Review: Big World

On October 21, 2019October 21, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

If I’m being honest I’d tell you I was a little bit scared to start this puzzle. Look at the image, it’s gorgeous – but I didn’t know where I would begin. Once I started sorting the pieces though, I found a few sections to pull out and start with; when they were assembled it didn’t seem so daunting to keep going and filling in from there. Sometimes I have to just jump in and get myself going, most of the time it’s never as difficult as I think. 🙂

Milton Bradley puzzles seem to have improved their quality quite a bit, I was thoroughly impressed with this puzzle and it’s quality. The pieces are on the smaller side, but not too much so. They had a good hand feel, fit together quite well, and had a very good variety of shapes. The image reproduction is excellent and did the artwork justice in my opinion, the colors are beautiful with no blurriness or fuzzy areas. Overall a very good quality puzzle.

Big World 1

There’s just something about peacocks, they make for wonderful puzzle images. This one is beautiful, and I wish the picture did it justice. It was one of the first things I assembled after the edges and even though there weren’t many pieces to it, it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Big World 2

This flying fish balloon and the ship below it – great fun to put together! The use of colors by Ciro Marchetti brings to mind images by Aimee Stewart – both artists produce absolutely gorgeous artwork. This one especially has a dreamy quality, a fantasy image that makes no sense but definitely looks like a world you’d want to visit (or at least I would).

I’ve been a little obsessed with assembling panoramic puzzles lately. It’s much easier on your back to not have to reach so far to put pieces in at the top; having the entirety of the puzzle very close to you is somehow comforting and I am completely enjoying working with them. I only have one more panoramic here in my stash, I guess that means I might have to arrange a shopping trip – these puzzles are good for my mental health.

Big World was more fun than I expected and had much better quality than I anticipated. If you’ve got a long enough workspace to assemble a panoramic puzzle this one is absolutely recommended – two peacock tails way up! 🦚🦚

Details:

Title: Big World
Artist: Ciro Marchetti
Brand: Milton Bradley
Piece count: 750 pieces
Size: Approx. 11 x 34 in. (27 x 86 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average, sturdy
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Who Said That? In Progress

On October 20, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Who IP

I’m working on a giant of a puzzle, and it’s quite difficult but really a lot of fun! This is a quiz puzzle from Buffalo, there are faces and quotations and you have to match them up. Every face fits every quote, so you have to be careful and also use the slight overlap of the images to help you. The pieces have been sorted by portraits and quotes, now the hard work begins.

Who IP1

I have no idea what Lao-Tzu had said yet, but I know the quote above him because of his lovely hairdo! I’m pretty sure the quote above can be credited to a mountain climber, I just have to find him.

There are 240 people and 240 quotes, a total of 504 pieces including edges. It is by far the largest 500 piece puzzle I’ve ever seen. It’s about the size of the average 2000 piece puzzle at approximately 38 x 24 inches (97 x 61 cm). Have you ever seen such an enormous 500 piece puzzle? I certainly haven’t!

There are a few people and quotes I was able to match while I was sorting to get myself a head start on the matching. You don’t have to know all the people and quotes to get this one done, and you don’t have to sit with a computer or phone and look them all up either; the portraits all have a slight overlap, but you have to pay very close attention. Here are a few that were easy to find, and you can see how the overlap of images helps in the assembly.

Who IP2

This is the kind of puzzle mom and I adored doing together; we did one with word definitions and one with tv shows. She would have loved some of the silly quotes, we would have been reading them to each other while we sorted and laughing our heads off. Puzzling always makes me think of her, but this puzzle does especially, we always had such a good time with these quiz puzzles.

Animal Planet

On October 19, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is a “Family Puzzle”, it has 3 different sizes of pieces so that the entire family can help assemble it. To be honest I’ve never assembled one with the family, I’ve always done them either alone or with mom. I’m such a puzzle fanatic that I enjoy puzzles for all ages, and a family puzzle has all of them in one box – perfect!

Majestic Puzzles is a new brand for me, and I was impressed with the quality. The pieces were thick and fit together very well. It’s randomly cut so there are a nice variety of shapes and it made for an interesting and challenging assembly. The image reproduction is beautiful with clean lines and bright colors and no blurring or fuzziness. All in all it’s a great quality puzzle.

I sorted the pieces by shape and then assembled it the same way, starting with the largest pieces. Animal Planet 1

It’s odd to have all the kids pieces around the edge. Most of the family puzzles I’ve worked have them all on one side. If you truly want the family to work together it seems more ideal to have big pieces on the left (for example), medium pieces in the middle and smallest pieces on the right. If the whole family tried to work on this one it would be difficult for those working on the smaller pieces to connect them to anything until the kids had finished the outside.

Animal Planet 2

I sorted by size, but obviously I didn’t get all the pieces in their correct piles, there are a few holes. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a smaller medium sized piece and a larger small piece. (I hope that made sense) 😉

I enjoyed this puzzle much more than I anticipated, the image was challenging and beautiful – a lovely combination. Jungle scenes aren’t usually images I would choose, but the different piece sizes made it more interesting and the beautiful reproduction and great fit made it quite fun. If you come across a family puzzle by Majestic I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

African Animals

On October 18, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is one of the last few kids puzzles from the box of 20, and one of the last complete ones too. I found this box at one of our local thrift stores while mom and I were shopping many, many months ago and I’ve been parsing them out here and there.

I find the educational side more entertaining than the picturesque side, I love the facts and lists they have. On the back of this puzzle were all the species pictured above and a map of Africa showing where they are found

Animals 1

I’m a bit sad these puzzles are coming to an end; I’ve enjoyed assembling them all, and learning and re-learning all sorts of things. I may have to get myself back to the thrift stores and find out what other fun puzzles I can get my hands on!

Paris In Progress

On October 17, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Paris in progress

I’ve started this 1000 piece Ceaco puzzle title Paris. I have to say I’m sorely disappointed in the quality. I’ve noticed that their puzzles up to 750 pieces aren’t too terrible, but the 1000 pieces are less than stellar. For me, I highly doubt I’ll be working another Ceaco over 750 pieces again.

The amount of puzzle dust was astounding, and the pieces weren’t all cut completely though. The fit is awful as well, and moving around completed sections is a nightmare. Even just scooting them over a tiny bit results in everything crumbling apart.

I’ll continue on with it, because my daughter got it for me and I try to always assemble puzzles given as gifts. The image is a very pretty one, and I’m hoping once more of the pieces are in place that it will be a bit more stable. I’m not giving up on it, because I want to see the finished image and I’ve got to send my daughter a picture of the completed puzzle!