Cardinal Glass

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Cardinal Glass by Cynthie Fisher – Big Ben (Luxe) – 500 pieces

This puzzle had an extremely loose fit which made this frustrating and difficult to work with. I liked the image, but all that green was a b*tch to deal with as well as the crappy fit.

Big Ben puzzles have been hit and miss in the quality department for me; sometimes I’m amazed at the good quality and sometimes I want to stomp on the pieces while screaming and throwing a tantrum like a two year old. Hit or miss.

For me, puzzle brands whose quality isn’t something you can be sure of are brands that I no longer buy new. I refuse to pay retail for a puzzle with quality that may contribute to my regression to an angry toddler. Big Ben is one of those brands I usually only get second hand at the thrift store.

If the price is only a few dollars it doesn’t frustrate me as much because I know going in that the pieces may not be all there or it may not be the best quality. That’s my twisted logic anyway.

Balloon World

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

Looking back through the blog I see that it’s been six years since I’ve completed a puzzle with an image by Royce B. McClure. Oh my! His artwork is always so colorful and imaginative, it’s no wonder there are so many puzzles with his images on them; they’re so fun to put together.

This isn’t an image I would normally choose in a larger piece count, but I enjoyed it on this mini puzzle very much. On a larger puzzle this might be quite a challenge!

I don’t remember any other Wentworth puzzle that I’ve done that had whimsies that were all the same like these; but it’s always nice when the figures they choose are perfect for the image.

My (ever dwindling) collection of mini puzzles are certainly helping me out with building up my queue again, they don’t take much time at all and when I’m in need of a puzzle to post it’s easy to put one of them together quickly.

Plus, they’re great quality puzzles that are always entertaining; perfect to make this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 💓

Flower…In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Flower Jungle II by Krovblit – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Got started on this puzzle yesterday, but didn’t work for very long at all and spent most of the remaining day in bed. Sigh.

The Buffalo quality is very good, and the colors and image are amazing. Even though there is still plenty left to go I’m enjoying it very much. I haven’t come across this artist before, Krovblit. Apparently he is an artist who works primarily with collages, but combines that with digitally altering some images before he cuts and pastes them by hand.

I hope there are more puzzles of his to find!

Teal Lake

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Teal Lake by Andy Russell – Milton Bradley (Big Ben) – 500 pieces

I love the image of this puzzle, and I liked that even though it was only 500 pieces it was still a bit challenging. It made for some fun puzzling!

This is a thrift store puzzle, and other than quite a loose fit it was pretty good quality. The image reproduction is lovely, there are a good variety of shapes and the chipboard was a nice thickness. The finish is matte and feels soft to the touch; the loose fitting pieces made for some frustrating moments trying to move pieces around, but otherwise I was happy with it.

Distant Mountains

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Distant Mountains by Bob Ross – Thunder Bay Press – 96 pieces

This is the first puzzle from my Happy Little Jigsaw Puzzle Book full of Bob Ross images that I bought in November of last year. At only 96 pieces this was a bit more difficult than I imagined it would be, but I still love the look of it and am pleased as punch that there are still so many more to do.

As I said in my first post about the puzzle books that my daughter and I found, the pieces are extremely thin – almost like cardstock – but the fit is exceptional. It has to be in order for them to stay in the book properly. Even though this puzzle was removed from the book to assemble, it still took a bit of effort to put it back in so that it would stay there without falling out. It’s back in place and the book can even be stood upright and the puzzle remains in place without danger of it coming out. Very cool!

The quality other than the thin cardboard was excellent. The image reproduction is GORGEOUS, there are a good variety of shapes and the fit is wonderful. I’m so glad my daughter and I found these books, and am really looking forward to assembling the remaining 17 puzzles. (Plus the nine images in the Game of Thrones book also come together to form a large map of the country/areas in which the show takes place🗺)

This is the page this puzzle comes from, the image is from Season 14, episode 1. Even though the show was on the air for only eleven years, there are 31 “seasons” of The Joy of Painting. He made 403 episodes of his show, that’s amazing!

I also learned from a little research that he created three versions of each painting. The first one was done before the show and was used as a template to paint the one he made on air. The second was painted live during the show, and the third he painted after the show was taped to add more details for use in his instructional books. All of the paintings were either donated to various public broadcasting stations, the Smithsonian Institution, or kept by Bob. With 403 episodes, that’s a lot of painting!

On the page opposite each puzzle is a little blurb about Bob Ross; his philosophy of painting, his life, and his thoughts about nature, etc. His works of art aren’t images I would normally choose for puzzling, but at less than 100 pieces they’re beautiful little one coffee puzzles that make me smile – happy little clouds and all!