Review: Puppets & Marionettes

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews6 Comments

Puppets & Marionettes by Jay Burch – Pomegranate – 300 pieces

While this isn’t your typical Halloween image, for me the creepiness of the puppets in this artwork made me immediately think that it would be perfect for posting in October. Spooky, creepy, menacing, and just all-around disturbing if you ask me.

The quality of this Pomegranate puzzle was exceptional. I’ve done one or two puzzles by Pomegranate in the years since the pandemic and noticed immediately that the quality had gone down a bit. With the supply chain issues and the overwhelming demand for jigsaw puzzles at the time it wasn’t difficult to understand the reasons for the drop in quality; though I’m hoping for better days ahead with a return to their pre-pandemic excellence. Thankfully, this puzzle seems to be a return to their old quality standards; maybe wishes come true!

There were a very good variety of pieces and the pieces were wonderfully thick with a fit that was truly exceptional. The image reproduction was excellent as well, although the finish was slightly shiny. My only small problem with the quality was the amount of puzzle dust, but that’s a minor annoyance that doesn’t really detract from the enjoyment of the assembly.

From this picture it looks as if this section with the horse would be quite simple to find the pieces and put together, but in reality it wasn’t easy to find most of the blue pieces, and it looks quite dark in the finished image. I think if this had been a larger piece count it would have been quite a challenging puzzle.

There’s something truly menacing about the little boy puppet’s face, although pretty much every marionette shown seems creepy in some way when you really look at them. It’s probably not what the artist had in mind, but that’s how I see it.

The fit was truly exceptional with this puzzle. The thick pieces and the tight fit made for a satisfying and entertaining assembly. Plus, I got to take one of my silly stand up pictures!

Though it was a bit difficult at times, this was an entertaining assembly. The artwork makes me think of suspenseful movies, and if you opened a closet door and saw these puppets and marionettes looking like they do – yikes. Cue the dark music, something’s coming for you!

This puzzle is definitely recommended, great quality and lots of fun to put together. 👍

Details:

  • Title:                  Puppets & Marionettes
  • Artist:                Jay Burch
  • Brand:               Pomegranate
  • Piece count:     300 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 24 x 18 in. (61 x 46 cm)
  • Purchased:      New

Quality:

  • Board:               Excellent
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Very good, sturdy and thick
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Large amount of dust
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Excellent, highly recommended

…Frankenstein In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

The World of Frankenstein by Adam Simpson – Laurence King – 1000 pieces

Well, I was hoping to finish this one yesterday, but as usual life got in the way. I wanted nothing more than to be able to sit down and play with my puzzle, but unfortunately I could not. Today though, at least I’m hopeful.

It’s going together quite haphazardly, not really the normal way I go about things – but I’m really enjoying myself and letting the puzzle lead. I started with the top of the image; the blue and green mountains, the purple sky, and the sun. Then I dove right in to the iceberg in the middle, and it wasn’t easy. Still, it was nice to sit and stare until I saw a couple of pieces that went together; had my music playing and was bebopping along in my head and putting pieces together. Love it!

My youngest son has been coming in every day and giving me little bits of information about Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (the author), and all the Frankenstein movies that have been made. Did you know the original book was written 205 years ago? I do, now. Did you know that the first Frankenstein movie was produced by Thomas Edison in 1910 and was about 15 minutes long? I do. Now.

I’ve got a lot more, but I won’t bore you with them. Besides, I’ll probably learn some new ones today while I’m finishing up! 😉

Sunflower Face

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Sunflower Face – Wentworth (Mini Mindful) – 80 pieces

Now this is what I’m talking about when I want a Mini Mindful puzzle that completely takes over your focus – you absolutely have to pay attention with this one!

The honeycomb shaped pieces and the fact that many of them are cut in half made this puzzle one of the most challenging Mini Mindful puzzles that I’ve assembled so far. Even at the end I had to keep taking pieces out and moving them around because although they looked as though they were placed correctly they weren’t.

I truly enjoyed the challenge of this one. Although it was only 80 pieces it took me just over half an hour to complete it correctly! Normally keeping track of the time it takes to finish a puzzle isn’t something I do, but I knew this would be quite a difficult assembly and noted the time when I started and when it was finally complete.

It would probably be easier to put this together with the image side down, you wouldn’t have to make sure the colors/textures lined up. It might be interesting to do that and see how completely crazy the image would be. 😂

Maleficent

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Maleficent (Disney Villainous) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This beautiful and dark image was quite the challenge, but fortunately the resident Puzzle Goddess was up to the task! All of the Disney Villainous puzzles are quite dark, but this one seemed even more so and made for some difficult puzzling.

The quality was very good, typical for Ravensburger puzzles in my opinion. There’s something about finishing a Ravensburger puzzle and running my hands over it, my little puzzle massage. It feels fantastic!

This is Merriweather – my favorite of the three fairies in the Sleeping Beauty movie. She’s a little shorter and thicker than her sisters and a bit more stubborn, which makes her adorable in my eyes and she was always my favorite. Doesn’t she look determined?

I started with the fairies and worked on the easiest sections to pick out with the lighter colors. The circular picture frames were the easiest to find and so I began with them. It wasn’t as easy to pick out the pieces for what went inside the frames, because many of the pictures had such dark images in them.

Many of the framed images were dark and indistinct, it made it very difficult to fill them in. They all made me want to get myself better lighting above the puzzle board. I haven’t mentioned it to hubby because the moment I do he’ll want to find and order new lighting and then he’ll be disrupting my puzzle time with the installation. (Perhaps I’m just moody today and even thinking about all the interruptions is making me a bit cranky.)

Although I enjoyed assembling this puzzle very much and I do recommend it, it comes with a bit of a warning. It is VERY dark and not an easy assembly; it isn’t recommended for someone who isn’t accustomed to assembling challenging images.

Almost In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

The World of Frankenstein by Adam Simpson – Laurence King – 1000 pieces

I was planning to have this puzzle going already, but a couple of things got in the way of puzzle time yesterday. No worries, spending time with my family is much more important anyway. 💜

At the moment there’s still several hundred pieces left to sort, and then I will ABSOLUTELY get started on this today. It looks like it’s going to be so much fun, but challenging too. Can’t wait!