Uni student has attracted 300k social media followers by posting time-lapse videos of himself completing JIGSAWS
A university student has attracted 300k social media followers by posting time-lapse videos of himself - completing JIGSAWS.Nathan Tozer, 20, is a keen jigsaw enthusiast, and says he "always has at least one on the go".The University of Bristol student has completed around 50 jigsaw puzzles since he first got into the hobby whilst studying for his GCSE exams four years ago.But Nathan, from Keynsham, North Somerset, only started sharing his timelapse progress videos on social media in September last year.And when lockdown kicked in a few months later, Nathan said that his follower count "blew up" - as hundreds of people around the country also got into jigsaw puzzles to fill their time.Maths student Nathan went from a steady 10,000 followers on Instagram - amassed over the space of six months - to over 67,000 followers on Instagram, and a whopping 240k on TikTok.He said: "I don't really get it, but somehow these videos of me doing jigsaw puzzles just went viral.
It just blew up."Jigsaw puzzles certainly aren't for everyone, but I love them.
It's calming and makes all your anxieties go away for a short period."I like doing the timelapse videos to show off the progress."Nathan is currently working on a 6,000-piece puzzle - the largest puzzle he has ever attempted - of a "Cottage On The Hill" scene.But the longest a puzzle has ever taken him is a mammoth 56 hours and 16 minutes - when he took on a 4,000-piece jigsaw depicting a panoramic skyline of New York City.He said: "I tend to do them in sittings - I can normally do about two to three hours at a time."A couple of times I've got lost in it and done a whole jigsaw in one sitting.
The quickest one I've done was in one hour 25 minutes - but that was just 200 pieces."I look at every single piece and sort them all out first before I get started.
Sometimes I'll draw myself up a quick plan of how I'm going to tackle a jigsaw."But it's mainly about sorting them into colours, and then going from there. "Sometimes I'll sort them out depending on what the texture is on the piece - like if it's grass, or a bit of wall."Normally I'll start with the edge pieces - that seems to be everyone's favourite way to start a jigsaw."And Nathan's favourite jigsaws to do are ones that show just a rainbow gradient of colour.He said: "I find those the most satisfying.
It's a completely different technique when you're doing a colour gradient jigsaw, as opposed to a picture jigsaw."It's really satisfying to watch them come together."Nathan now has his sights set on a 40,320-piece jigsaw puzzle, celebrating 90 years of Mickey Mouse.But he said: "That's quite a step up from 6,000, so that'll probably be a project for next year.
I'll probably do a few more steps in between, first."And as for what he does with the jigsaws after completing them - Nathan says he usually leaves them up for about a week, and then breaks them apart and returns them to the box.But he does have a select few jigsaw puzzles, custom-made for him by friends, that have remained in tact - and hang proudly on his bedroom wall.
A university student has attracted 300k social media followers by posting time-lapse videos of himself - completing JIGSAWS.Nathan Tozer, 20, is a keen jigsaw enthusiast, and says he "always has at least one on the go".The University of Bristol student has completed around 50 jigsaw puzzles since he first got into the hobby whilst studying for his GCSE exams four years ago.But Nathan, from Keynsham, North Somerset, only started sharing his timelapse progress videos on social media in September last year.And when lockdown kicked in a few months later, Nathan said that his follower count "blew up" - as hundreds of people around the country also got into jigsaw puzzles to fill their time.Maths student Nathan went from a steady 10,000 followers on Instagram - amassed over the space of six months - to over 67,000 followers on Instagram, and a whopping 240k on TikTok.He said: "I don't really get it, but somehow these videos of me doing jigsaw puzzles just went viral.
It just blew up."Jigsaw puzzles certainly aren't for everyone, but I love them.
It's calming and makes all your anxieties go away for a short period."I like doing the timelapse videos to show off the progress."Nathan is currently working on a 6,000-piece puzzle - the largest puzzle he has ever attempted - of a "Cottage On The Hill" scene.But the longest a puzzle has ever taken him is a mammoth 56 hours and 16 minutes - when he took on a 4,000-piece jigsaw depicting a panoramic skyline of New York City.He said: "I tend to do them in sittings - I can normally do about two to three hours at a time."A couple of times I've got lost in it and done a whole jigsaw in one sitting.
The quickest one I've done was in one hour 25 minutes - but that was just 200 pieces."I look at every single piece and sort them all out first before I get started.
Sometimes I'll draw myself up a quick plan of how I'm going to tackle a jigsaw."But it's mainly about sorting them into colours, and then going from there.
"Sometimes I'll sort them out depending on what the texture is on the piece - like if it's grass, or a bit of wall."Normally I'll start with the edge pieces - that seems to be everyone's favourite way to start a jigsaw."And Nathan's favourite jigsaws to do are ones that show just a rainbow gradient of colour.He said: "I find those the most satisfying.
It's a completely different technique when you're doing a colour gradient jigsaw, as opposed to a picture jigsaw."It's really satisfying to watch them come together."Nathan now has his sights set on a 40,320-piece jigsaw puzzle, celebrating 90 years of Mickey Mouse.But he said: "That's quite a step up from 6,000, so that'll probably be a project for next year.
I'll probably do a few more steps in between, first."And as for what he does with the jigsaws after completing them - Nathan says he usually leaves them up for about a week, and then breaks them apart and returns them to the box.But he does have a select few jigsaw puzzles, custom-made for him by friends, that have remained in tact - and hang proudly on his bedroom wall.
