Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Secrets of the Deep

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles10 Comments

Secrets of the Deep by Steve Read – MasterPieces – 500 pieces

This puzzle was a joy – random shapes, beautiful colors, excellent fit – I absolutely adored it! Ocean images aren’t really my thing, but I wanted to clear out some of the older thrift store puzzles and this had the right piece count so I gave it a go. I’m so glad I did.

MasterPieces puzzles have always had good quality in my opinion, and this was one of the best quality puzzles of theirs that I can ever remember doing. The image reproduction is stunning, the fit was exceptional, the random shapes made the assembly wonderfully interesting, it was just an all around great puzzle. 💙

It can be interesting putting together a random cut like this where the “corners” of the pieces don’t meet – it can be all over the place. In my case it makes me slow down a bit and really pay attention to the connections and be sure to grab the right piece no matter if it’s tall or short or long or thin.

In addition to being an all around great puzzle this was also a glow in the dark puzzle with hidden images to find; Steve Read likes to hide things in his artwork. I found myself going back through the blog and looking at past puzzles with his artwork, and quite a few of them were ones with hidden images – there were hidden animals, hidden fairies, etc. Anyway, back to this puzzle, there are 16 hidden dolphins to find; can you see a pink dolphin in this coral (or whatever it is)?

The fit was very good, and I was able to get this stand up picture, but just barely. You can see the pieces are moving a bit, and immediately after I took this picture a piece fell out. I almost feel as though I shouldn’t be posting this picture because it wasn’t as good as previous puzzles that stood tall and proud with no pieces moving around. But I did capture the image, so why not?

As I mentioned before this was also a glow in the dark puzzle, and a thrift store purchase. Once it was finished and pictures were taken I took it outside to “charge” for 10 minutes or so in the sun. You can never tell with a thrift store puzzle if you’re gonna still be able to get a good glow out of it and I’ve found that putting it in direct sunlight for a few minutes helps.

Let me tell you, I got the best glow on a puzzle I have EVER seen, and the absolute best glow picture I have ever taken. Ready?….

It’s a little blurry on one side, I think I was so amazed by how well it was glowing that I moved a little when I was taking it. There was absolutely no manipulation of the image other than to crop it, this is actually what it looked like in the darkened room. Isn’t that a glorious GITD picture? I was so excited to capture such an excellent glow on this puzzle – I still am!

This was a fabulous puzzle with hidden images inside beautiful artwork on a puzzle with excellent quality. I absolutely recommend it; it made this little old puzzle lady very happy indeed. 👵

Life is a Box of Colors

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Life is a Box of Colors – Cra-Z-Art (Kodak) – 350 pieces

I had a really good time with this puzzle. And since I don’t remember the last Kodak puzzle that was put together, I didn’t know what kind of quality this might be; I was happy to find that it was a very good quality puzzle that was also truly a joy to assemble.

For some reason I decided I was going to pick puzzles based on piece count and go upwards to 1000 pieces. One day I did both 150 and 200 piece puzzles, so of course the next one had to be 300 pieces. I thought I’d jump to 500 pieces after that, but when I looked through the shelves in my closet I was surprised to see I had a couple of 350 piece puzzles, and obviously this one jumped right out at me with it’s bright, beautiful colors.

The pieces were thick with a good variety of shapes. It’s one of those puzzles that has fat pieces and thin pieces, you can tell when you start assembling the border; the thinner, shorter pieces make up the side borders and the fatter, taller ones are the top and bottom borders. The finish was quite shiny, and I did most of the assembly without my overhead light on because there was just too much glare to deal with. The image reproduction was gorgeous, of course, look at those “kodak colors”! The fit was quite tight, almost like a Springbok or certain Sunsout puzzles – I’m not a fan of this type of fit, but at least it wasn’t loose, right?

Assembling words makes me so happy, of course this was the first section to be completed. Isn’t it a stunningly gorgeous image? Love it!

Did I mention something about an extremely tight fit? Oh yeah, I did! In fact, I was so sure that this was going to work that I stood the puzzle on it’s edge first, before I got any pictures of the completed puzzle. That can be a risk if you’re not sure, but I knew there wouldn’t be any problems with this one.

I absolutely loved this assembly. Much of it was put together when I was on the phone with my daughter, I just sat talking and absentmindedly finding pieces and putting them in. When I look at this puzzle that will be what I remember, talking to my baby girl and putting together a beautiful puzzle. 💖

Old Friends

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Old Friends by Anthony Kleem – Rose Art – 300 pieces

This went together quite quickly, but unfortunately the quality wasn’t quite up to snuff. It was brand new, but there were several problems with the chipboard and the image coming up at the corners of the pieces. It’s a lovely bit of Americana artwork by Anthony Kleem, I just wish it had been sitting on top of a better puzzle.

Rose Art puzzles can be hit or miss, and I was hoping with this being an unopened one that the quality would be better. The chipboard however was starting to split on several pieces and although it seems sturdy there were one or two tabs that had to be bent back into place before they would fit properly. In addition the image was lifting on the corners of many pieces, it was a bit disappointing to be honest.

I wish I had better things to report, but the quality was lacking on this one. It’s a great image though, and it made for fun puzzling too.

Lily

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Lily by Sasha Fortova – Ravensburger (Puzzle Moment) – 200 pieces

This image is so different and gorgeous, I just had to have it! And I love the smaller piece count puzzles that are not childish looking for us “adults” who enjoy smaller puzzles sometimes. Plus I found it in the sale section at Puzzle Warehouse, so I got it at a discount – bonus!

I love that this 200 piece puzzle doesn’t have large pieces. Don’t get me wrong, I love a large piece puzzle too, but sometimes I just want a smaller puzzle with regular pieces, and there aren’t many of those around in my to do pile. In addition, this was the best quality Ravensburger puzzle I’ve done in quite some time. The finish is matte and the image reproduction is beautiful, and it’s the best fitting Ravensburger I think I’ve ever done IN MY LIFE!

That’s quite the statement, I know. But take it from someone who has done hundreds of Ravensburger puzzles, this was the best fit I’ve ever had. Never have I been able to stand up one of their puzzles, but…

Not only does this one stand up, it’s very tall, and that makes it even harder to do. Usually landscape oriented puzzles stand up best, the taller ones don’t have the integrity to withstand it – but this one did with no problem at all. I was amazed, truly. This was a wonderful quality puzzle with such a stunning image that I cannot possibly get rid of it.

I rarely keep cardboard puzzles unless there’s a sentimental value for me. I have one of my grandmother’s puzzles, several puzzles mom and I did together and loved, but probably 99% of the cardboard puzzles I do get sent on to a friend or donated to the local thrift store, senior center, or the VA where we live. But this little beauty stays with me, it’s fantastic!

Vivienne on Vacation*

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Vivienne on Vacation* – Unknown – 150 pieces

Isn’t this adorable? I have no idea where this puzzle came from, but I have two mini puzzles in test tubes with no brand name, no titles, just photographic images. When a smaller puzzle was what I was looking for this seemed like a good image for the summer. I’ve named her Vivienne, and she is obviously on vacation. 🌞🕶

The quality is very good, although the pieces are thinner than MicroPuzzles they do have an excellent variety of piece shapes; MicroPuzzles has only one shape, but both of them are good quality puzzles that are entertaining to assemble. The finish on this one is quite shiny, so much so that I had to turn off my overhead light to properly see the darker parts of the image. Other than that I have no issues with the quality at all – what a pleasant surprise!

There isn’t a lot to say, other than that I enjoyed this one very much and the image makes me smile when I look at it. Again, I have no clue where I got this one, but I’m glad it was in my stash.