The completely fascinating and rare art of hand drawing puzzles

If you've ever taken the time to think about how jigsaw puzzles are made, chances are you picture some machine using sci-fi laser beam technology to cut the individual pieces into the cardboard. In some instances, you'd be close. Most jigsaw puzzles are manufactured in China by something a little less sci-fi, but it's still a computer and a machine creating puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, one just like the other with no creativity, imagination or thought for the puzzle owner's experience. The pieces are fairly uniform, made in cookie-cutter fashion. There is nothing creative, interesting or challenging about their shape. My Personal Puzzle, however, believes that your experience should be different and your puzzle special. So, first of all, our puzzles aren't manufactured in China. They're manufactured right here in the U.S. in the small town of Tipton, IN at the Package Right plant. The plant itself might be more like what you pictured when (if) you thought about how a jigsaw puzzle is made, and the end portion of the puzzle-making process does involve some crazy cool machinery. The beginning of this puzzle-making process, however, is beyond crazy cool. Down the road from Tipton in the even smaller town of Kempton, IN, a rare art form is being practiced. It is this virtually unknown craft that makes every My Personal Puzzle — including your personalized photo puzzle — truly unique. Meet Robert Kirtley. Robert is one of a handful of artists in the world who creates jigsaw puzzle die masters by hand. Because we couldn't possibly begin to describe what he does (and because you might think, when we did, that we were really playing in the sci-fi sandbox because it sounds so unbelievable), we decided to show you how Robert makes puzzles. We think it will pretty much blow your mind. It pretty much blew mine when I first saw it. Every time I watch him draw and bend, it still does. But don't take my word for it.