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Show ST. GEORGE www.thespectrum.com — The Spectrum NEIGHBORHOODS HOBBY e Continued from pg. 6 would comfort me. I guess you could say it is good therapy for me” At first he put the puzzles together on a 3-foot by 6foot table set up in the lobby and just left the. puzzle there. He worked on it when he wanted to but eventually he moved his puzzle project into his apartment to have it closer to him to work on. any time. ‘In ‘a seven-year picture I just created. I am drawn into the picture. I let my imagination go andI can see myself walking down that sidewalk or sit on the park bench or I’m sailing on the boat on the ocean. I soon become part of the picture and it is very relax- ing tome? Schmitt has a routine of putting puzzles together. He does the outside border first (if there is a border) and then starts to fill it in. He said he can put a 100. piece puzzle together in 20 time frame, Schmitt put together 316 puzzles and has framed 270. He wondered if that was a world record. He contacted The Guinness World Book of Records and learned that there was already a man from Canada who held the record at 420 puzzles put together in seven continuous years. But that didn’t discourage Ken to keep finding new puzzles and putting them together. The finished puzzles hang in his home. He has also given some of them to family and friends. Schmitt looks for puzzles to purchase in second- minutes and a 500-piece in Jon Sellers / For St. George Neighborhoods Ken Schmitt poses with some of the puzzles he assembled, glued, matted and framed. hand stores, yard sales and at Deseret Industries or friends give him puzzles. “Glen Blakley, a_professor of Ceramic and Art at Dixie College, learned of my interest in putting puzzles together from another resident who took an art class from him. He has given me many puzzles to do” Blakley has also had his students visit Schmitt to see what can be done by putting together a puzzle as a work of art. “I enjoyed those visits from his students to show them what I do’? Puzzle pieces vary in number from 100 to 1,500. raat 1 chi deh ig el) rer | * Jumps * Obstacle Courses *Combos * Slides Themed Banners! Pinkerbell » Sports » Spiderman 7832/133 Hannah Montana + Disney Princesses Mermaid« Dara « Spongebob Galll 088.068.0280 ® For the week of November 7, 2008 to 13 hours a day for five days, just stopping for food. When I'm done I'm satisfied and happy that I can do something like that. Then I sit back in my chair, make a deep sigh and look at the £intahi Bel r ee The more the pieces, the tinier they are. Schmitt's favorite puzzles to work on are harbor scenes and Thomas Kincade pictures, which are usually 1,000 pieces. “On the Thomas Kincade puzzles I have spent sunup to sundown, sometimes 12 _ three days, working off and on. The hardest one he has ever done was a used puzzle given to him by Blakley. It was 500 pieces, 16x20 inches, manufactured in 1910. by TUCO, Lockwood, New York. “Tt was a picture of a river with a woman cooking supper on the river bank. It was hard to do because it didn’t have any interlocking — 7 pieces.” When a puzzle is completed, Schmitt spreads puzzle glue over it, let’s it dry for about 10-12 hours until it becomes stiff like a piece of cardboard or is wood-like. Then he mats and frames the puzzle. After a setback because of ill health, he hasn't been able to devote much time to working on his puzzles. Now that he is feeling better, he is anxious to get back to them. ; Shortly after starting his puzzle hobby, Schmitt received a color catalog in the mail displaying cars and trains to collect. His car collection started with three cars that he purchased. Four years later, he now has 34, 1/32 scale model cars, professionally painted, already assembled when purchased: His favorite model car is a 1931 Ford Model T pickup, green with yellow wheels. A few of his other cars are: 1911-Chevrolet Classic. “Chevrolet made one reallife Chevrolet Classic. It’s neat that I now have a copy of that model which is a 4e See SCHMITT on pg. 10 |