Teal Lake by Andy Russell – Milton Bradley (Big Ben) – 500 pieces
Although I started this puzzle yesterday afternoon, every time I sat down to work on it later in the day someone or something interrupted. It was just one of those days apparently.
This was a thrift store purchase, and other than a slightly loose fit I’ve been quite happy with the quality so far. The finish is matte so there hasn’t been any glare issues under the lights, and the hand feel is soft and very nice.
Andy Russell is a new artist for me, and his work reminds me a bit of Eric Dowdle; the rounded but almost symmetrical and precise shapes made me think of his artwork immediately when I saw it. It will be interesting to see if this is as difficult as I sometimes find puzzles with a Dowdle image.
Koi Fish by Ciro Marchetti – Milton Bradley (Big Ben Luxe) – 500 pieces
Absolutely gorgeous image by Ciro Marchetti, it made for such entertaining puzzling! Underwater scenes aren’t usually my thing, but my daughter wanted me to buy this one so I couldn’t disappoint her. She’s such an enabler (LOVE that about her). 😉
I had no idea when I bought this that it was a Marchetti image, there was absolutely no mention of the artist anywhere on the box. Disappointing. If I had my artwork on a puzzle I would absolutely want to see my name on the box – wouldn’t you? Luckily the poster that came in the box had the artist credited.
It’s hard to give a rating for the quality – other than the fit it was very good/excellent – but fit is SO important! Piece shapes, cut, reproduction, finish, and chipboard were all really quite good; even better than expected. But how a puzzle fits together is unbelievably essential to a good assembly experience, and the fit on this puzzle left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t just loose, it was spongy as well; even when the correct pieces were put together you still weren’t always sure because it felt almost wrong the way it fit. I guess I’m giving it a good rating. Honestly, if the fit were better it would have gotten an excellent rating and I would have also given it a highly recommended.
It’s hard to say fish have expressions on their faces, but there something about the eye on this Koi fish, it almost looks embarrassed. It actually made me laugh when I really looked at it.
Look at these gorgeous colors! Ciro Marchetti’s work reminds me of Aimee Stewart, their use of color is similar, and makes for such fun puzzles in my opinion. Stunning!
Wonky fit aside, it was a beautiful image that made for truly fun puzzling. I started it late at night and finished by 9:00 the next morning. It makes me wish I had more puzzles with his artwork here, this one was fun!
It was the colors that drew me to this puzzle, they were just too fun and happy to resist. I’m glad to say that I had a great time with this one, and it had just the right level of difficulty. It’s a fun image with fantastic image reproduction – all in all a wonderful puzzle!
Although it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, it was by no means an easy puzzle. But the challenge was completely absorbing and I loved it. The pieces were thinner than I’m used to, but still quite workable with an exceptional fit. I don’t think I’ve done a Big Ben puzzle with 1000 pieces for quite a long time, and I was pretty happy with the quality.
Loved the look of these two magazines, they were one of the first sections that I assembled – old time detective mags, very cool!
Here is an article from obviously a very old magazine; it seems to be saying that if your husband cheats that you’re driving him to it because you aren’t meeting his “needs”. Are you friggin kidding me?!? What a load of crap. Most people probably wouldn’t notice it, it’s only 4 pieces out of 1000, but I certainly did.
This postcard section was really fun to put together, but I’m not sure I could explain why – it was just truly entertaining. The postcards and sunglasses made for great puzzling. Or perhaps I need to get out more, I’d much rather assemble a beach puzzle than go to an actual beach. Sand everywhere – yick!
With all that’s going on in the world now, going to the beach is most definitely not a good idea; all you can do is dream of going to the beach- or perhaps assemble an entertaining beach themed puzzle! 🙂
I find myself with an extra copy of this puzzle that I completed last year, and so I’ve decided to hold another giveaway. 🙂 It’s a new, unopened copy of SewingCollage, a 500 piece Milton Bradley/Big Ben puzzle; you can read my post about this puzzle by clicking the link above.
I assembled this puzzle in September of last year and had a great time with it, and now if you’re the lucky winner you could have a great time assembling it too! All you have to do is comment on this post, and you’ll be entered in the drawing. I will use a random number generator to decide the winner and will post the results one week from today, Monday February 17, 2020.
My first 2000 piece puzzle in almost two years. Yay me! The image was so fun that I had to put aside all the anxiety-inducing thoughts and buy this one – and then I got the gumption up to start assembling it – I’m super proud of myself!
The sorting was the worst part for me; not only because there were so many pieces to go through, but also because seeing some of the pieces I really just wanted to get to the assembly. But the sorting does help tremendously when you finally do get to the assembly, and I’m not someone who can just scrabble through the box to find pieces, my OCD won’t allow it! 😏 I need all the pieces laid out or separated in some way, I just can’t help it.
I’ve never done a Big Ben puzzle with such a large piece count, and I was a little disappointed when I started sorting. The pieces are on the thin side, and small. But then again I had just finished a 300 piece Buffalo with very large pieces, so the comparison wasn’t very fair. Once I started working with it, the pieces didn’t seem so bad after all. The fit was good, if a little loose, and the pieces weren’t that small – it is a large 2000 piece puzzle after all – they can’t be huge or the finished puzzle wouldn’t fit on my board!
I loved this small section in the lower left corner, handwriting like this reminds me of my grandmother’s writing. When they used to teach penmanship in schools back in the day all the handwriting seemed similar, and my grandma’s writing looked like this. It makes me smile…
It was a little difficult to assemble as you can’t read the words very well, but I still enjoyed putting it together. I really do love assembling words. 🙂
I was talking with a puzzle friend recently about how when you initially sort a puzzle the pieces all seem so indistinct because you aren’t as familiar with them; but once you start working the puzzle you become more comfortable with them and start recognizing what certain colors are and then you feel more confident in sorting them into sections. That was certainly the case with this puzzle. There were a LOT of pieces that I had no idea where they would go – they seemed so dark and blotchy and I had no idea where they’d fit in. Once I got going and putting together the easier sections I got used to the puzzle and was able to sort it even more carefully. And I had a great time!
This section was one of the first that I put together. The colors are beautiful and it was very easy to sort these pieces out; plus it was quite entertaining. Believe it or not, the chocolate treats on the tray looked almost blue while I was sorting. It’s interesting how when you break a picture down into very small pieces how the colors seem so different than you’d think. It’s fun to figure out what everything is and where it belongs – that’s what we puzzlers love!
My Jigsaw Journal 