Items for Sale (Updated 11/17/18)

11/17/18 UPDATE:  Just created an i.materialise store: https://i.materialise.com/en/shop/designer/pyrigan. For reasons I can’t figure out, I’m finding that Shapeways and i.materialise give different prices; for some puzzles one of them charges more and for some puzzles the other does. Go figure.

10/25/18 UPDATE:  I’ve just created a Shapeways shop so that people can get the puzzles directly from them. Here’s the link: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/pyrigan

6/28/17 UPDATE:  From now on I’m going to use Etsy to sell my puzzles online. I will leave the rest of this page unchanged so that links to it still make sense. Here’s the link to my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Pyrigan

I came across Henry Dudeney‘s “Haberdasher Puzzle” a while ago and decided to make one from colored acrylic. I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself:

(I included a Rubik’s Cube to give a sense of scale.)

The puzzle consists of four pieces that can be rearranged to form a triangle. Here’s a picture of the puzzle “disassembled”:

Then I found a design for a plus sign, or “Greek Cross“, so I made that one too:

And here it is in pieces:

But wait, there’s more! I then found designs for a pentagon (also Dudeney’s):

I couldn’t stop there so here’s one for an hexagon based on the work of Harry Lindgren as it appeared in the November, 1961 issue of Scientific American:

If these appeal to you, then I’m pleased to tell you that they are for sale at some local puzzle stores. You can buy them at Eureka Puzzles, LittleBits Toys, and The Games People Play.

Recently, my friends convinced me I should make more of an effort at selling these – they say these colorful “Puzzle Coasters” will appeal to more than just math puzzle geeks like me. So if those stores are too far away, you can also buy the puzzles directly from me, either by emailing me (see below) or visiting my new Etsy store. Right now I have four left of the square/pentagon type (yellow) and four of the square/hexagon type (blue).

I’m not a big company – basically I make these things by hand – so when I run out I think what I’ll do is wait until I have ten or so requests and then do a production run. I’m not sure whether to sell them on Etsy or put them on eBay. I guess I’ll figure that out as I go.

And for those of you who came to this page looking for solutions, fear not:

• Model #003 Triangle solution
• Model #023 Greek Cross solution
• Model #016 Pentagon solution
• Model #108 Hexagon solution

Let me know if you have any questions – about buying them or anything else. Just email me at eye en eff oh at-sign pea why are eye gee aye en dot see oh em.