The 12:09 – On Time Again!

On October 24, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

I haven’t assembled a good corkboard puzzle in years; I’ve assembled a few, but they weren’t very good and just didn’t live up to the first one I did. Fortunately this puzzle was great quality and a lot of fun to assemble. If you’re wondering, yes the sky is supposed to look like that according to the image on the box. It’s weird though, right? Anyway, as an added bonus it’s a fall puzzle with lots of pumpkins everywhere, and even some jack-o-lanterns! 🎃

This was a very good quality puzzle, with thick pieces and a wonderful fit. The cut was devious, with a wonky edge and color line cutting that had me checking the box often – I’ve never seen that from a Ceaco before. Although it was a pity they didn’t put a picture of the entire image on the box (other than a tiny 2 inch picture) – I hate that!

I don’t believe these corkboard puzzles are in production anymore, both of the good ones we have were found at thrift stores, and the boxes say that they’re from the early 90’s. All the cork backed puzzles we’ve found were from Ceaco, but I can’t explain why some are poorer quality than others. A few that I’ve assembled were not as thick, and the cork didn’t seem as well adhered. Different places of manufacture perhaps?

These are only some of the whimsy pieces in this puzzle, but they’re so fun, and there are so many birds in the sky! I love that you can tell the different breeds of the dogs just by their silhouettes – there’s a dachshund, a cocker spaniel, and beagle (at least that’s what I think they are 🙂 )

Sweet apple junction, how adorable is that? What a great image by Jane Wooster Scott. All the cork puzzles we’ve assembled have been with her artwork – I’d love to find some more!

This picture not only shows some of the color line cutting (you can see the straight edge at the bottom of the train); it also shows that unfortunately the name of the artwork and artist has been cut off – whoops!

The added challenge of this puzzle was to find and join the 10 railroad cars hidden in the puzzle – I did it! There was a similar challenge on the first cork puzzle I put together; you had to find and assemble all the parts of a clown. I didn’t even attempt it, but this time I was a bit more brave. 💪

I found this puzzle hiding on one of my shelves full of puzzles just in time for Halloween, and I’m so glad. Mom came and helped me with it too, which is always a joy. It was great fun and made me very happy!

Swing Your Partner

On September 1, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

I really have gotten tons better at photographing my puzzles – these pictures from several years ago are terrible. The angle is absolutely awful! This is what the image looks like straight on…

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This one was lots of fun, and the image was great for puzzling. I’ve done several puzzles by Jane Wooster Scott and have enjoyed them all, her pictures make for entertaining puzzles. 🙂 It’s a great image; the bright colors, straight lines, and symmetry of trees, etc., made for a wonderful assembly. Her artwork reminds me of Charles Wysocki in some ways, and for me they’re both artists whose work makes for excellent puzzling.

The quality of this Ceaco puzzle was good/tolerable. Sometimes the chipboard used is quite thin, but this one wasn’t too bad. There wasn’t much splitting of the board or image lift, and the fit was excellent. The image reproduction is very nice as well; the finish is a bit shiny, but thankfully not too much. Overall, a good quality puzzle that was entertaining to put together. That’s all I’m looking for!

Bears! Bears! Bears!

On May 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but unfortunately the quality was lacking in my opinion. The previous cork-backed puzzle I assembled had excellent quality and was quite fun to assemble. This puzzle, while fun, was not of the same superior quality. The cork backing was coming off a large number of pieces and there was image lift on the top as well. Disappointing, I enjoyed the previous Ceaco puzzle with cork on the back and was hoping for another interesting Ceaco with exceptional quality. 😐

Ceaco has some great artists working with them and I love the images on some of their puzzles, but I wish the quality were better. Even just a little bit more thickness of the pieces would make a huge difference. Or perhaps a little more consistency would be welcome, how can the quality be so radically different between the two puzzles?

This image from Jane Wooster Scott is adorable, and the assembly was fun. You can see especially in the sky that there were whimsies in this puzzle – and there were a few where several pieces put together formed an animal or object. If you look at the lower left side of the house you can see where four pieces fit together to form a horse! Interesting to me as well was the fact that there were two different breeds of dog, you could easily tell each one; there was the distinctive silhouette of a poodle, and also a cocker spaniel which is easy to recognize.

I’ve enjoyed all the interesting puzzles mom has found at the thrift stores – there have been puzzles backed with cork or velvet, “talking” jigsaw puzzles, interesting 3D puzzles, new puzzle companies we’d never heard of before, puzzles made of foam, educational puzzles, etc. It’s always fun to try something new and see whether or not it’s enjoyable. I try to always give a new puzzle a chance, because you never know what awesome new experience could be around the next corner piece! 😉