Old World Map Calendar

On June 11, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle is a very interesting concept; it’s a calendar within a puzzle, and you are supposed to be able to reassemble it every month. Cool idea, but not at all practical in my opinion.

I like vintage map puzzles, I find they can be intimidating and tough to put together, but I love the look of them and enjoy the challenge. This map was no exception, with beautiful colors and an interesting background.

The fit is extremely tight so that you can hang the finished puzzle with no glue or taping needed to keep it together. There are basically only 2 different shapes of pieces; this is so all the pieces can be interchangeable when you need to reconfigure the calendar each month. This is where the it becomes impractical; any puzzle made from cardboard isn’t going to be able to withstand multiple disassembling and reassembling – especially when the fit is so tight.

You can see below that the tabs are lifting and the image is coming off, and in some places the image is actually torn off. Perhaps a plastic puzzle would be a better way to go with this idea. With cardboard, no matter how sturdy it is, it will start to come apart after many assemblies.

I assembled it for this month, June. The 10th is a family birthday, the 17th is Father’s Day, and the full moon this month is on the 28th. The extra 160 pieces are for the major holidays, and extra days and spaces.

It was fun to put this together, and while I like the idea and the finished puzzle it just isn’t at all reasonable for a cardboard puzzle. Still it was an excellent thrift store find and I’m glad it was all there and I was able to try it out.

Review: 59 National Parks – Wilderness & Wonder

On June 10, 2018June 10, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

59 National Parks – Wilderness & Wonder – True South Puzzle Co. – 500 pieces

This is a brand new company for me, mom found it at a thrift store in Texas. It’s a really cool collage and I was impressed with the quality. It was a fun puzzle and if you find one from this company I definitely recommend you give it a try!

True South Puzzle Company is based in Nashville, Tennessee and was created to combine a love of jigsaws, the South, and local and regional artists. Their catalog is quite interesting with some collages, map, scenic images, posters, and more. The pieces were quite thick with a random cut that produces a very good variety of piece sizes and shapes. The fit was somewhat loose, but not too much so. The image reproduction is excellent with bright colors and crisp lines; the finish is a bit shinier than I like, it causes glare even with lighter colored pieces under artificial lights. The piece shape is quite obvious in the finished image, which isn’t ideal if you plan on displaying it, but doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the assembly. Overall I was very impressed with the quality.

I started with the emblem in the center of the puzzle, and from there I started assembling words. Each of the 59 posters have words so there were plenty to work with. There are lots of shades of browns, yellows, and oranges which made the assembly a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. Each of the posters is it’s own little 9-12 piece puzzle, but finding the right pieces wasn’t always easy. It was a fun challenge.

True South puzzles are a bit on the pricey side, but that’s normal for smaller puzzle companies. If they’re a bit much for your wallet, perhaps you can find one at a thrift store like we did. If you see one, I recommend giving it a try; this one was a lot of fun!

Details:

Title: 59 National Parks – Wilderness & Wonder
Artist: N/A
Brand: True South Puzzle Co.
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Good, slightly loose
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Seeing Double

On June 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is an interesting kid’s puzzle with a twist, you’re seeing double as one side of the attic looks like a mirror image of the other. But there are 14 differences between the two sides. Your job is to assemble the puzzle and then find what’s different.

The quality of this puzzle is very good. The pieces are a nice thickness and they fit together very well with a good variety of piece shapes. The image reproduction is good, but the finish is slightly shiny which caused a bit of glare and made working the top portion of the puzzle difficult under artificial lights.

This puzzle seems like it’s a bit old, but I wasn’t able to find any information about it online. Great American Puzzle Factory does have a series of these “puzzles within a puzzle”; some finding hidden images or like this one, finding differences.

My brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders when I put this one together, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to find all the differences on my own. I did find one of them right away, while assembling the edge, it’s right underneath the wording….

There’s a mustache on the man on the left, but not on the mirror image on the right. Basically it’s really the only difference I was able to find on my own, for the rest I just used the answer sheet.

It was a little difficult for a children’s puzzle, the top was quite dark which made it harder to see and put together. I think it’s a good thing when kids puzzles are a little challenging though, if they’re too easy they can become boring. The missing piece was a bummer, but it was still a good quality puzzle and a fun assembly.

Penguin Pandemonium

On June 8, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is the most challenging of the Wentworth micro puzzles that I’ve assembled so far. At only 41 pieces you wouldn’t think it would be that difficult, but I actually put it away the first time I attempted it because I just couldn’t get my brain to work right and none of the pieces wanted to fit together properly.

I adore these micro puzzles, and am so glad that I bought a BUNCH of them last year. They’re perfect when I want to puzzle but just can’t get out of bed or even sit all the way up. I can dump out the pieces on a cookie sheet lined with paper and puzzle lying down. I’ve got 16 of them left that I haven’t assembled yet, and will be doing 8 of them next month for Christmas in July. There are a few “extra difficult” holiday puzzles included in those 8 with an extra difficult cut – repetitive pieces and no whimsies. I’m looking forward to them!

The mostly black and white image made it difficult, as did the cut; you can see the shapes of the pieces below…

Luckily my brain cells were firing properly (for the most part) on my second attempt at this puzzle and I was able to get it done. The perspective helped; with the larger penguins at the bottom of the puzzle at the smaller groups at the top. It was an enjoyable challenge to complete this image and I was pretty proud when I heard that last piece plunk into place. Success!

The Ultimate Puzzle

On June 7, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

This is very interesting puzzle – it’s both a jigsaw and a logic puzzle. Mom purchased it at a thrift store, and we both found it very intriguing. The box says it suits all ages from 4 to 104, and it also says there are 250,000 incorrect solutions!

The Ultimate Puzzle contains 16 heavy plastic pieces that have both a smooth and a rough side; the box says they’re virtually unbreakable. This sort of puzzle is great for all ages and is great for teaching combinations, symbol recognition, manipulative skills, probabilities and critical thinking. It would be an excellent teaching tool for a classroom.

There are 16 unique pieces and the challenge is to build squares. The easiest puzzle to assemble is a square of just 4 pieces (my solution is shown above); the next level is a square 3 x 3 using 9 pieces. This is a little more difficult and took me a little more time and thought.

Next is to try to make a 4 x 4 square using all 16 pieces using both smooth and rough sides facing up. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to finish that one yet. I’m blaming the new pain medication that’s been added to my regimen. I tried for a while, but gave up when I started feeling stupid. I’ll solve it eventually, I’m determined to figure out both this and the ultimate challenge – and I’m pretty darned stubborn.

The ultimate challenge for this Ultimate Puzzle is to complete a 4 x 4 square all smooth or rough surfaces facing up. I’m sure I’ll get there someday, perhaps when I don’t have to be on pain meds daily and can think clearly. Until then, it’ll be pretty darned fun to try!