Interconnection by Richard Welker – Ceaco – 550 pieces
This puzzle is the last in a series of 3 by Richard Welker, all the images were so much fun to assemble! I love the look of all of them, and all three made for excellent puzzling. (Sorry about the glare, I usually do a better job with the pictures)
The quality was fair, but how I wish it were better! The board is made of many layers of board, and right out of the box some pieces were split and peeling. Why can’t Ceaco up the quality even just a little bit? They have some fantastic images, but the quality is great on one puzzle and terrible on another. The image reproduction was very good, as was the fit; but the quality of the chipboard used is a major component with puzzles, and it’s hard to ignore when it’s bad. 😦
These images by Richard Welker are eye-catching and interesting, and I bought them knowing the quality might be less than optimal. I’m not sorry I did, the image made up for a lot. There’s one more image by this artist that I’ve found, it’s not in the same series, but it’s been produced by Ceaco/Brainwright….
I think it looks like fun! Hopefully I’ll run across it one of these days, it’s interesting and calming and full of bright, beautiful colors. 🙂
Lots and Lots of Spots by John Donnell – Springbok – 550 pieces
Very cute puzzle, with lots of bright colors to help out with all those spots! If it wasn’t for the terribly tight fit I would have really enjoyed this puzzle. 😐
This was another Springbok with an EXTREMELY tight fit, and it makes the assembly much less entertaining for me. Some people enjoy a fit this tight, but I do not. Every piece needs quite a bit of work and pressure to make sure it’s properly connected. Ugh. The edges curl up and you can pick up the entire puzzle with two fingers. I’ve found that when the fit is this tight you can even stand the puzzle up on it’s bottom edge!
The puppies are so adorable, and the chunks of color on the floor, balls, and stools helped to make sure all those spots didn’t make the assembly too frustrating or tedious. Once all the color was assembled the random cut made it a little easier to find which spot went in which spot. 😁
According to the internet this is a “vintage” Springbok puzzle, so if you’re looking for one you might want to try thrift stores or online shops like ebay. This one had an awfully tight fit, but perhaps they’re not all that way. If the image is one that tickles your fancy, I hope you can find one out there!
The top half of this puzzle was actually pretty entertaining to assemble, but the bottom half – yikes! I had to call in the puzzle posse to help me get it done, good thing she was available.
The quality, other than the fit, was quite good. The pieces were thick with a very smooth matte finish. They feel good in your hands, but almost a bit dry – I don’t know how to explain it – perhaps the feel is more dusty than dry, I can’t seem to find the right words. Whatever the finish on them is, it doesn’t feel unpleasant to me, just different than the finish on most other puzzles.
The fit was loose, which was the most noticeable when trying to assemble the edges, it was a challenge to keep them together at times. Bumping them accidentally with my arms could upset many pieces, which was pretty annoying. Once I started to fill in the rest of the puzzle the fit didn’t seem quite as loose as before.
This was a thrift store find, mom brought it over a few weeks ago, and I decided it would be perfect for Christmas in July. I’m not much a fan of Santa images to be honest, but it was only 550 pieces so I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult. Boy was I wrong! The top half wasn’t bad, my daughter even helped me a little bit when she was visiting. But once I got to the bottom I have to admit I was intimidated.
I called mom over for an impromptu puzzle party and we made pretty short work of all those Christmas trees at the bottom. We both were working together at almost the same spot and we kept getting in each other’s way and laughing. Perhaps it’s a good thing those trees intimidated me, otherwise I might not have called mom for help – I would have missed out on all the fun of puzzling with her. 😉
It’s a beautifully detailed image, too bad no credit was given to the artist anywhere on the box. It seems to happen a lot, at least that I’ve noticed anyway. It’s an entertaining but challenging puzzle – if you’re up for it and can find it I would definitely recommend it.
I thought this one was going to be difficult, there’s so much yellow! But once you start separating the pieces you can tell it isn’t going to be that bad. There are many shades and textures, and plenty of letters, numbers, and symbols to help out as well.
Ceaco puzzles sometimes have really good quality, especially with their special editions. There have been puzzles I’ve done with cork and velvet backing by Ceaco that were excellent quality. I’ve also done a few corked backed puzzles by them that haven’t been that great. I’m confused why everything seems so hit or miss with this company. This particular puzzle had a great fit, but the chipboard used was sub-par in my opinion; right out of the box there were pieces that had backing that was splitting and bent. The image wasn’t adhered to the chipboard well either and there were several places where it was lifting. How I wish they did a better job in the quality department, there are so many beautiful puzzle images in their catalog!
I love this image, and even have the red one yet to assemble. It will likely be just as entertaining to assemble, but hopefully not as disappointing as far as quality. Fingers crossed! 🤞
The Grail of the Summer Stars by Kinuko Y. Craft – Ceaco – 550 pieces
The picture does not do this puzzle justice, it is absolutely stunning! With beautiful colors, and an intricate and detailed image it was a challenging but super fun assembly. The quality was less than stellar, but the gorgeous artwork definitely made up for a lot of that, I absolutely loved this image!
Unfortunately this was one of those Ceaco puzzles with the splitting chipboard, image lift, and that doesn’t lay completely flat. This was a new puzzle right out of the box, so none of those things could be attributed to previous assemblies. That said, the fit was very good, and the reproduction was gorgeous. I fell in love with the image; no matter what the quality was like I was going to finish the puzzle to see it complete.
What astounded me about the image was that the more I assembled, the more tiny details I found. There were hieroglyphs on the pillars, angels on the balcony, and other things you don’t notice when you first see the entire image.
Even with the quality problems I’m still glad to have had the chance to assemble this puzzle. And there’s another one by this artist in my possession that I’m very much looking forward to doing. It’s a bit darker in color, but the hope is that it’s gonna be just as dazzling as this one.
From a quality standpoint I can’t really recommend this image from this brand, there really were serious issues with the chipboard used and how the image adhered to it. But if you find a puzzle with artwork by Kinuko Craft you might want to weigh the pros and cons; the art is amazing!
As an added bonus, this is what happened when I tried to take pictures. My furry baby wanted to say hi …..
What a sweet face this boy has! He looks sad, but that’s his “Mom, are you done yet?” face. He wanted to go outside and play. 💗
My Jigsaw Journal 