Stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, colorful, intricate – there are endless adjective possibilities to describe this puzzle, but I’m going with amazingly awesome! This was by far the most entertaining puzzle that I’ve assembled this year.
Liberty Puzzles are excellent quality, and they’re my favorite of all the wooden puzzle companies that I’ve tried. They have more whimsies than other companies, and the cut is extremely detailed and intricate; the pieces are works of art within the artwork! The puzzles are made from 1/4″ plywood and are a joy to handle and assemble. I’m pretty particular about the puzzles I choose to purchase new, but I would literally do ANY puzzle, ANY image from Liberty – every puzzle they have is exceptionally well made, and the cut of the pieces would make any image an entertaining assembly.
As you can see the whimsy pieces are extremely detailed, they’re all hand-drawn and beautifully made. The image is reproduced with amazing color and expertly adhered to the wood. These puzzles are made to be assembled and enjoyed over and over again.
It’s definitely an extravagance to spend so much on one puzzle, but I’ve decided that I’m worth it – they make me very happy. Most of the puzzles I assemble are the regular cardboard variety, but I allow myself to splurge on a wooden puzzle now and then; I also like to give them as gifts. Mother’s Day and my 30th wedding anniversary were a day apart this year, so I decided to get myself this puzzle as a reward for having and raising 3 children, and putting up with their father for 30 years. 😉
The colors of the birds are so beautiful, and they all work together to make a gorgeous puzzle. Even up close the colors and patterns make it difficult to see the piece shapes, so it isn’t one of those wooden puzzles where the outlines of the pieces overshadow the image. That’s part of the reason I chose this puzzle, the colorful image hides the lines that are more prominent in wooden puzzles, especially with lighter colors. I don’t consider it a flaw; it doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the assembly, it’s just the nature of a laser cut wooden puzzle.
The edge pieces definitely weren’t easy to pick out; I found some of them, but not all. I did my best to assemble some of the edge and then decided to just start working the puzzle. I started with the yellow bird, it’s the lightest and the pieces were the easiest to find. The bright green bird at the top was next, and then the two birds with speckled coloring. The big blue owl was next, and from then it was filling in and assembling each of the smaller birds and flowers. It’s not an easy puzzle by any means, but I enjoyed the challenge of it.
The best part of this puzzle (besides it’s beauty) is that there is an alternate solution, one that is even more challenging that the traditional assembly. Once I finished assembly number one I was looking forward to attempting the second solution, but came down with a virus and spent the next four days in bed with no puzzling going on at all. Yesterday I was finally recovered enough to get back to it and I conquered the second assembly. Stay tuned, tomorrow’s post will feature this same puzzle looking very, very different!
My Jigsaw Journal 
Absolutely gorgeous, Stacey! I can’t wait to see how it changes with the second assembly. Wow! I bet this one was really difficult with the precision cut lines.
I’ve heard Liberty puzzles are one of the two best — Michelle Wentworth wooden puzzles being equally as good a quality. Have you done any Wentworth’s? I have only done one wooden puzzle, a really cute one from Artifact Puzzles. They sent it to me for as a review puzzle. So nice! I loved it.
Are you planning to frame this one at all or return it to the box and enjoy it again later?
Do you frame any of your puzzles and put them around the house for artwork?
Penny
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Thanks Penny, it was pretty difficult but I enjoyed every piece.
I’ve worked Liberty, Artifact, Wentworth, Peaceful, and Sibbett Studio wooden puzzles. Liberty is my favorite, but with the exception of Sibbett Studio I loved working with them all. I have a couple of new Artifacts I bought recently during their current sale, but they’ll have to wait till I recover from another upcoming procedure.
Birds is already back in the box ready for me to enjoy another time. I have framed several puzzles, but almost all the puzzles I assemble get taken apart and donated. I keep only a very few cardboard ones, and all the wooden ones.
Which Artifact puzzle did you review? Do you have a puzzle blog? I’d love to read it.
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The Artifact puzzle I reviewed was this one. http://www.puzzlemomma.com/2013/11/got-wood.html#.WxVJa0iUuM8
Yes, I do have a puzzle blog. I am PuzzleMomma. 🙂 I think you’ve looked at my blog before.
http://www.puzzlemomma.com
Out of curiosity — do you plan to keep the Disney Moments puzzle since it was such an enormous accomplishment, or do you plan on selling it at some point? I am dying to do that one, but the price is still outrageous on it.
Penny
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I have looked at your blog! Hey PuzzleMomma 🙂
I still haven’t decided what to do with the Disney puzzle yet, I was hoping to donate it to the children’s wing of an area hospital. But for various reasons I have to wait before I can.
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LOL — yeah, I have a few different alias email addresses that I use on here. I prefer to use my gmail account, but it doesn’t always come up as an option when I’m responding to a blog post on here for some reason.
Anyway, what a neat idea that would be for the Disney Moments puzzle. I have given that same thought to the Life puzzle. Initially I figured I would mount it on the wall in my basement where my kid’s play area was. The wall in there was definitely long enough for it, but then we moved from GA back to FL at the end of this last year so that ruined that idea. LOL Now I don’t know that I have a single wall long enough to mount it. If I don’t, I may have to donate it somewhere too which kills me as I want to be able to look at it as a reminder of how much time and effort went into the damned thing. LOL
Penny
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thanks for the extra photos ♥
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You’re welcome 🙂
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