How to print & cut your puzzle

01 · PRINT

Print at 100%, on card

• Scale 100% — turn off “fit to page” / “shrink to fit”. A 2% shrink makes every edge piece wrong.
• 250–350 gsm card is the sweet spot. Plain office paper is too floppy to handle on the tray.
• Matte finish prints better and does not glare under a lamp. Borderless printing is ideal; if your printer needs a margin, keep it symmetrical.
• Choose the straight cut style if you plan to cut mostly with a ruler.

02 · MOUNT (OPTIONAL)

Give it a real board feel

Real jigsaw stock is 1.5–2 mm greyboard with the print laminated on top. If you printed on lighter card, glue it to greyboard:

• Spray adhesive on the board, then lay the print face-up and smooth from the centre out.
• Put it under a few books for 30 minutes so the glue sets flat.
• Optional: a matte laminate on top protects the image and stops tabs fraying.

03 · CUT

Cut along the lines

Straight cut

Use a steel ruler and a craft knife (or a rotary trimmer): cut all long lines in one direction, turn the sheet, then cut across. Rectangles fall apart cleanly in a grid.

Classic / organic tabs

• Use a fresh blade and a self-healing mat.
• Cut the straight runs with the ruler, then cut around each tab with small scissors in one continuous motion.
• Score first if the card is thick — score the outline, then snap/cut. It stops the printed surface tearing.
• Work from the middle of the sheet outward; keep finished pieces in a shallow tray.

04 · BATCHES

Making more than a few?

Cutting dozens of sheets by hand is slow. For volume, a print finisher can make a steel-rule cutting die from our die-line file: one press, every piece cut at once.

• Ask for a 2-page production PDF (artwork + separate die lines) or the die-line SVG from the puzzle page — they are available to shop admins.
• A die is cut for one fixed pattern and sheet size, so production puzzles pin a profile (grid, cut style and seed) to guarantee every copy matches.
• Print on laminated greyboard, die-cut, then box. Typical die cost is a one-off; the per-sheet press fee is small.