Tag: 500 pieces

Rainbow Pets In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling8 Comments

Studio Pets? by Myrna – Sure Lox/TCG – 500 pieces

Oh man, I wish I could tell you this adorable image is fun to assemble, but that would be lying; and we NEVER lie about jigsaw puzzles here. It’s obviously not finished yet, but I can’t wait to complete it so it can go bye bye; the quality is subpar and the assembly hasn’t been much fun.

After finishing a Ravensburger, to jump to one of this quality is such a let down. It is going slowly because it isn’t very enjoyable and I keep stopping to do something else. Sometimes I do that to make an entertaining puzzle last longer but that is not the case here; I keep stopping because this puzzle is just…ugh. Sigh. It’s not horrible, I’ve assembled much worse quality puzzles, it’s just not the right puzzle for right now I guess.

Usually I’m an advocate for not assembling puzzles that aren’t entertaining; “life is too short for crappy puzzles” – that’s my motto. But this is more about making my son happy, because he rarely asks for anything at all. Even when he should absolutely ask for help, he doesn’t – he doesn’t want to be a burden or take away time from whatever you’re doing. So, when he asks me to put together a puzzle because he likes it, I cannot seem to resist because he actually asked for something. Mom wants to grant his request, how could I not?

My son has been trying to get me to assemble this puzzle for quite a while, and I finally gave in. This time it’s gonna get done so that I can get it OUT OF HERE! I’m either going to stop letting him pick out puzzles to purchase or be more firm about his choices. When he picks up a horrible image like that god-awful unicorn or puzzles from companies that aren’t the best quality – like this one – I have to say no way!

There is no title that I can find anywhere on the box, the only way to find it was looking it up online. Annoying. And this puzzle is already annoying me with it’s shiny finish and thin pieces. I’m annoyed. Can you tell?

Garden Study of the Vickers Children

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Garden Study of the Vickers Children by John Singer Sargent – Laurel Ink – 500 pieces

Fine Art puzzle images aren’t usually my thing, but there was something about this one that I couldn’t resist; there’s something about the faces of the children but I’m not sure I could articulate what that is. Not only is the artwork striking, but the puzzle is from a company I hadn’t heard of before – the added excitement of trying out a new brand!

The quality of this puzzle was good/very good. The chipboard is a good thickness and there are an excellent variety of piece shapes. The fit is very good, as is the image reproduction; the finish was somewhat shiny which did cause me a few problems, but it wasn’t too bad. My only quality concern was quite a few pieces still attached.

Whoever assembled this puzzle before didn’t separate all the pieces; so there were probably about 40 or more with two pieces attached, and some with more than three or four pieces still connected together. Separating the pieces caused little bits of cardboard to stick up at the corners of the pieces, and in some places it shows in the finished image. Overall though, it was a good quality puzzle which made me very happy.

The entire back of the box was dedicated to a small biography of the painter, John Singer Sargent. It was an interesting read, and I enjoyed both learning about him and his work and assembling the puzzle.

I really did well on my last trip to the thrift store. I found both this one and the 65 year old Tuco; Mom would be proud. 💖

Vintage Halloween In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Vintage Halloween by Finchley Paper Arts – Bits and Pieces – 500 pieces

The pieces were sorted yesterday and I starting assembling this morning, and although I love the image it seems as though perhaps it’s going to be a little challenging. The pieces are predominantly almost triangular in shape and my brain doesn’t seem to be grasping the way everything goes together just yet. I’ve had two cups of coffee so far, you’d think the gray cells would be working by now!

The shapes are so different from what I’m used to that even with the obvious border image I missed two edge pieces on my initial sort. That almost never happens. With the way that I sort it’s usually never a problem to get all the edges the first time, and I was surprised to find that two were missing. A quick look through the trays helped me find the two stragglers before the picture was taken, but it reinforced that I’ve got to get my head around the way these pieces go together and get used to the triangular shapes.

I do realize it’s only August, but with the puzzles that have already been put together and are waiting to be posted it is actually time to start putting together Halloween images; by the time they’re up in the queue it’ll be October.

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, I’m looking forward to going through my puzzles yet to be assembled and finding any spooky images that need to be put together. Hopefully there are more than one or two, but I’m not certain how many there could be. 🦇

Phenomenal Women

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Phenomenal Women – African American Expressions – 500 pieces

This was an entertaining, good quality puzzle that was a little more challenging can I gave it credit for, but enjoyable all the same. African American Expressions is a company whose puzzles I haven’t seen before, but it was well-made and a great image to put together.

All around I would give this puzzle a “very good” in the quality department; the chipboard is thinner than that of a premium puzzle but very sturdy, the fit is very good, there are a very good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction is good. I was pleasantly surprised, usually a company that makes things other than puzzles doesn’t do so well in the jigsaw puzzle department, but this seems to be an exception.

It looks as though they only make 500 piece puzzles, and obviously they feature only African American artwork – they’ve got quite a few beautiful images that I would love to assemble.

Now I know that if I run across one of their puzzles that they have good quality and I won’t hesitate to buy them again.

Marvel Comics Presents

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Marvel Comics Presents – Buffalo – 500 pieces

If you’re wondering whether or not my son picked out this puzzle for me – he did. Of course he did. It was much more challenging than I’d assumed it would be, but it wasn’t too terribly difficult. There was a LOT of red and blue and figuring out which panel they belonged to isn’t as easy as you might think.

The usual good quality Buffalo puzzle, although the fit seemed a little more loose than usual. Otherwise I have no complaints about it at all.

This is a visual representation of what is happening in my menopausal brain when the hormones hit – She-Hulk wants to punch someone. Preferably a man. Not for any particular reason, just existing…or speaking…or breathing. You ladies know how it is. 😇

I love all these nonsense words for when a punch or kick is landed. Btam! Beeyok! Throk! Ftok! Does it remind anyone else of the old Batman tv show from the 60s? (I know, I know – Batman is a DC character, not Marvel – don’t come for me) I remember when they were punching the bad guys that there would be a Kapow! or a Zlonk! or some other ridiculous words on the screen. The tv show was off the air by the time I was born, but I distinctly remember watching it in reruns.

Since I don’t read comic books, this is not the image I think of when you say The Incredible Hulk. The image I have is of Lou Ferrigno from the late 70s tv show. My sisters and I always used to make fun of the fact that he got so much bigger, all except for his waist – his pants never came apart and there was always plenty of fabric to cover the man bits. Ah well, suspension of disbelief was required then I suppose; something I wasn’t usually able to achieve. I’m too logical, and that BS didn’t really work for me.

All in all this was a good quality puzzle with a fun image to assemble. I can’t really ask for much more!