So I have to eat my words, this puzzle is from Ceaco and not only was it really good quality, the image is amazing and was fantastic to assemble.
Ceaco isn’t a favorite brand, but they do have an interesting and varied catalog and very reasonable prices. We usually only buy them from the thrift stores and only when it’s an image that really strikes us. I actually bought this one new! Can you believe it? I loved the image so much and was on the hunt for puzzles with smaller piece counts so I decided to give it a try. The quality was quite good and we loved putting it together. So here I am, chomping on my puzzle snobby words. 🍴
The pieces were thicker than many other Ceaco puzzles I’ve assembled, and the fit was excellent. You can barely see the piece shapes in the image above, and that’s only because of the light color in the bottom corner. When it was photographed and ready to be disassembled we were able to lift the entire puzzle and nothing came apart!
The image is amazing and I’ve already found and purchased another one by the same artist; I’m ready to assemble it with mom when she gets home. Get your little old lady butt home soon momma, we’ve got puzzles to do!
I don’t have a lot to say about this puzzle to be honest. It’s not the most exciting image (only my opinion), and wasn’t the most fun to assemble. Sometimes they’re just not your cup of tea, and that’s ok.
I’ve never heard of or seen a Bob’s Your Uncle puzzle before; the quality was good, but nothing overly impressive for me. The pieces were a good thickness and the fit was fair. Photographic puzzles aren’t our usual choice, so the image reproduction is hard to judge – a puzzle that uses an older photo won’t be as crisp and clear as a newer photo taken with more sophisticated equipment. This image seems like an older photograph, so a little fuzziness is to be expected.
They can’t all be exactly what you’re looking for, but no matter – I got to work on this puzzle with mom and that’s the best part. ❤
Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag by Maira Kalman – Mudpuppy – 300 pieces
Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag is a fantastic collage that I had the best time assembling! It’s quite a different image – it’s based on the illustrated book featuring 31 interesting objects from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. I couldn’t resist it, you know how much I love a collage!
This is my first puzzle from Mudpuppy, and I liked the quality very much. The pieces are a good thickness, and they are made from extremely sturdy board that does not bend or flake easily – no puzzle dust at all! The fit and image reproduction is very good as well, and overall I was impressed with the quality. I do wish that there was more variety in the piece shape, as all the pieces are what I call “ballerinas” (2 prong/2 hole standard puzzle shape). It’s not too much of a problem when you have a colorful interesting image like this one, but can be difficult when the image has large areas of color like the sky or water. Click the link above to see all of their puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.
I’ve been doing a lot of 300 and 500 piece puzzles lately, and have come to enjoy them very much. They’re a great palate cleanser after a larger puzzle, or just fun on their own when you don’t have the time or space for a puzzle of 1000 pieces or more. If you normally only work 1000 piece or larger puzzles, I recommend giving a smaller one a try every once in a while. They’re great fun, and can give you a boost of confidence – I finished that puzzle so fast, I must be becoming a puzzle master! 😎
Collages are my favorite type of puzzle images, it’s like having many mini puzzles to assemble. Even if I only have a few minutes to puzzle I can still find and assemble a small section and feel as though I’ve accomplished something. Click here to see all the interesting collages from many different companies available at Puzzle Warehouse – there are so many to choose from that there’s something for everyone.
This puzzle was a joy from start to finish. The border of the image made the edge pieces easy to find, but it wasn’t too thick which can sometimes make it very challenging to assemble. The blocks of color helped with the sorting as well, and even though it was a relatively easy assembly I was never bored. Mudpuppy puzzles are a little on the pricey side, but the quality is very good and they have many unique images that you won’t find with other companies. And aren’t we worth it? I think we are! 😉
Details:
Title: Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag
Artist: Maira Kalman
Brand: Mudpuppy
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 14 x 18 in. (35 x 45 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent, hinged metal tin
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: All one shape, 2 prong/2 hole
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
Mountain Grazing by John Silver – Bits and Pieces – 300 pieces
Mom and I worked this puzzle together, though it isn’t the usual image we prefer; brighter colors and sharper lines are what we usually go for. But since I’ve mostly been doing smaller piece count puzzles lately we decided to give it a go. It was a lot of fun to assemble. ☺
Bits and Pieces puzzles aren’t our favorites, the pieces are usually good but I can’t say the same thing about the fit. I’ve had puzzles where in multiple spots you could just pull the pieces away, but I’ve also had nice fitting ones that I enjoyed assembling. It’s so much more about the fit and the image for me, but I know others have different preferences – we all know what works for us.
This puzzle was pretty darn good quality though, and although the artwork isn’t what we’d typically choose we enjoyed ourselves anyway. (That may have more to do with the quality of my puzzle posse than the puzzle company though. 👵)
Colors of Venice by Joel Christopher Payne – MasterPieces – 300 pieces
When I bought this puzzle I wasn’t paying attention at all, I saw that it was a 300 piece puzzle that also came with a frame for less than $5. What a great deal, and I even like the image. I didn’t realize until I got it home and opened it up that they were MINI pieces – oh no! I had horrible flashbacks of Winter Aspen, but it was only 300 pieces instead of 1000, so I figured I might as well give it a try.
The finished puzzle is only 6.5 inches square – there was more than enough room to put the entire thing on a cookie sheet including laying out all the pieces. Once I got the edge put together I had a great idea; I decided to put the puzzle on the table in the master bathroom and have my husband make good use of all the time he spends in there. He could help me with this tiny puzzle! I told mom and a fellow puzzling friend from Canada (Hi Linda!) what I was going to do and they both thought it was pretty funny. I wasn’t kidding – I knew he’d help if it was right there, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish it. (But it is pretty funny 😁 Why do men spend so much time in there?)
Turns out it was an excellent idea! Not only did hubby help me out with the puzzle, we both enjoyed it very much – much more than either of us thought we would. When it was near the end we brought it out of the bathroom and sat on the bed working on it together. He hasn’t helped me with my puzzles for quite a while, but we both had a great time working on this teeny little thing together. Good thing too, because when I bought this one I also bought a second one, he helped me finish that one too. I loved working on puzzles with him again, so I went back and got another one yesterday. Bathroom puzzles are awesome! LOL
Just so you can get an idea of how small this thing is, here is the entire completed puzzle next to my computer mouse…
Talk about teeny tiny! It wasn’t the greatest quality, but I didn’t mind that much. The piece shapes were pretty obvious in the finished image, but once I glued it they weren’t as noticeable. The fit was quite loose as well, but there was something about the small pieces that made it really entertaining – so much so that I overlooked the annoyance of the fit. I enjoyed the challenge of working with such tiny pieces, and this time I had colors to work with, unlike Winter Aspen!
It’s a cool little puzzle that was more fun than I thought, and I’m glad I was too stupid to read the box in the store and process what the word “mini” means. There’s a third mini puzzle in our bathroom at the moment, and hubby and I will hopefully have a great time with that one too! 😎
My Jigsaw Journal 