The Alchemist’s Home

The Alchemist’s Home by Vasilisa Romanenko – eeBoo – 1000 pieces

I enjoyed this puzzle gifted to me by my daughter even more than anticipated; there were so many fun things to find and each little room was it’s own discovery. I worked without the image so as to make it more entertaining and interesting and it didn’t disappoint.

On the back of the box is a short poem about the image…

The substance of the world, we know,

Is more than what we think is so.

Things change, persist, and sometimes rhyme

As we pass through space and time.

When something’s gone, its echo lasts;

This home holds spectres from its past.

All the figures shown in blue are the spectres, and there are only four living people shown in the house. I thought it was a fantastic piece of artwork. 💜

It’s been a while since there’s been an eeBoo puzzle on my table, and the quality was quite good (other than the finish). There were a good variety of shapes, it was well cut, fit together nicely and had excellent reproduction. The finish was quite shiny though, and it was difficult for me at times to see what I was looking at without tilting my head to get rid of the shine from my overhead lighting.

The shelving and pictures on the wall in this sitting room were so interesting to assemble, but not easy. Doesn’t this look like a lovely place to sit and think, or read? There’s lots of floor space too, it would make a very nice puzzle room. 😎

In any home my favorite place is usually the kitchen. One can sit and talk, work together to make meals, or just gather with friends and loved ones. I always love to be in the kitchen.

Now you know I’d have to show you the living room, especially if there’s a picture of a doggo with a suit and tie! How cute is that?

I absolutely adored this image and the puzzle was great fun to put together, almost like a collage. And we know how much I love those!


Funnily enough, I was able to pick out two of my Christmas gifts (after the fact). Part of the problem of trying to gift puzzles to a puzzle geek like myself is that there are literally hundreds of puzzles that I’ve already assembled. There have been a few times when I’ve been gifted a puzzle I either currently own and haven’t assembled, or have already completed in years past. Both of those happened this year and though I hesitated to say anything my daughter always wants to know the truth; so I had to tell her.

Of the three puzzles I received two were not new to me – in my mind that shows that they know me well and know what I like, not just that I’ve done tons of puzzles. Anyway, two of the puzzles were returned and I received a facetime call from the store where I helped pick out the replacements, and this was one of them. It’s not easy trying to check out what the images look like over the phone, at least it wasn’t for me. I’m old! 👵

8 thoughts on “The Alchemist’s Home

  1. Jess's avatar Jess

    This looks like a really fun assembly, Stacey! I’m not sure why eeBoo doesn’t change their finish. Many puzzlers seem to really love them, except for the high gloss. I’ve only done one of theirs and liked everything about it except the finish. And they have such great images, too! But as you said, it can be a problem — especially under artificial light. I have hesitated to do more of theirs for that reason. The curio cabinet in the sitting room that you mentioned has its own puzzle — Alchemist’s Cabinet!

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  2. Unknown's avatar Anonymous

    Shiny finishes can also be problematic for me, and I don’t think it would be easy for most people to discern a puzzle image over a phone!

    The poem about the home brought to my mind a short story by Virginis Woolf entitled A Haunted House. – Di

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  3. Love the image, and I must say I don’t mind the Eeboo shiny finish. To me it seems that there’s usually the same amount of glare regardless of whether the finish is matte or glossy. The only exception I can recall is a puzzle with metallic finish – for that you really needed daylight.

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