About Jen's Jigsaws
Launched in 2016, Jen's Jigsaws is an small home-based business located in Marion, Iowa. Marion is a small suburb just outside of Cedar Rapids in East Central Iowa.
I specialize in wooden jigsaw puzzles featuring artwork prints, custom photos, and fabrics as well as hardwood, shaped stand-up puzzles and offer a variety of other puzzle formats. Every puzzle is unique. Despite many of my shaped stand-up puzzles being cut from patterns, they are still cut individually and no two will be identical. The uniqueness shines particularly well in my jigsaw puzzles. Every jigsaw puzzle is carefully cut, entirely freehand, one piece at a time and no two pieces are ever alike. I use the material I'm working with to guide my hand during cutting. Both the features in prints, photos, and fabrics and the figure of bare wood help me determine how to cut the individual pieces.
About Jen
I've always loved assembling jigsaw puzzles and built a large collection of jigsaw puzzles of all types and sizes over the years - from small 30 piece puzzles all the way up to 32,000 pieces. When even the largest of 2D puzzles got a little monotonous, I also had a healthy collection of 3D puzzles to complement them. But still, I looked for something else to add to the experience. Something that might allow me to combine my love of puzzles with the creative and nuanced nature that comes from my engineering day job. If there was a way to add a dose of over-engineering to puzzling, then I was determined to find it. And I settled on making learning to make my own wooden puzzles.
After a slightly ridiculous amount of research, I finally purchased my first scroll saw in 2010. I experimented with different woods and techniques and developed my own freehand style, identified my preferred materials, and started collecting a library of patterns. Since then, I've upgraded to a larger, higher quality saw and have been making puzzles for myself, family and friends, and the occasional commission. In late 2015 the demand for custom puzzle commissions increased and inspired me to finally build my brand and launch Jen's Jigsaws.