Practice puzzles
Here are my choices for the first round of gluing the puzzles to 1/4" plywood. The top left and right, as well as the mosaic print, were on thinner paper and they went on so perfectly, with little smoothing out needed. The two Chinese photographs (flautist and jeweler) did not come out well, as the paper was pretty thick and quite shiny. I had a hard time getting the air bubbles out, and the more I tried smoothing out the paper using a clean kitchen cloth, the worse it got. With the jeweler (my favorite of the photos - so Vermeer-esque!) I ended up clamping down to my workbench under a 2" thick wood slab. I used parchment paper between the print and the slab (waxed paper is recommended, to absorb any squeeze-out, but I didn't have any on hand). The following day when I undid the clamps, the print and parchment paper had wrinkled, leaving a very unprofessional texture. Oh well, all part of the learning process. The ayahuasca image was on shiny but thin paper and went on fine. I think the thickness of the paper may be the biggest factor - although there are other ways to mount, such as a dry-mount press or spray adhesive. With the thick paper, the more I tried to push out the air bubbles, the worse it looked. I'll be more careful next time and try out an image I don't like so much from a particular book so I can get a feel for how it will adhere and what type of adhesive I should use.
My method for preparing the boards was quite different than what I see other makers doing. Some people apparently take one large sheet of plywood, apply a bunch of glue to it, and then put on several prints which are later cut out separately using either a handheld jigsaw or perhaps the scroll saw. I don't have the foggiest idea how someone could cleanly apply the glue around the image without having horrible results when smoothing out the paper. And I would think that using a handheld jigsaw would mar the print as well. I also don't like handheld jigsaws much, they are quite jumpy, and I find it nearly impossible to cut perfectly straight on a scroll saw (at least with the tiny puzzle blades I have). So I pre-cut all of the boards to size, on my table saw with a nice fresh blade. I cut them just slightly smaller than the print. I then glued on the print, and to get a perfect edge, once the glue dried, I went back to my cutting board and flipped the boards upside-down and trimmed with my Ex-acto blade so they were perfectly flush with the edge of the board. A good result, but not necessarily the most efficient process.
Practice puzzles
Here are my choices for the first round of gluing the puzzles to 1/4" plywood. The top left and right, as well as the mosaic print, were on thinner paper and they went on so perfectly, with little smoothing out needed. The two Chinese photographs (flautist and jeweler) did not come out well, as the paper was pretty thick and quite shiny. I had a hard time getting the air bubbles out, and the more I tried smoothing out the paper using a clean kitchen cloth, the worse it got. With the jeweler (my favorite of the photos - so Vermeer-esque!) I ended up clamping down to my workbench under a 2" thick wood slab. I used parchment paper between the print and the slab (waxed paper is recommended, to absorb any squeeze-out, but I didn't have any on hand). The following day when I undid the clamps, the print and parchment paper had wrinkled, leaving a very unprofessional texture. Oh well, all part of the learning process. The ayahuasca image was on shiny but thin paper and went on fine. I think the thickness of the paper may be the biggest factor - although there are other ways to mount, such as a dry-mount press or spray adhesive. With the thick paper, the more I tried to push out the air bubbles, the worse it looked. I'll be more careful next time and try out an image I don't like so much from a particular book so I can get a feel for how it will adhere and what type of adhesive I should use.
My method for preparing the boards was quite different than what I see other makers doing. Some people apparently take one large sheet of plywood, apply a bunch of glue to it, and then put on several prints which are later cut out separately using either a handheld jigsaw or perhaps the scroll saw. I don't have the foggiest idea how someone could cleanly apply the glue around the image without having horrible results when smoothing out the paper. And I would think that using a handheld jigsaw would mar the print as well. I also don't like handheld jigsaws much, they are quite jumpy, and I find it nearly impossible to cut perfectly straight on a scroll saw (at least with the tiny puzzle blades I have). So I pre-cut all of the boards to size, on my table saw with a nice fresh blade. I cut them just slightly smaller than the print. I then glued on the print, and to get a perfect edge, once the glue dried, I went back to my cutting board and flipped the boards upside-down and trimmed with my Ex-acto blade so they were perfectly flush with the edge of the board. A good result, but not necessarily the most efficient process.