Playful Parrots

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Playful Parrots – Unidragon – 291 pieces

This was quite a fun puzzle to put together; challenging enough to keep me engaged, with beautiful colors – I wish the quality and attention to detail were better.

Unidragon is a newer puzzle company, their pieces are about the thickness of a Wentworth puzzle, but the wood used doesn’t feel as dense (if that makes sense). It’s a very good fit for a wooden puzzle, the piece shapes aren’t overly obvious in the finished image – no huge gaps. The piece shapes are interesting and not the usual cardboard puzzle shapes, which makes for a more entertaining assembly.

There were a good amount of whimsies for a 300 piece puzzle. Lots of interesting birds, fruits, and flora and fauna. The dragon at the top curled around the puzzle piece is the Unidragon logo.

My fellow puzzle blogger Nicola sent this to me in a puzzle swap, and in her post about this puzzle she wasn’t sure of one of the shapes (the one just below the butterfly and above the parrot with the crest feathers standing up) – it’s a dragon fruit. I had to look it up to be sure, but I’m confident that’s what it is. If I didn’t watch The Great British Bake Off I wouldn’t have known what it was either, I’ve never cooked with it – and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it in a store!

The design of the pieces makes it so that you don’t have to put the birds in the order that is shown on the box, the ends of the branch for each one is shaped the same so that they can be moved around in any order you like. Very cool!

This puzzle also came with eight extra pieces so that if you wanted to, you could put each parrot on it’s own perch. Four for each side – all exactly the same. The problem with the extra ends…..the image on the pieces that allows you to put each bird on it’s own branch weren’t quite aligned properly with the image on the puzzle itself – you can clearly see that they don’t match up.

These pictures show the two problems I had with this puzzle. Left shows that images don’t align and chipping off of the image. Right is more image chipping.

This puzzle was sent to me by a friend, and it had only been assembled once before me. Wooden puzzles are more expensive because they are sturdier – you are supposed to be able to assemble them more than once – over and over, in fact. If after one assembly this is what happens then I’m not that impressed with the quality.

The first wooden puzzle I ever bought myself has probably been assembled and disassembled six or seven times so far – not one piece has any part of the image coming off. Are my standards are too high? I don’t really think so. If I’m going to spend a larger part of my puzzle budget on a wooden puzzle, I expect that I will be able to put it together several times and that it will hold up well.

If it doesn’t, it isn’t worth it.

Many, many thanks to Nicola for throwing this in with our swap. I thoroughly enjoyed assembling this – problems and all. 🧡

Geometric

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

Geometric by Josie Lewis – Buffalo – 500 pieces

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this puzzle as much as I’d hoped. The image was difficult; I knew it would be, but it was just not entertaining for me at all. I think because it was one of the first puzzles back after dealing with a serious medical issue and being stuck in bed most of the day for almost two weeks. My brain just couldn’t seem to get in gear and I felt stupid and slow trying to assemble it.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the quality, the quality was excellent.

I started with the reds/pinks…

Then the purple/blue pieces…

Greens and yellows were last.

I should have known better, but I got sucked into the pretty picture. I need to remember this puzzle the next time a beautiful gradient image catches my eye. Gradient puzzles are so interesting and gorgeous to me, but many times they’re much more difficult than they look.

Or it could be that I’m losing my touch.

Dogs Rule

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Dogs Rule by Janna Krupinski – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Fun and quick puzzle that was the first one back at the board after too many days stuck in bed. What an adorable puzzle – look at all those sweet faces!

Great quality puzzle, although I’ve found that most companies that make 300 piece puzzles make certain that the pieces are thick and easy to hold. Many older people who puzzle prefer this size because the pieces are larger – both easier to see the image and easier to hold for those whose fine motor skills may be deteriorating. I enjoy this size because they’re normally very good quality and a nice palate cleanser after a larger piece count.

There’s really no need for any closeups of the dogs, you can clearly see all of their faces.

Except for this little one in the corner. There’s something about that smile.

My apologies to any cat lovers out there, but this sign made me laugh. It reminds me of Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey – that famous quote from Sassy, the cat. “Cats rule and dogs drool”. 🐶😸

Focus

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Focus by Karen Bloomfield – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

My first mini puzzle from Mr. Bob – I liked it very much! I chose this one specifically because it looked as though it would be a challenge. It was.

It was the usual well made wooden puzzle from Mr. Bob Puzzles, with beautiful reproduction. Normally an image like this isn’t my pile of pieces, but being stuck in bed and only able to do small puzzles made me desire something a bit more demanding than the regular mini wooden puzzle. This one fit the bill perfectly.

As always there is a whimsy of Australia, plus some other fun shapes as well. Seeing all the great whimsy pieces is the best part of opening a new wooden puzzle – at least it is for me.

Schmetterling!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Schmetterling! – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

Such a beautiful puzzle image, and the dark background makes the colors really pop. I love having these mini puzzles around since not only am I in bed a lot, they’re also perfect for leaving on the table in our master bathroom. They’d also be great for someone who doesn’t have much space for puzzling. You could buy a cookie sheet from the dollar store (or it’s equivalent) and have a portable puzzle table you could take with you almost anywhere. 😁

When my infection was diagnosed and we realized I’d have to be in my room in bed almost all the time, I started with a few of my mini wooden puzzles that I have hanging around the house. After a couple of those I wanted a little bit more of a challenge so I took our current bathroom puzzle out into the bedroom to work on it.

Hubby got a little upset that I took this one out of the bathroom to complete it; he was having too much fun with it, and was “slow walking” it trying to make it last longer. Oops! Sorry hon. ❤

*In case anyone is wondering, schmetterling is the German word for butterfly.*