Wondering what to do with finished puzzles, at least those you love too much to take apart? Learn how to mount a puzzle for hanging. It’s easy and fun!
You can really do whatever you want with a finished puzzle. We usually give them away, or pack them up if we know we’ll want to do them again. Every once in a while we use puzzle pieces for crafting.
But every once in a while, there is a puzzle you can’t bear to take apart when it is finished. This is how you can save that puzzle forever.
My ten-year-old daughter Lily got this puzzle as a birthday gift nearly a year ago. It was beautiful, and also very hard to put together because the colors of the puzzle change depending on the angle you view it from.
Lily adores cats, and she couldn’t bear to take it apart when she was finished.
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How to Mount a Completed Puzzle for Hanging
What You'll Find on This Page
Mounting a completed puzzle is easy! All you need is puzzle glue of some sort. Mod Podge makes some lovely puzzle glue, but for this project we used some glitter Mod Podge we happened to have on hand, and it worked beautifully too. You will need some sort of brush to apply it. We recommend sponge brushes.
You can also use puzzle saver glue sheets if you don’t like liquid glue.
How to Glue a Puzzle
The first step to saving your puzzle is to apply a thin layer of Mod Podge across the entire thing. Keep the glue thin so you don’t accidentally glue the puzzle to your puzzle board.
Once that layer has time to dry, add on a second, thicker layer dry.
Add a third layer if needed.
Once the puzzle has dried, you are ready to mount it onto a backing for hanging!
What If I Want to Frame My Puzzle?
So long as you can find a frame that fits your puzzle, you can frame it! I would still recommend adding a layer of Mod Podge or puzzle saver to keep your pieces in place.
How to Mount Your Puzzle
First, pick a backing. We used felt because I happen to have a lot of it left over from making a sorting hat for a Harry Potter themed birthday party. Felt is super easy to cut and it doesn’t fray, It’s also soft so it won’t scratch walls or other surfaces.
I intentionally cut a slightly larger piece of felt so that I wouldn’t have to worry about lining everything up perfectly at this stage.
I use a hot glue gun to attach the mod podged puzzle to the felt backing. I actually glued every single puzzle piece in place, but that was probably overkill. I just knew it was going in a child’s room and I didn’t want to deal with the tragedy of her carefully mounted puzzle coming apart.
Once everything was glued down, it was time to trim the backing! I started off using fabric shears, then switched to a rotary cutter and a cutting mat because I speed things up whenever I can.
Other Backing Materials You Can Use to Mount a Puzzle
We used felt to mount our puzzle, but you can also mount it on any of these materials:
- wood
- foam board
- cardboard
- canvas
I would use mod podge rather than hot glue to adhere the puzzle to a rigid backing. Hot glue worked beautifully with a felt backing!
How to Hang Up a Puzzle
We hung our puzzle using 3M Command mounting strips. They worked great, and I can simply peel them away if we decide to take down Lily’s puzzle some day.
Have you ever mounted a puzzle to hang it on the wall? What technique did you use? Do you have a favorite puzzle we should try?
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I always wondered how people did that without the whole thing collapsing. Never thought of Mod Podge.
Amalia
xo