PIECING TOGETHER A RECORD
Jigsaw puzzles Desbiens’ passion
Windsor resident Jodie Desbiens has a lot of jigsaw puzzles. Indeed, she’s done so many that she believes she may have set a new world record.
According to Desbiens, her most recent tally of her collection — 1,038 completed puzzles — should be enough to get her recognized by the Guinness World Records organization.
“To me, it’s a lot of fun,” said Desbiens, 43. “It keeps me out of trouble.”
Desbiens — who’s unemployed — said she started doing jigsaw puzzles casually around 2001, but became more serious about it as a way to help her quit drink- ing. “I used to party a lot. (Jigsaw puzzles) just became something that was more fun,” she said.
Her hobby turned into an obsession about four years ago when she found out there was a Guinness World Record for largest collection of jigsaw puzzles.
At the time, the record was only 238. But as Desbiens tried to top that number, the record dramatically increased due to an equally-obsessed puzzle collector on the other side of the world.
Georgina Gil-Lacuna, a resident of Tagaytay City in the Philippines, is the current record holder. She’s been collecting jigsaw puzzles for 26 years. Her collection has been officially tallied at 1,028 completed puzzles.
To rival that number, Desbiens scours thrift stores and asks people she knows to donate old puzzles. Every time she finishes one, she photographs it and uploads the picture to Facebook as a way to keep track of her collection.
Then she puts the glued puzzle in storage.
These days, Desbiens tends to do children’s puzzles the most — ones with 100 or so pieces. “For volume,” she explained. “They said any size counts. At first, I only did 1,000-piece puzzles.”
Desbiens’ application to the Guinness World Records organization has been sent, and now she waits for the review process to begin.
In the meantime, she’s doing more jigsaw puzzles. Desbiens said she finished 500 over the past year alone.