Tag: Collage

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers – Pomegranate – 1000 pieces

I was disappointed by the new, less impressive quality from Pomegranate, but this was still a very enjoyable puzzle to assemble. Assembling the border was a challenge on the sides – with all maroon pieces – but it wasn’t horrible. Overall I loved the image, collages are my happy puzzle place.

As I discussed in my “in progress” post, the quality of this puzzle was not was I was expecting from Pomegranate. The pieces were thinner and the fit was much looser than previous puzzles from this brand. It was still good quality, much better than many brands out there, but not the premium quality puzzle I’m used to from them.

According to the box Edward Gorey designed book covers and dust jackets before his own books drew acclaim and acquired a dedicated following. He designed for books by Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot and more. I must admit I haven’t read a single book featured in this puzzle, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t thoroughly entertaining. Most of the puzzles I’ve seen with Edward Gorey’s work are very dark and lacking color, this is the brightest and most colorful one I’ve seen and therefore much more interesting to me.

Oddly, after I finished this puzzle but before I took pictures this book and cover were shown and discussed in a tv series that I’ve been binge watching on a streaming service; I took notice and decided to show a closeup here. Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it’s an interesting book cover.

I love the colors in this cover, and it was one of the few book names I actually knew. Most people have heard of this book, or the movie, or the “hoax” with the Orson Welles radio broadcast.

“No one wrote this book – these are the tape-recorded dreams of a man who talks in his sleep.” That really made me laugh.

I feel completely uneducated not having read any of these books – most of them I hadn’t even heard of! The Dream World of Dion McGregor? Not a clue.

Oh well. I’m happily stupid I suppose. 😉

You Wild Animal!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

You Wild Animal! by Mario Zucca – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

After completing a puzzle that was darker than I normally like, you’d think I would have chosen an image that was bright and colorful. Nope. This artwork isn’t bright or that colorful, but it was exactly what I was in the mood for. It was a bit of a challenge, but I loved it!

Great Ravensburger quality, and I especially loved the matte finish; it made working with the darker sections much easier to not have to deal with the glare.

Have you ever heard of an Umbrellabird? I certainly hadn’t!

The x-ray fish is also new to me, and I just couldn’t resist the sloth and the sea otter peeking out from the left – so cute!

The way the skunk is depicted just makes me smile. This was my first time with artwork by Mario Zucca, and it was fantastic to assemble. There were plenty of words (which always is a bonus for me), and each animal image was so interesting and fun.

Other puzzles with his art are mostly maps, but this one was very different; I don’t think I’d be interested in any of his map puzzles at the moment but I enjoyed his collection of animals very much. 💛

Words of Wisdom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles20 Comments

Words of Wisdom by Steve Cameron – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was a little too easy for my taste – the hardest part was laying out pieces. It was still fun though, and it was probably the perfect puzzle for me to attempt while dealing with hubby recovering from his very first surgery. My big tough Marine isn’t the easiest to deal with when he doesn’t feel well (if you know what I mean).

As far as White Mountain puzzles go this one was about the norm – quality was good/fair. The fit was slightly loose, which I have been noticing more often from this brand than I used to. It used to be that many of their puzzles had a fit so tight that I felt as if I were working on an exercise program for my arms and fingers; I haven’t run into that issue at all since the pandemic began.

Just an observation.

As far as the image goes, a lot of these words of wisdom are your average clichés, but some of them I’d never heard or read before. Regardless, it was entertaining and I enjoyed myself even if it was a little too quick to go together. (I think if it had been a little more challenging I would have been able to spend extra time and enjoy it even more). But honestly, finding the perfect puzzle image that is just the right amount of fun/difficulty is pretty rare; so I don’t hold it against anyone that this was a little too easy for me.

This was the first section I assembled; mostly because it’s bright color was extremely easy to pick out, and partly because that’s how I feel most days – like my brain is running Windows 95 and there are 17 tabs open. Yep. That about covers it.

This is a good reminder. Whatever style you like, take some time out to listen to music when you can; it’s helped me tremendously during the past couple of years and I highly recommend it.

As I’m typing this up I’m enjoying an eclectic mix of music from the 1940s to present. Most of it is from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but I like many different genres and delight in putting it all on shuffle and having fun with whatever song pops up next. Could be Mama Cass, could be an 80s hair band, could be Elvis or The Beatles, could be some classic rock or my favorite a capella group – you just never know. 🎼

1960s

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

1960s – Re-marks – 1500 pieces

My apologies for the cockeyed picture, I did my best but sometimes it is quite difficult to level out the image on the camera. At least it is for me. This puzzle was lots of fun to assemble, even with the super loose fit.

I loved putting together each of the sections. There was something soothing for me – laying out the pieces on trays, finding the correct pieces for a section and then filling in the holes on the trays. Moving the pieces around, sorting through them, etc. was extremely calming for me. My OCD was forcing me keep things in order, and it proved altogether relaxing for me – in addition to the actual assembly of the puzzle.

It’s always been my belief that we Dissectologists all have a bit of the OCD, and putting things right by completing puzzles is calming, relaxing, soothing, meditative…..whatever term you use. It was evident while I was assembling this puzzle that I needed to put and keep things in order – even the pieces laid out on trays – and it was what I needed for my mental health at the time. I’ve been quite down lately and the time spent putting things in order helped me. Puzzles are my therapy these days, and thank goodness I have them. 🧩💖

Not the best quality puzzle I’ve done in a while; the pieces were on the thinner side with a terribly loose fit. Even so, the collage image itself saved the day and I enjoyed it anyway.

I was a very odd child who never followed the crowd, and in my teens I read and thoroughly enjoyed this book. To be honest, I read the book because of Sharon Tate being one of the stars of the movie. True crime was a passion when I was younger and I was intrigued by the story of how she was murdered and how people could let themselves be taken in by such an obvious psychopath. Again, I was a weird child. No excuses.

My sisters and I loved our spirograph! We kept losing those little pins though, the ones that held a piece in place on the paper; we were constantly stealing mom’s sewing pins to replace them so we could make pretty pictures. She loved the pictures we made but was never thrilled with our petty thefts. 😇

I was also a comedy nerd as a child, and my parents were fans as well. We had many of The Smothers Brothers albums, and I loved listening to them. So hilariously dry and funny – it’s difficult to convincingly act like an idiot – and Tommy did such a great job. If you haven’t heard of them or seen any of their appearances on television I would suggest a search on YouTube; they are always good for a laugh.

When I finished this puzzle and took the picture above, it prompted me to find some of their songs/comedy on YouTube. I spent at least an hour watching them and laughing out loud. Such great memories for me, watching them with the family. 💖

Box of Buttons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

Box of Buttons by Lori Jensen – Colorcraft Puzzles – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was so much fun, I love blocks of color! Each section is about 84 pieces; it isn’t as easy as it looks – but it is absolutely as much fun as it looks.

Colorcraft is new brand to me and I was quite impressed with the quality; excellent fit, variety of shapes, beautiful reproduction, a very nice hand feel, and minimal puzzle dust. Their catalog is full of bright, colorful, interesting images to choose from (and the occasional landscape or kitty as well). The box was just big enough to contain the 1000 pieces, which is nice when your available space to store puzzles is small. They only make 500 and 1000 piece puzzles as far as I can tell, but if you’re interested you should definitely check them out.

Overall I really liked this brand and am planning on trying more of their puzzles as soon as I let myself do some shopping. Of course with their catalog of bright, fun images it could be dangerous to let me loose on their website with a debit card. 💲🛒💲