Swing Your Partner by Jane Wooster Scott – Ceaco – 1000 pieces
I really have gotten tons better at photographing my puzzles – these pictures from several years ago are terrible. The angle is absolutely awful! This is what the image looks like straight on…
This one was lots of fun, and the image was great for puzzling. I’ve done several puzzles by Jane Wooster Scott and have enjoyed them all, her pictures make for entertaining puzzles. 🙂 It’s a great image; the bright colors, straight lines, and symmetry of trees, etc., made for a wonderful assembly. Her artwork reminds me of Charles Wysocki in some ways, and for me they’re both artists whose work makes for excellent puzzling.
The quality of this Ceaco puzzle was good/tolerable. Sometimes the chipboard used is quite thin, but this one wasn’t too bad. There wasn’t much splitting of the board or image lift, and the fit was excellent. The image reproduction is very nice as well; the finish is a bit shiny, but thankfully not too much. Overall, a good quality puzzle that was entertaining to put together. That’s all I’m looking for!
Who Left the Cage Door Open by Rosiland Solomon – Bits and Pieces – 1000 pieces
I’m surprised how many Bits and Pieces puzzles I haven’t posted – it’s been over 2 years since I assembled these! It could be that it’s just because the pictures were so terrible; I don’t recall making a conscious decision to omit this brand. Again, in my defense, at the time I was taking these pictures it was only to send them by text to family members to show that I had finished a puzzle – I didn’t know I’d be starting a puzzle blog. 🙂
The image itself is excellent for puzzling, especially when working on the puzzle with someone else. There are plenty of items to assemble separately, so it was easy to pick out a section for each person to work on.
I’ve found Bits and Pieces puzzles to have fluctuating quality – some puzzles are excellent, and some are extremely lacking. The pieces are a good thickness, but the fit has sometimes been very poor. The image reproduction has always been stellar in my opinion, though with a slightly shiny finish. The random cut makes for a somewhat more challenging assembly, which I enjoy (but not everyone cares for). This is a brand that we only purchase second-hand now, we try not to pay retail for a puzzle that may or may not have good quality.
I remember being disappointed by this puzzle in particular, the piece shape is very obvious in the finished image, and the fit was quite loose. That said, the image was still entertaining to assemble – mom and I enjoyed the time we spent putting it together!
Lucy’s Shop by Kay Lamb Shannon – Bits and Pieces – 1000 piece
How I wish I’d taken a better picture of this puzzle, it’s absolutely beautiful! The colors were lovely and it was just about a perfect image for puzzling.
This Bits and Pieces puzzle had a very good fit, and I very much enjoyed finding and assembling each small section. If you can believe it, after assembling the edge I started with the grass! I figured it was going to be the most difficult part, so why not get it out of the way first? It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, and for me it made the rest of the puzzle seem easier.
The shop itself was the easiest part to put together, and each person in front of it was so entertaining to find and assemble; I really had a great time with this puzzle!
How is it that I can remember so much about a puzzle I put together over two years ago, but can’t remember things that happened yesterday? I have no idea, but I do know this – getting older ain’t for sissies!
Counting Sheep by Brooke Faulder – Bits and Pieces – 1000 pieces
I had a terrible time assembling this puzzle, and didn’t enjoy it much at all. It had nothing to do with the subject matter, it was all about the fit of the pieces and quality of the cut. 😐
This was the last puzzle from the 3-in-1 box of dog puzzles from Bits and Pieces, and I’m glad that I didn’t assemble this one first. The other two puzzles in this box were good quality and I had a great time putting them together; if I had completed this one first I don’t know if I would have done the others. I think part of the reason the picture is so haphazard is that I didn’t enjoy assembling it, and I just wanted to get a quick picture to send to mom to show it was finished.
The fit was extremely loose, and accidentally bumping any part of the puzzle with an arm or anything else would upset several pieces or even an entire section. I don’t know if the pieces and tabs being so square in shape had anything to do with the looseness of the fit or if it was the cutting itself. Whichever it was, it made for a terrible assembly.
It’s been fun going down memory lane with these older puzzles I’ve done, but it has also shown me how much my injury and the chronic pain that it has brought has slowed my puzzling down. I used to be able to assemble a 1000 piece puzzle in two days, maybe three; and I used to do several of them each week. Nowadays opening the box of a 1000 piece puzzle causes me anxiety and stress.
On the brighter side, I recently completed a 1000 piece puzzle for review, so here’s hoping I’m able to attempt another one soon, purely for recreational purposes. ☺
Chevy Gold by Laura Hatcher- Gearheads Puzzles – 1000 pieces
Chevy Gold was a challenging image, but once I got myself under some good lighting it didn’t seem as difficult as I first thought. It’s definitely a puzzle I recommend, but please be sure you have adequate lighting, and be forewarned that it’s trickier than it looks!
Gearheads Puzzles is a new puzzle company that is woman/veteran owned – yay for us ladies and an even bigger YAY for a veteran owned business! (also, please accept a heartfelt thank you for your service 💖) They currently only have this one image, but a new 500 piece puzzle is in the works and should be available in about a month – it will be grid cut for those of you who aren’t random cut fans. They also offer custom photo puzzles and have recently added custom photo t-shirts as well. Click the link above to check them out.
I was impressed with the quality of the pieces; they were a good thickness with an excellent variety of shapes and have a good feel in your hands. The image reproduction is excellent with wonderful detail; though the finish is slightly shiny, which can cause glare under artificial lights. The fit did seem a little loose, but not too much so and you can see above that the finished image is almost seamless.
There were several pieces that weren’t completely separated, but I attribute both that and the loose fit to the puzzle being near the end of a run when the die is starting to dull. I’ve found this with every puzzle manufacturer and I don’t consider it a flaw in quality unless I’ve worked several different puzzles and they all have this problem. With this being the only Gearheads puzzle I’ve assembled I like to err on the side of positivity and say it was most likely the end of the run.
The first two sections (after the edge) that I assembled are shown above. This puzzle certainly gave me a run for my money, it was more difficult than I bargained for! There’s a lot of gray, brown, and black in the image and you have to sit with the pieces for a bit to familiarize yourself with the colors and shades before you start seeing where they belong. It’s not a puzzle for beginners, but it’s completely worth the effort. It would look AMAZING glued and framed for a lover of classic cars!
The random cut had me convinced several times that I had definitely, absolutely, without question lost a piece – I hadn’t. With a random cut you may think you know what piece shape you’re looking for, but many times it’s something completely different! It keeps my gray cells limber (hopefully) and makes me focus more on colors, shades, and textures to find the piece I’m looking for. Completely engrossing!
Chevy Gold is a challenging puzzle, and not for the faint-at-heart. Both the random cut and the color scheme add to the difficulty; so be sure you’ve got lots of good lighting and make sure your brain cells are ready for the random cut. Bottom line – if this image revs your engine it’s definitely recommended. 👍
Details:
Title: Chevy Gold
Artist: Laura Hatcher
Brand: Gearheads Puzzles
Piece count: 1000 pieces
Size: Approx. 19 x 27 in. (48 x 69 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Very good
Cutting: Good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average, quite compact for 1000 pieces
Fit: Very good, though somewhat loose
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, 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.
My Jigsaw Journal 