The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas

On November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

So now we’ve come to the end of my wooden puzzle “experiment”. This puzzle was the last of 5 companies that I’ve tried. I enjoyed this puzzle very much, even though I chose a puzzle from the extra difficult jigsaw page. I didn’t find it all that difficult to be honest, but it sure was fun! I’ll have a post soon regarding all the wooden puzzles, and what I’ve learned.

Wentworth Wooden Puzzles is a British company that has an excellent reputation for quality puzzles. They’re the last of the reasonably priced companies I could find, and their catalog is quite large. They have puzzles starting at what they call a micro-puzzle (30-40 pieces), all the way up to 1500 pieces. The price is on par with the other companies I’ve tried, and I’ve heard good things about their puzzles so I gave it a go (even though with shipping from the UK it was a bit more).

Most of their puzzles include whimsy pieces, but the majority of the cuts seem a bit “regular” to me; I had already gotten a puzzle with regular pieces so I definitely wanted something different. This led me to their extra difficult page where I found this interesting wrapping paper puzzle. I loved it! And, it has repetitive reindeer shaped pieces in addition to the repetitive image for more of a challenge – Merry Christmas to me! 🎄 Here’s the back of the puzzle so you can see the pieces…

The pieces are about half as thick as the pieces from the other companies I’ve tried, but somehow almost feel more dense. There seems to be a coating or backing applied to the back of the wood as well. Although the pieces are thinner, they are still quite sturdy and they still have that wonderful, satisfying plunk when they fall into place. It’s bliss. 🙂

I poured the pieces out of the bag and thought “What have I gotten myself into?” It was overwhelming to see so many similarly shaped pieces. But once I settled down and really looked at them, I could see small differences in the shapes which allowed me to sort the pieces with purpose. Once the sorting was done, I picked 2 pieces that went together and started building – it really wasn’t very difficult for me at all. I loved it!

I enjoyed this puzzle very much and thought their quality was excellent! I’m still looking forward to trying one of their regular puzzles to see if I like the cut. Perhaps soon I can review one of those regularly cut puzzles, maybe a micro-puzzle?

*I may or may not have gone completely off the rails and ordered more than 30 of their micro-puzzles. I cannot recall at this time your honor.* 😁

Details:

Title: The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas
Artist: iStock Photo
Brand: Wentworth Wooden Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 14 x 11 in. (36 x 25 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: 1/8″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent – very sturdy box, pieces come in a fabric bag
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Repetitive – extra challenging
Piece shapes: Repetitive – reindeer
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Review: Tulip Field

On November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews7 Comments

Tulip Field – Sibbett Studio – 363 pieces

This was the third wooden puzzle I purchased, Sibbett Studio is the manufacturer. The company is run by the Sibbett family – Peter and Jeannie, and their 4 children in Washington state. They don’t maintain a website from what I found, but you can find their puzzles on Amazon; or if you’re in the area you may find them at a local market or fair.

As you can see by the picture, Sibbett puzzles are grid cut. I have to say, it was a little bit of a bummer for me. Part of the fun of wooden puzzles has been working with the wonderfully intricate and detailed whimsies, or even just crazy piece shapes. The Sibbett puzzle I worked with had the standard 6 different piece shapes of a grid cut. Many people prefer the standard shapes rather than a random cut; I even prefer it sometimes, on a cardboard puzzle. If you’re looking to purchase a wooden puzzle and you prefer the grid cut pieces, Sibbett Studio may have the right puzzle for you.

Piece cut aside, these puzzles are very well made. They use salvaged and re-purposed cedar, white fir, and maple logs, and they also construct the boxes the puzzles are stored in! The box design is patented and contains no hardware or glue.

The heft of the pieces is lovely, and even though they’re the same 1/4″ thickness as other wooden puzzles, they feel thicker. The images are all “handmade” as well, all are photographs taken by Peter Sibbett. There are plenty of wildlife, landscapes, and nature puzzles to choose from – or they can craft a puzzle for you from your own pictures.

These are well crafted, handmade wooden puzzles. I enjoyed the assembly, although there were a few times where pieces seemed to fit where they did not go, and there was the smallest bit of image lift on one of the pieces. Still, it is a lovely image and a well made puzzle!

Details:

Title: Tulip Field
Artist: Sibbett Studio
Brand: Sibbett Studio
Piece count: 363 pieces
Size: Approx. 7.5 x 22.5 in. (19 x 57 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: 1/4″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Very good
Box: Excellent – handmade cedar box
Fit: Good, pieces sometimes fit in wrong place
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut – no whimsies
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Songbird Menagerie

On October 29, 2017October 29, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another quick 300 piece puzzle mom and I did when I was visiting. We work together pretty well, and there’s lots of great conversation, teasing, laughing, and high fives – it’s the best!🤗

This puzzle was fun, quick, beautiful, and wonderful quality to boot! The fit was excellent, the image is lovely and calm and the pieces felt thick and sturdy. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for the larger piece count Buffalo puzzles (1000 and 2000), although I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because all the pieces are squarish and they all look so similar, or maybe it’s because I can be unreasonably picky. Who can tell? I find that I don’t feel the same way about the 300 and 500 piece counts of Buffalo puzzles. My brain is so weird sometimes!

This is a great puzzle to work on with someone else, I know I loved working on it with my puzzle buddy. 😎

Review: Mickey & Minnie Forever

On October 27, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

Mickey & Minnie Forever – Mega Puzzles – 300 pieces

Here’s another puzzle that mom and I did together. There’s something about this image, the colors, the silhouette of Mickey, the comic strips in the background – I can’t properly put it into words, but this image makes an excellent puzzle and makes me happy.

I haven’t done many Mega Puzzles brand, but this one seemed to have better quality than others I remember. The pieces were on the thin side, but very sturdy and fit together remarkably well. The image reproduction is a bit shiny, but detailed and clear. This is the second of this brand in the past month that I’ve worked that has larger pieces, it seems that the larger pieces are better quality than the average 1000 piece size. Hmm. Interesting.

The assembly was more difficult than I thought it would be, but it was no match for the 2 puzzle princesses who were working on it. 😉 I will give credit to mom though, she did more of the work than I did – she’s the best!

I’m slightly re-thinking my attitude towards Mega Puzzles. I’d like to find a regular 1000 piece and another with larger pieces so I can compare them side by side. I’ll let my thrift store sensei know what her next mission is. 🛒

Details:

Title: Mickey & Minnie Forever
Artist: Disney
Brand: Mega Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 19 in. (69 x 48 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Good, somewhat thin but sturdy
Cutting: Good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Somewhat shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Noah’s Ark

On October 2, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

I’ve done a few Noah’s Ark puzzles, but this one is so different and beautiful I just had to get it. It’s striking and unusual, and I had the best time assembling it. Why aren’t there more puzzles with her artwork??

I also wanted to try a 300 piece Pomegranate, I’ve done both their 500 and 1000 piece puzzles and wanted to see how the smaller piece count was quality-wise. Excellent! I wasn’t expecting anything else, they’re just wonderful quality all around, and their catalog is full of gorgeous artwork to choose from. I highly recommend these puzzles!

I loved this puzzle so much I went back through the Pomegranate puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse and added 4 more of their puzzles to my wishlist. This is getting out of hand!