Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
Keith and Maxine proudly show the finished 6000-piece puzzle. Ready to be sent off to Ingham for custom framing Photo credit: Victoria Velton
When Cardwell couple Keith and Maxine finally slotted the last piece into their enormous 6000-piece jigsaw, it marked the end of a four-month journey that had tested far more than their patience.
The puzzle, believed to be the largest completed in Queensland, will soon hang in the foyer of Ingham Hospital as a thank you to the staff who cared for Keith after a neck injury brought the project, and life, to an abrupt halt.
The massive seascape depicting a fiery sea battle of two large wooden ships upon a raging and stormy sea, wasn't even the puzzle Keith wanted to tackle.
“That was the only one available. We wouldn't have touched it, because it's too hard. You've got so much blue. The sky and the clouds have all got to line up. We'd go a whole day and get four pieces put in.”
Unlike most jigsaws, finishing this one was only half the challenge as because of its size, the completed puzzle had to be glued, mounted onto plywood and lacquered, a process Keith says very few people could manage.
“There's no more that we know of that's ever been done. Nobody does them because they can't turn them over.
“We've got all the apparatus here to turn them over and spray the lacquer on them. It's got to be turned over for the glue to go on, then lifted up so the plywood can go underneath. We got all that worked out.”
Partway through the project, however, Keith's determination came at a cost. When, after working for hours on the elevated puzzle table strained his neck.
“I was up there on my haunches and my neck got sore, but I kept going. Later that night I had hell on earth, so I went by ambulance to Ingham Hospital and then Townsville.
“In the meantime, Maxine and her daughter took over and they did the bulk of it. When I got back, we finished off the bottom and the top.
“It's been a terrible one. It's been a cause-and-effect kind of puzzle. It put me in hospital, but now we're giving it to them,” he laughed.
Originally, the completed puzzle was destined for the Cardwell Library, but that changed after Keith experienced the care provided by Ingham Hospital.
“Ingham Hospital was so, so good to me looking after me that I decided to give it to them.
“We'll have an opening ceremony for the nurses, the doctors, the cleaners and the cooks. I can't speak too highly of Ingham Hospital, so I decided to give it to them.”
For Keith, tackling the giant puzzle was never about the picture itself, but for the pair, proving it could be done.
“There's never been one done, let alone put on a base. Getting it turned upside down for the glue was touch and go.
“The plywood has got to be cut exactly to size and once that touches, if it's not right, that's it. You can throw the whole thing away. It's got to go down dead straight.”
While the early weeks tested everyone's patience, the finish came together much more quickly.
“After a day on it we'd get two pieces done, then six. As you get near the end you get about 20 in a day. The last 200 pieces went real fast, but all this up there was slow, slow, slow.”
The enormous seascape is a departure from the puzzles Keith and Maxine usually complete.
Instead, they prefer colourful landscapes and animals, many of which now decorate businesses throughout Cardwell.
“We found everybody likes dogs and cats and tigers, and lots of colours.
“The hairdresser wanted a chalet, so we took her one. We took one to the vet with dogs and cats, another one to the chemist and another one to Ob La Di.”
The couple source their puzzles from Cairns, Innisfail, Ingham, Townsville and now Cardwell, avoiding second-hand puzzles after too many frustrating experiences with missing pieces.
“We only pick the very best, what we like and what people are going to like.
“The second-hand ones have bits missing, and when you spend about a week on one and find there's a piece missing...,” Keith said with a sigh.
“So we don't get them from there anymore. They're all brand new now.”
Soon, after receiving its custom frame, the 6000-piece masterpiece will leave Keith and Maxine's home for good.
After four months of painstaking work, countless hours of sorting and placing, and an unexpected trip to hospital, the puzzle's final home will be where Keith believes it belongs.
Read the pair’s first interview with Hinchinbrook Life about their puzzling history: www.hinchinbrooklife.com/article/cardwell-local-spreads-passion-for-arts-and-creativity9
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