Tag: 500 pieces

Garden Study In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

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

I finished sorting and started assembling this thrift store purchase yesterday, and made very good progress if I do say so myself. Fine Art puzzle images can be notoriously difficult to assemble, and this one is no different – but for some reason this one seems more enjoyable than others I’ve done.

The only pieces that are left now are shades and shapes of green, so they have all been sorted by shape and then we’re off to the races. Wish me luck!

Sweet Treats

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Sweet Treats by Tatiana – Buffalo – 500 pieces

I had the best time working on this puzzle – the bright colors, the excellent reproduction, the wonderful fit – just a fantastic quality puzzle with such beautiful artwork!

This is a puzzle with hidden images in it, there is a list on the poster of ten things to find in the puzzle once you have completed it. Full disclosure, I only found 9 out of the 10 and had to use the answer key (also on the poster) to find the last one. Many of the things weren’t too difficult to find, but a few of them required a little more attention than others. The first one was shown on the cover of the box, can you find the kitten…

The puzzle on my board just before this one was a White Mountain of very poor quality, and even sorting this one was a joy comparatively. Working on this beautiful puzzle was like a breath of fresh air after slogging through one that was frustrating because of quality issues. Image reproduction was an big problem with my previous puzzle, but this one was stellar.

Everything is so crisp and clear that you can even read the words on this scale! Great quality puzzle from Buffalo, and the image was so bright and beautiful that it was a joy to put together.

💖Every 🧩Single 🧩Piece 💖

Cozy Bathroom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Cozy Bathroom by Olga – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This was a large piece puzzle by Ravensburger, and both the quality and the image made for a wonderful puzzling experience. The pieces felt amazing in my hands, the artwork is stunning, and the fit was exceptional – loved it!

When I work on a puzzle like this it reminds me why Ravensburger is one of my favorite brands of cardboard puzzles; the quality far surpasses most other puzzle companies and they have such a broad range of images in their catalog to choose from. And there’s something about the larger piece puzzles of theirs that is even more satisfying to work with – I just adore them.

This beautiful painting on the wall doesn’t seem very detailed when you see it close up, but you know exactly what it is – an homage to a Monet painting. Gorgeous!

There was something about this tableau in the corner of the image, it’s absolutely beautiful. I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever I see someone bathing on tv or in the movies and there are lit candles everywhere my first thought it how much of a pain in the a*s it would be to light them all in the first place. Or clean up after them when wax spills onto tables or other surfaces. Candlelight is lovely, but sometimes it doesn’t seem as though it’s worth all that work.

Stunning image, fantastic quality, and a wonderful all around assembly; this puzzle is very highly recommended. 🛀👍

Crafty Cornucopia

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Crafty Cornucopia by Tiffany Pratt – Blanc Puzzles (Buffalo) – 500 pieces

This is such a fun image, and I was very excited to try a new(ish) brand. Blanc Puzzles is part of the Buffalo Games brand, and both the box and pieces are quite different from a regular Buffalo puzzle. It was an entertaining assembly, and in my opinion there are some pros and cons for this new offshoot of Buffalo.

Both the backing on the chipboard and the finish on the top of the puzzle have a different feel to them. On the back is the white “sharp” backing that I’m not a fan of. In addition, it’s printed with both the name of the brand and the signature of the artist…

All of the Blanc puzzles do not have this printing on the back; I have another of this brand here that I have since completed and it has just the plain white backing. This puzzle is part of a series with images by Tiffany Pratt, in addition to the backing the box is very different too – quite large for only 500 pieces with a clamshell lid and magnetic clasp.

The front of the puzzle has an almost slick, silky feel – it’s very nice. I absentmindedly rub my thumb over a piece I’m holding when thinking about it’s placement, and the hand feel of the finish is quite nice.

The fit seems more “sturdy” is the only way I can think to describe it. There’s an audible click when some pieces are connected, but not all. I was certain when I started the assembly and noticed the different fit that when completed the puzzle would definitely stand up for one of my “fit-so-tight-you-can-stand-it-on-it’s-edge” pictures. Surprisingly it wouldn’t. Well, that’s not true; it did, but in such a flimsy way that the whole thing was distorted, it wasn’t worth photographing.

The shapes of Buffalo pieces come to a point in many places, and with the sturdier chipboard the points were very sharp. Unfortunately, the points that some pieces come to are so sharp that it’s easy for them to catch on other pieces, clothing, or even just your skin – which in this puzzle seemed to cause both image lift and splitting/peeling of the chipboard.

On the positive side the the high quality printing of the image is stunning; the colors are beautiful, the lines are crisp, there is no blurriness – in short the image reproduction is gorgeous. In addition, the pieces come in the usual plastic bag you cut or rip open, but they also provide a sturdier zip-top bag to store the pieces in once you’ve completed and disassembled the puzzle.

This puzzle was extremely enjoyable and went together very quickly. The sharpness of the image made it so that even with all the pink and white areas it was never very difficult to find the correct piece. You could tell what went where if you were paying attention – very important in a puzzle, don’t you think?

Peanuts – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Peanuts by Charles Schulz – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

On our last day of the Peanuts puzzles we have Linus and his security blanket (felt a kinship with him as I was a thumb sucker for a little bit too long as well), Snoopy again, and my most favorite of the Peanut characters – Pig-pen. I was a tomboy who spent her days climbing trees, digging in the ground and in general having as much fun and getting as dirty as possible. I hated having to take a bath or shower at the end of the day and one of my parents’ nicknames for me was Pig-pen. 😎

I hate having to say over and over that this set of puzzles disappointed me, but not everyone reads every post and I feel obligated to say that although I’ve always been happy with the quality of these RoseArt/Lafayette Puzzle Factory sets – this one was different. The fit wasn’t good, the chipboard was too thin, and there were one or two missing pieces. *I can’t really be sure about the missing piece count because these are shaped puzzles and it could be one larger or two smaller pieces missing.*

In general, these puzzles sets are great for when you don’t have much time or space to puzzle; you can use the colored backing to sort the pieces and just grab one color and start assembling one small puzzle at a time. I love them, they’re great when I’m feeling anxious about sorting or starting a larger piece count puzzle; I can just grab this “500 piece puzzle” and put together each little one without worrying about anything else.

Specifically though, this Peanuts set was less than optimal quality, and unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend them. I wish this set had been more entertaining to assemble, but it just wasn’t.

I really did want to enjoy it. 😢