This is the opinion of Aston Lake residents, Melinda Roodt and her mother, Betsie Greyling, who started building puzzles together two years ago.
In those two years, they have built approximately 25 puzzles of varying sizes.
Betsie’s house is filled with puzzles of different sizes and styles, amounting to a grand total of 15 puzzles.
They also build puzzles for other people and give them away when they are finished.
Their biggest triumph in puzzle-building came from them finishing an 18 240-piece puzzle recently.
The puzzle stands at 276cm by 192cm and weighed about 10kg in its box.
Melinda received the puzzle as a gift from her nephew in England.
The puzzle is taken from a picture painted by artist, David Penfound and is of a safari setting.
A massive elephant and crocodile stand in the foreground of the puzzle, with various other wildlife surrounding them.
With them not building the puzzle every day, it took Melinda and Betsie seven months to complete the cardboard giant.
“We couldn’t find a puzzle board big enough for it,” says Melinda.
They say that they never thought they would finish, as the colours of the elephant on the puzzle were difficult to work with.
“I had to have my glasses on and use a magnifying glass to see some of the things on the box,” says Betsie.
Betsie and Melinda started building the frame of the puzzle and when that was done they divided the puzzle into sections.
“We divided it between us according to colours and built from there,” says Melinda.
The puzzle was built on Betsie’s dining room table.
The pair are being sponsored by the pub where Melinda works to frame the puzzle as doing it themselves would be very costly.
When asked if they would continue building puzzles, Betsie says,
“If we have the puzzles then we will do it.”
If they can find a bigger puzzle to build, then they will build it.
