If you don’t have cardboard that’s the right thickness, use a cereal box. Cut out squares of the cereal box and stack them on top of one another until they’re a similar thickness to the puzzle. Then glue them together with a glue stick and place them under a heavy object to dry. [4] X Research source If you’re using a cereal box, be sure that the brown side of the box is facing outwards on both sides after you’ve glued the pieces together.
When cutting out the finer curves of the traced piece, you may want to use a craft knife and cutting board instead of scissors. This can help you be more precise. [7] X Research source If you’re unsure how well you cut the piece, try fitting it into the surrounding parts of the puzzle. If it’s a snug fit, you’re good to go. If the piece is too large when you try to fit it into the puzzle, trim it some more. If it’s too small, you may want to consider starting over and retracing the missing puzzle.
Be careful not to get color on the surrounding pieces. After using a pencil to outline what the piece should look like, consider removing the replacement piece from the rest of the puzzle before coloring it.
Your local art supply store will have spray varnishes for sale, which may also go by the name of spray sealants. A sealant used for acrylic paintings can work well here.
If you don’t have a scanner, visit your local library or copy shop. There should be scanners available for use at these locations. If you don’t have a scanner, you can also try taking a photo of the completed puzzle on the box instead. You may also be able to find a copy of the image online, but be careful—it’s possible that the puzzle makers altered the dimensions of the image, or that the resolutions available online are low-quality.
If you have Photoshop or have access to another photo editing software, you can use this instead.
For example, if the area surrounding the missing puzzle piece that you’ve cropped in your photo editing software is 5 cm long and 4 cm wide in the real world, enter this information into the software to change the cropped area’s dimensions.
Check to make sure that the cardboard isn’t too thick for the puzzle before using it as your replacement piece. If the cardboard is too thick, stack multiple pieces of a cereal box together instead until they reach the right thickness, then glue them together.
Check your local art supply store to find a spray varnish. This product may also be called “spray sealant. ” A spray sealant used for sealing acrylic paintings is a great option.
