Wednesday 11-09-16

On November 9, 2016May 27, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn World's Largest Puzzle ProgressLeave a comment

Lots of good stuff done today. Unbelievably I did the dark blue and edge pieces, even though I usually do that near the end. It was easy and convenient, so there ya go. I finished the pale color in the background above the straw and was able to connect Timothy to it, and even got a large portion of one of Dumbo’s ears finished.

I knew from the picture that Dumbo was a huge part of the image, but seeing the size of just a part of his ear really lets you know just how big he will be. Wow!

This section is different in that I don’t have several different characters to assemble and place approximately where they go. Timothy went first, and the only other character is Dumbo, and he’s HUGE. I don’t normally start at one side and work my way to the other, but it’s looking like that’s mostly how this one is going to go.

Hopefully things keep going as quickly as they have been so far. But the easy stuff is kinda over, so that’s most likely going to slow me down some. Still enjoying myself, and that’s what really matters!

Tuesday 11-08-16

On November 8, 2016May 24, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn World's Largest Puzzle ProgressLeave a comment

Finally was able to finish sorting and start the actual assembly of the 3rd section, Dumbo. While sorting, it was clear that this puzzle isn’t going to be a cakewalk, although I’m hoping it won’t be as challenging as Cinderella was. The number of grey and pink pieces for Dumbo himself is a bit overwhelming, not to mention the various shades of brown, blue and white. But I’ll get through it like always, and will be extremely proud when it’s finished 🙂

Timothy Q. Mouse is completed already, as his pieces were the easiest to pull out – he’s basically the smallest thing in the puzzle. He is about the size of my hand, so not tiny, but you can see in the picture he is a very small part of the whole image.

I started with the burgundy color in the background behind Dumbo, and as the filmstrip is connected to that I decided to go ahead and do that early in this puzzle. It’s not a corner section so there is only one side that has filmstrip instead of two. Not difficult to work, and actually boosted my piece count for the day so I’m already about 1/8 done! I also put together Dumbo’s eyes and mouth, and the little 4 piece Disney logo. That was where I called it quits for the day.

It doesn’t look overly impressive, but I’m happy with the amount I got done today, especially having had to go out and run errands twice! Hopefully tomorrow will be less hectic and there will be more time to work on the puzzle. Now that I’ve started I’m anxious to make lots of progress!

Hardest Puzzle I’ve Ever Done

On November 7, 2016May 24, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Unknown title, artist and manufacturer – 500 pieces

This was the most difficult puzzle I have ever done! I was unbelievably proud when I finished it, and am trying to find the right frame to display it in. While cleaning the office in my parent’s house, we came across a couple of puzzles in ziploc bags. This puzzle had a very small picture cut from the box for “reference” – it was about 1 1/2 or 2 inches square. Not big enough to help at all, but just to show what the puzzle looks like completed.

It’s hard to tell in this picture, but each of the squares is actually four squares of different fabric/designs. With no picture for reference, this 500 piece puzzle took me 5 days to complete (for comparison a 1000 piece puzzle I can usually finish in 2-3 days)! I don’t know why this didn’t frustrate me, but I was content to work on this puzzle and spend more time looking for pieces than actually assembling. It may have been that I knew it was going to be an awesome looking finished image, or that I loved the challenge of having no picture to work from.

Most of the time when I finish a puzzle, I take it apart and take it to moms house so she can do it if she wants to. She said something to me about trying it herself and I had to tell her that I couldn’t bear to take this apart! Sorry, but I will be gluing and framing it because I’ve never been more proud of a finished puzzle. The most difficult jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever done, and I don’t even know where it came from!

Civil War Generals

On November 6, 2016May 24, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

What a fun puzzle! It was refreshing after working the large Cinderella section to have a puzzle where I barely had to look at the box and could put together large sections of it. I’m not sure I would call it a collage, but it felt that way to me. Really relaxing and entertaining, along with educational.

The Eurographics brand is quite good – random cut, good thickness, and the image was crisp. Really fun to assemble; it was easy to pull out all the words and put those together, then the flags, etc. The frames for the Union and Confederate generals were different as well, so that made the portraits easy to pull out and assemble too.

Under each general’s name was a short bio including dates of birth and death, major battles and campaigns participated in, and place of burial. I had never heard of many of these men and I learned a lot.

And oh my the facial hair – mutton chops for days, impressive beards and fantabulous mustaches!

Rondo

On November 5, 2016May 24, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is an amazing company from Germany that I’d never heard of before. They don’t carry very many puzzles (there were only 9 to choose from last time I checked), but they are of amazing quality. The puzzle came in a large round tube, there was a poster inside, and the pieces were unbelievably thick! They were cardboard, but so thick and dense it almost felt like wood.

I believe this was purchased at Barnes and Noble in the clearance section, and how I wish there had been more of this brand! The image is interesting and the colors were bright and fun. It wasn’t overly difficult to assemble, grid cut, and the feel of the pieces made for a wonderfully fun tactile experience. I would love to find more of this brand here in the states, there are 3 or 4 of their other puzzles I would enjoy doing very much.