Red

On August 6, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Red by Guido Cecere – Ceaco – 550 pieces

This puzzle was a little more difficult than Yellow, the colors are deeper and made it a bit more challenging to discern the different shades. Still, it was very entertaining!

The quality was good, the pieces were about medium thickness with a few bent pieces but not a whole bunch. The fit and image reproduction were both very good, and there were a nice variety of piece shapes. This puzzle was actually one of the better Ceaco puzzles I’ve assembled in a while.

I love the Mobil Pegasus, and the vintage picture is gorgeous as well…

It really was a fun puzzle to put together, and thankfully it was one of the better quality Ceacos. There’s a blue one that I haven’t done yet, but if I come across it one of these days I’ll definitely be wanting to assemble it.

Cobble Hill has a whole rainbow series of puzzles that look challenging and interesting – I’m just not sure I’m up to working on those yet. Fingers crossed though, maybe soon!

Interconnection

On July 25, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

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….

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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. 🙂

Yellow

On July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

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

On July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

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. 💗

Barnyard Antics

On July 6, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

This panoramic puzzle is so adorable, it helped make up for the less than wonderful quality of the pieces. Also, there was no name of the image or artist on the box. I don’t understand that, if I were an artist whose work was made into a puzzle I would definitely want my name and the name of my artwork somewhere on the box!

This thrift store puzzle was in pretty good condition, but it didn’t seem to be the best quality to begin with. The pieces were thin and easily bent, and separating them caused them to split and peel. The image reproduction seemed quite nice though, and I very much enjoyed watching it come together.

The faces of the animals and their silly smiles were so cute that I enjoyed assembling them very much. Look at two of my favorite faces….

I love that the bunny was sticking it’s tongue out – that’s definitely something I would do when having my picture taken! And the lamb’s face is just funny, it makes me smile every time I look at it.

For me, all the puzzles I assemble don’t have to be perfect. If the quality isn’t premium or a piece is missing I can still enjoy putting it together. It’s the assembly itself that I enjoy, being able to zone out and focus solely on the pieces, shapes, and colors. It helps me to reduce stress and deal with anxiety and chronic pain. It’s almost meditative for me.

Every puzzler has their own reasons for why they enjoy puzzling, what’s yours?