Organizing Chaos

Do you sort your pieces?

Sorting is a hotly debated topic when it comes to puzzles. Some people sort and love it. Some people sort and hate it. Some people don’t sort at all. There are no rules. I love sorting. I love taking that time to plan my strategy and look at the details. One of the most popular questions I get is “how do you sort your pieces?”. So using Ultima Thule by Puzzlelife featuring the work of award-winning artist Jacek Yerka, I am going to walk through my strategy.

The first thing I do is dump out all the pieces. While I am flipping them I start thinking about what color groupings I see and how I want to organize the pieces. I like to organize by both color and shape. The Ultima Thule by Puzzlelife had a limited variety of shapes so it made the most sense to sort by color only. I used my Ravensburger Puzzle Sort & Go Trays to organize my pieces. 

Next, I decide where I am going to start. I am always thinking about this when I am sorting the pieces. I don’t have any set way to start doing a puzzle. There are a lot of people who like to do the edges first. I change my approach based on the puzzle. For this one, I decided I wanted to start with the section I thought would be hardest first - the side of the cliff.

While I was working on the cliff, I naturally started adding a few pieces that belonged to the houses. So I grabbed the tray with the house pieces next and got that small portion done.

Then I decided to just work my way down and finish the right side of the puzzle and did the orange section. 

I debated which part to do next - the sky or the path. I decided I wanted to do the path next because it looked harder. I usually start with the easy sections first but I love to challenge myself, especially when it comes to 500 piece puzzles (and Puzzlelife has a great variety of 500 piece puzzles). 

Then I did the sky - which was such a small section it only took a few minutes.

The water was last for me and I was honestly surprised because this was the hardest part! I fulled expected that I would find the cliff the most difficult.

But I wrapped it up! Take a look at these details - I especially love the fish.

I love sorting the pieces because it gives me the opportunity to strategize and makes putting the puzzle together so much more enjoyable for me. I’ve tried not sorting pieces, but it is nearly impossible for me to puzzle that way! I inevitably find myself sorting. 

To learn more about Puzzlelife, you can check out this great post that Gaby wrote last year. 

Tell us in the comments - are you team sort or not?

Happy Puzzling!

Diane, aka @bizzlespuzzles