Review: Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
IMG_4336
Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers by Makoto Nakamura – Pomegranate – 300 pieces

The title of this puzzle is a mouthful, I know – but if you look closely you can see the reason for the name. All of the “flowers” you see are made up of Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers! Click the link to see this puzzle at Puzzle Warehouse.

IMG_4337
Can you see them?

Makoto Nakamura is one of the foremost tessellation artists in the world, and I adore his work! If you’re a regular reader of the blog you might remember the Pesky Parrots puzzle I assembled last year, it was by the same artist only the tessellations in that puzzle were the pieces themselves! I love that Pomegranate chose one of his works for their puzzles, isn’t it a striking image even before you recognize the animals?

Pomegranate puzzles are in the top echelon of puzzle manufacturers in my opinion; their quality is exceptional! The pieces are wonderfully thick and feel good in your hands. They fit together with just about the perfect amount of tightness, and the matte finish doesn’t glare under lights. Their catalog focuses on illustrations and fine art, and the image reproductions are crisp and clear and retain the original beauty of the artwork. I don’t normally comment on puzzle boxes, but the Pomegranate boxes are the sturdiest I’ve found; and as an added bonus nothing covers up the full image on the box top – you can see the entire picture! Not many companies do that, and it is very much appreciated by puzzlers. Click the link above to see all their puzzles currently available at Puzzles Warehouse.

Even though looking at the pieces made me think it might be a challenge, it was exactly the right amount of challenge for me. I couldn’t walk away from it! I started with the red and pink fishes in the center, and then worked color by color to finish flower after flower. It wasn’t super easy, but it wasn’t eyeball-crossing difficult either – just right!

If you enjoy this image, I highly recommend this puzzle. It’s excellent quality with a beautiful and interesting image. I loved it! ❤💐

Details:

  • Title:                  Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers
  • Artist:                Makoto Nakamura
  • Brand:               Pomegranate
  • Piece count:     300 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 20 x 20 in. (51 x 51 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A

Quality:

  • Board:               Excellent
  • Cutting:             Excellent
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Very good, sturdy with complete image on front
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Excellent, highly recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Green Acres

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
IMG_4267
Green Acres by Alan Giana – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

I think my age is showing, when I see the title of this puzzle my brain immediately starts singing the theme song to the old tv show. Green Acres is the place to be, FARM living is the life for me! 🎵

This puzzle is absolutely beautiful, and at only 300 pieces was a quick, fun assembly. The cut is random and interesting and the fit was wonderful! There was never any guessing whether or not a piece fit in a certain spot. MasterPieces large piece puzzles have excellent quality, I have never had an issue with any of them. The pieces are thick and fit together well, and the images are crisp and clear and always beautiful.

Many people only do 1000 piece puzzles, and I think they’re missing out; there are wonderful puzzles to be assembled in every shape and size. But I would never tell someone what they should or shouldn’t do, so if they’re working only the larger puzzles that leaves plenty other sizes for me, right? 😎

Spice Rack

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
IMG_4266
Spice Rack by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This thrift store purchase made me so happy! Mom brought it over to show me and I couldn’t wait to get assembling; collages with lots of words are the best!

White Mountain puzzles are good quality, but sometimes it’s hard to make judgments about puzzle quality when you buy second-hand. I have no idea how many times this puzzle has been assembled; it may have been well loved before it was donated so I can’t say for sure if image lift on the pieces is because of repeated assemblies or because of quality issues. 🤔

Still, from my experience with this brand purchased new I can say their quality is good, about mid-range. The pieces are a good thickness, they have a nice variety of piece shapes and they normally fit together well. I’ve had a few White Mountain puzzles with an extremely tight fit, but those seem to be few and far between. Every once in a while the image reproduction can be a bit fuzzy; but again that seems to be the exception, and one I normally only notice on collages with some vintage images.

This puzzle is by one of my favorite collage artists, Charlie Girard. His collages are fun to assemble and always make me smile. I had a great time putting this one together, it was especially fun to see all those vintage spice containers from companies I’ve never heard of. There are some familiar brands like McCormick and French’s, but most are companies that have long since gone; some of them had such interesting packaging. Ben-Hur Allspice? Wow.

I can’t wait to see what fun and interesting puzzles mom finds next, I hope she finds me some more collages!

Little Red Riding Hood

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
IMG_4240
Little Red Riding Hood – Milton Bradley – 60 pieces

This Milton Bradley puzzle was good quality, though the pieces seemed thin to me because I’d already assembled 6 Ravensburger kid’s puzzles that day – what puzzle company could compete with that? Not many!

This puzzle had good quality pieces with bright, fun colors and an excellent variety of piece shapes. It’s a cute image that was easy enough to assemble and fit together very well. Pretty darn good quality!

I enjoy working kid’s puzzles for several reasons. First, it’s nice to put together an entire puzzle in one sitting; it gives me a little ego boost and makes me feel like the puzzle goddess I think I am in my own mind. Second, I enjoy all puzzles no matter the piece count – even if they’re geared toward children. And lastly, I think most puzzle blogs are geared towards adults and kid’s puzzles deserve to be assembled and reviewed as much as adult puzzles are. If a company makes excellent puzzles for children people should hear about it, and parents need to know what company’s puzzles have good quality. (I’m trying to do my part ☺)

Assembling jigsaw puzzles is good for your brain no matter your age, but they are especially positive for the developing brains of children. They help promote spatial awareness, problem solving, fine motor skills and much, much more. Whether you find them at a thrift store or a retail outlet, a jigsaw puzzle is a fabulous gift for a child – you could be starting them out on a lifetime of puzzling!

Review: Dog Gallery

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments
This post is sponsored by Cobble Hill Puzzles.
IMG_E4317
Dog Gallery by Gretchen Kish Serrano – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was such great fun, I’m so glad I got to assemble it! If you love a good collage, great works of art, or dogs, you should enjoy this puzzle as much as I did. Gretchen Kish Serrano has inserted dogs into famous works of art, and the result is this adorable, funny, and fun to assemble puzzle.

Cobble Hill puzzles are excellent quality in my opinion, and this year they also have a new box design and have added posters to the puzzles to make up for the logo covering a portion of the image on the lid. Even better! I’m not a collector, so the box design isn’t usually something I’m overly interested in, but for those of you who do collect the new box designs are quite nice. The puzzle image takes up the entire lid, with a small logo in one corner; all 4 sides have a portion of the picture along with brand name, artist, title, and piece count, making it easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally. Puzzle Warehouse is one of Cobble Hill’s preferred online retailers; click here to see all Cobble Hill puzzles currently available.

Their pieces are a good thickness and fit together quite well. The fit on this puzzle was a little bit loose but not so much as to be a distraction. The image reproduction was excellent with a matte finish; the random cut made the assembly interesting and fun, and the image was perfect for puzzling in my opinion!

I started with all the smaller images within the image (it wasn’t difficult to sort them), and then I assembled the 2 patrons – don’t they look like good girls/boys sitting so quietly looking at the art? When all that was left was picture frames and red background I sorted the remaining pieces by shape/number of knobs and started working on filling in. This is usually the part that begins to feel tedious after a while, but not so with this puzzle. The difference in the shades and patterns of each picture frame, along with the random cut of the pieces made the filling in almost as fun as each picture itself.

I highly recommend this puzzle, especially if you’re a dog lover like I am. The moment I saw this image I knew I would love assembling this puzzle – I hope you do too! 🐶

Can you name all the works of art represented here? I know them all except for the one in the upper left corner, can anyone help me out and let me know the title and artist? I couldn’t find anything online, but I was most likely not looking in the right places. My favorite artwork from this puzzle is below, along with the original artwork – I love that long flowing hair!

 

 

It’s The Birth of Venus re-imagined! I love it! How about this next one….

 

It’s The Kiss by Klimt! Isn’t that adorable? One last one, because I can’t resist….

Salvador Dali’s famous melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory. Those dogs look completely unimpressed – what great faces!

Details:

  • Title:                  Dog Gallery
  • Artist:                Gretchen Kish Serrano
  • Brand:               Cobble Hill Puzzles
  • Piece count:     1000 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 27 x 19 in. (68 x 49 cm)
  • Purchased:      No cost, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Sturdy
  • Fit:                     Very good, slightly loose
  • Puzzle Dust:     Moderate amount
  • Piece cut:          Random cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, highly recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.