it before cutting it out as I don't get marker on the table under or have to hold it with my fingernail while I color it which always gets my nails dirty. 

I share that you can photo copy the front and blow up the piece and use that to just glue on the front of the piece or you can free hand the piece using markers, I think I did a great job on a few of the pieces and somehow cut the edge piece a bit smaller than needed in some places but I wasn't being super OCD on it. 

Once you have the picture colored on, you can cut it out. If it is a solid color piece, you can use acrylic paints to paint it or if you are super talented, you can paint the piece using the paints but most people wouldn't be artists that way and wouldn't want to take the time for one piece. 

Once it is cut out, make sure to color the edges so the cardboard edges don't stand out, I show this above. Then, to cut out the back of the piece, just trace the piece you cut out and made already onto another of the thin cardboard and cut it out. This process can even out the thin cut of the inner trace making the piece fit a little better. 
 
Once the two are cut out, test the pieces and trim as needed and then glue the bottom piece on to the top piece. I used a glue stick for this. 

I think I did well using the markers to color the pieces and actually think someone looking at the puzzle wouldn't know on three of the new pieces, unless they were pointed out or they did the puzzle. 

The edge piece probably would have been better after testing the top piece, if I had cut out another "inside" piece and then just filled in the gap with the water color marker so that at least one of the pieces was the right size. Lesson learned but as I said, I wasn't super worried about it.

I think it you zoom in on the New York state piece, you can see the other two small state pieces I made. 

I like the Arizona piece the best of the four I made. They all work fine but I liked drawing Mickey Mouse.   

I think if I used a semi-gloss spray on finish, top coat the piece would match the sheen of the other pieces if you care about that. 

Thanks for stopping!!!