Isn’t this a gorgeous image? I fell in love with it and had to get it, even though at the time I was trying not to buy more puzzles. I fell off the wagon, so to speak.
I’ve done 3 other puzzles from this company, All Jigsaw Puzzles, and I’ve never had any problem with their quality. This one though, slight problem – the color was coming off in a few spots. You can’t really tell in the picture above, but there were small bits on the edges of a few pieces where the color was coming off. I then glued the puzzle because I think it would be a beautiful wall-hanging. But spreading the glue around on the top of the puzzle with an old plastic credit card pulled more color off. I could see flecks of color in the glue before it dried, and once it was completely dry there were places where the color came completely off. This has always been my method when gluing puzzles and I have never come across this problem before.
It only affected this small portion of the puzzle, which I found odd, but perhaps it has something to do with the ink used? Whatever the reason, it isn’t something you’d want to have happen to your puzzle. I emailed the company and got an immediate response; they took care of me with excellent customer service. As I said previously, I’ve worked 3 of their other puzzles and have not had any quality issues before. The quality has been very good and I believe this was just an anomaly, they assured me they would be communicating with their manufacturer to fix the problem. I bought another of their Impuzzible images at the same time as this puzzle, and will be posting about it here. Hopefully there won’t be any more color lifting.
Quality issue aside, I enjoyed this puzzle very much. Even though it may look difficult, I didn’t find it too much of a challenge. For me the red to orange section was the most difficult, my eyes had a hard time distinguishing the difference in the colors. The rest of it was actually quite easy and fun. It really is stunning in person, and I very much enjoyed assembling mine.
This image has also been made into a puzzle by Buffalo under the name Vivid Color Challenge, in case you don’t want to take a chance on a quality problem but would still like to give the puzzle a try. It’s gorgeous!
My Jigsaw Journal 
I recently discovered the All Jigsaw Puzzles USA site — it seems the site specializes in stocking all those European brands that are just so darn hard to find in the USA. It seems that in addition to carrying other brands, that AJP also has their own brand too, the ones that you’ve reviewed on your blog. All that aside, and I have no idea why I even mentioned that, how has your ordering experience and customer service experience been with AJP? I’ve been thinking about placing an order with them but am a bit nervous I suppose. Were your items shipped from the USA or the UK?
LikeLike
I’ve been very pleased with All Jigsaw Puzzles, their customer service has been exceptional and the speed of their shipments is amazing. I believe they ship from the UK, but I’m not absolutely certain at the moment. Orders placed on Monday are always at my place in Florida before the end of the week. They have excellent prices and sales, and I’ve never had a problem other than with this puzzle, and they took care of that immediately (and to my satisfaction).
LikeLike
Well that’s good to know. I *wish* I knew of this site months ago, it saddens me that I may have missed out on some awesome Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.
LikeLike
Never fear, they’re having a big January sale right now! 🙂
LikeLike
P.S. Since I assume you have an account with AJP, do they have a “wishlist” feature where you can save puzzles that you like?
LikeLike
They sure do.
LikeLike
Good to know about the wish list. I’ll need to create an account very soon. Have you ordered any of the European brands from All Jigsaw Puzzles USA? If yes, do you have any favorite brands or brands to recommend that consistently have excellent quality? One thing I like in my puzzles is that piece fit is snug — but not so tight like some of those pictures you’ve showed where edges are curling up (yikes!) but just snug enough that pieces will stay joined together if you lift them up and move them around. But it’s not a deal breaker if the piece fit isn’t super snug — Buffalo brand puzzles aren’t that way but that’s okay because everything else about the puzzle is great quality.
LikeLike
I’ve ordered a few brands from them, and the ones I would say have the best quality are Schmidt and Jumbo. They both have a fit that’s almost perfect, tighter than Ravensburger and seamless looking. Their pieces have a good thickness, the fit is lovely, and the image reproduction is stellar. Educa is ok, but if you have the wrong image it can be a nightmare, and their fit is a bit loose. It’s difficult because everyone has something different that is important to them in a puzzle, so a brand I love might not be your cup of tea. Based on what you’ve said though, I would try Schmidt and Jumbo. I’ve never had a bad puzzle from either company. Happy shopping!
LikeLike
That’s the sort of puzzle I love to do, it’s disappointing the quality wasn’t good on your one. This actually reminds me of the Lamington Drive puzzles – https://puzzle.lamingtondrive.com/ I got the 1000 piece one for my birthday one year and absolutely loved it. So when the 5000 piece one came out we got that for Christmas. Unfortunately the quality was SHOCKING. It was badly cut so pieces were broken and had bits missing, the finish on the pieces was awful and there was even a piece missing!! I was going to complain to them (it was $150!!!) but that sort of thing stresses me out so I never did. But I will never buy another Lamington Drive puzzle again because the poor quality was just too upsetting.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed the assembly, but at least the cut wasn’t as bad as the one you had. I do understand the stressing you out thing though, there are some things I need to do that I just can’t because it causes too much anxiety and stress. I’m sorry you got such a horrible quality puzzle, that’s so disappointing! 😦
LikeLike