Review: Einstein’s Rainbow

On November 17, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

Einstein’s Rainbow by Edward Kinnally – Peaceful Wooden Puzzles – 260 pieces

O M G! I had the best time with this puzzle – look at those gorgeous colors! This is the fourth wooden puzzle brand I’ve tried, and oh dear – I loved this one too! Perhaps I should start playing the lotto in the hopes of being able to afford all of these puzzles I want.

Peaceful Wooden Puzzles has a beautiful catalog of images, and I adore the selections they have from this artist – Edward Kinnally. They’re a bit challenging, but colorful and interesting and a little “trippy”. Click the link to check out their website and the artists and images available. Also, when you order from their website you can choose the type of whimsies you would like – religious, universal, or none. I chose universal, you can see them best in the picture below. There are several flowers, an owl on a tree branch, a hummingbird, dragonfly, ladybug, maybe a swan, and a beautiful lady with a parasol…..

In addition, Puzzle Warehouse also carries this brand and you can order from their website too. This would be great for making sure your order is large enough to qualify for free shipping! 🙂

It will be no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, the Victorian cut of the pieces and the stellar image made for a great afternoon of puzzling. This is definitely one I’ll be doing again and again. The image is so well-adhered to the wood that it almost looks like it’s been painted on. It’s such a great puzzle, I’m pretty pleased with myself for choosing this image. Way to go me!

If you’re looking for a special gift for a puzzler in your life, I would definitely recommend checking out Peaceful Wooden Puzzles by clicking either of the links above. Beautiful puzzles!

Details:

Title: Einstein’s Rainbow
Artist: Edward Kinnally
Brand: Peaceful Wooden Puzzles
Piece count: 260 pieces
Size: Approx. 10 x 12 in. (25 x 30 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: 1/4″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent – outstanding even!
Box: Excellent
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Victorian/whimsies/very intricate
Piece shapes: Excellent variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Review: Dream

On November 10, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

Dream by Sascalia – Remarks – 250 pieces

I was shocked by the quality of this puzzle; it’s the first 250 piece Re-marks puzzle that I’ve done, and the quality was very very good. Such a pleasant surprise! This was a quick assembly, but fun and relaxing – perfect for a lazy afternoon.

I haven’t done a puzzle from this artist before, I like the image very much. Looking around online I see that there’s a whole series of 250 piece Re-marks puzzles by Sascalia. I like the looks of them. 🙂 Here’s hoping we find more of them in the thrift stores!

The pieces were about the same thickness as a Ravensburger puzzle, and had the waxy sort of feel of a Jumbo or Gibsons puzzle. I was definitely not expecting such lovely pieces! I’ve done several Re-marks puzzles, and their pieces are a good thickness, but I’ve never had any of this thickness, or with the same finish. Excellent image reproduction and fit, and just all around wonderful quality. The image is lovely and perfect for puzzling, I enjoyed it very much!

Details:

Title: Dream
Artist: Sascalia
Brand: Re-marks
Piece count: 250 pieces
Size: Approx. 11 x 14 in. (28 x 36 cm)
Purchased: New, thrift store unopened

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Very good
Box: Average, small and square
Fit: Very good, can lift entire puzzle in one piece
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

What TV Show Is That?

On October 14, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

This puzzle was even more fun than What Word is That? that mom and I did earlier this year. We knew almost all of the answers about tv shows; oh dear, what does that say about our intelligence? 🙂

Not only did we know most of the tv show answers, the background of the puzzle itself was also a little bit easier to see and use for help in placing each question and answer. It works almost like the Talking Jigsaw puzzles in that you can put together each question and answer, and then use the background to place them in their correct position in the puzzle. Buffalo Games makes both series, which is nice because the quality for both is very good.

We really had a good time with this puzzle, I would still love to find the rest of them. There is What Movie is That? and Who Said That? and more. Here’s hoping they’re coming to a thrift store near us!

I think the show on the tv set is Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, but it’s a bit before my time – mom wasn’t sure either. We also weren’t sure about the Gunsmoke answer, but apparently Burt Reynolds was in 50 episodes of the show! (He played Quint, for those of you old enough to have watched it)

Old Woodland

On July 8, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

An interesting and beautiful image by Dominic Davison, and another new company I’ve tried out – E&L Corp. Unfortunately the quality was lacking.

I enjoy the artwork of Dominic Davison, this image is beautiful and calm and I love that it has a frame as part of the picture. I’ve chosen several of his puzzles without knowing he was the artist; his artwork makes for a great puzzle. If only the puzzle quality itself was as nice as the image. 😐

The pieces were extremely thin and easily bent, and there were a lot of pieces with image lift as well. On the positive side, there were a good variety of piece shapes and nice image reproduction. I’ve only done one puzzle, so I don’t want to say that this is representative of the quality of all their puzzles. This one wasn’t great, and hopefully when I find and work a few more of them I’ll be able to get an overview of their quality in general.

Lovely image though, and a nice quick puzzle at 250 pieces. 🙂

Butterfly

On March 26, 2017May 19, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Only 250 pieces, just enough for a fun hour or so – perfect! This was another thrift store puzzle we thought we might give my honorary grandson, but after seeing the pieces I think they may be too small for him just yet. He has excellent fine motor skills for an almost 4 year old, but I think this puzzle might be more frustrating than anything else, so I’ll hold off on giving it to him for now.

Excellent puzzle from Remarks, pieces fit together really well and we had a great time putting it together. The image quality was amazing and the colors were really sharp and beautiful. Awesome quality from Remarks, the best I’ve had so far.

We should try to find more 250 piece puzzles, this was fun!!