OBTAINIUM WORKS STARTS PUZZLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM
As things continue to fall apart in the age of COVID-19, Shannon and Kathy O’Hare are doing their best to help people put things back together — piece by piece by piece.
The couple from Obtainium Works in Vallejo have started a jigsaw puzzle exchange program during the pandemic. Much like the Little Free Library program in the Bay Area, the jigsaw puzzles are kept in a box outside the Obtainium Works venue at 510 Pennsylvania St. People are encouraged to take a puzzle and leave a puzzle, although one may take one and not replace if necessary.
Kathy O’Hare said the idea began to take fruition after some people were discussing it on Nextdoor.
“A month or so into the pandemic we were at the end of our friends’ group of jigsaw puzzles,” Kathy O’Hare said. “At that time you couldn’t really go anywhere and buy puzzles, so we decided to put some in the cat house and start an exchange system.”
The “cat house” is a big generator box that was obtained from Burning Man about four years ago. It was sitting around in the Obtainium Works venue for quite some time before finally being put to use in April. The box is rain resistant.
According to the O’Hares, the puzzles range from 500 pieces to 2,000 pieces. The couple say they average one 500-piece puzzle a day, although some 1,000 or 1,500 piece puzzles can take them about three days.
“We used to do one or two every Christmas, but now it’s one a day and it keeps us busy,” Kathy O’Hare said.
Shannon O’Hare said the most difficult puzzle the duo have done is a 1,000-piece task of the New York City skyline.
“It was really tough because you had so many tiny blue sky pieces that took up about a third of the puzzle,” Shannon said. “So that one was really tough.”
The couple said that the box currently holds about 25 to 30 puzzles to choose from. About a dozen people have taken advantage of the program so far.
“We’d love for more people to come and enjoy this,” Shannon said. “If you don’t have a puzzle, that’s fine, come and take one. If
you really really love it and want to do a puzzle again, just keep it.”
According to NPR, the demand for jigsaw puzzles have skyrocketed during the pandemic. Carol Glazer, president of Ceaco, said that in March the sales at one of their largest retail customers were up 300 percent from the previous year. Glazer recalled that on one day last month, Ceaco sold more puzzles than in the entire month of December. Sales by gamemaker Ravensburger reportedly were up 370 percent as well.
The O’Hares have also stayed busy during the pandemic creating innovative masks, like the ones showcased in the May 1 TimesHerald. Usually around this time of year the couple are also preparing for the annual Obtainium Cup, but due to reasons unrelated to COVID-19, the ninth annual event was canceled in 2020.
Still, the organization is still in the beginning stages of finding a way to bring unique art to Vallejo, and soon.
“We’re working on creating a social distance program where you wouldn’t have as many people, but there would be pods of people that could come downtown and view art,” Shannon O’Hare said. “We’re thinking about entertaining an idea where we would have a robotic Zoom event. Basically you’d bring in robots here, but you would be able to control them from home with your computer. But that’s at an early stage right now. Basically we’re trying to find out if we can even do it.”
Just another puzzle to solve in the next few weeks.