World of Books by Aimee Stewart – Ravensburger – 2000 pieces
Perhaps my favorite puzzle of the year so far; gorgeous artwork by Aimee Stewart, not an overly difficult assembly, and 2000 pieces to keep me busy for a few days.
Aimee Stewart’s shelf puzzles for Ravensburger are just beautiful, I own them all and have completed almost every one. Her artwork is absolutely stunning and her use of colors just blows my mind. She is one of my favorite puzzle artists. In addition, the puzzle is a Ravensburger, my absolute favorite puzzle company. Best quality out there in my opinion.
My daughter got this for me as a gift, what a sweetie! I can’t recommend this puzzle enough – beautiful, fun and exceptional quality.
Stonehenge in a Nutshell – English Heritage – 750 pieces
Interesting jigsaw. My first from this company, and I would say the quality is satisfactory; piece thickness was good, image reproduction was slightly fuzzy but I believe that was the artist’s rendering.
This puzzle is grid cut, with basically only 2 piece shapes. It was the first time I was unable to assemble all the edge pieces first. Most were a solid color, except the sides and certain parts of the bottom edge with writing. I connected what I could, and had to wait until the puzzle was almost complete before I was able to finish the edges.
Nevertheless it was a fun, informative puzzle. Lots of information about Stonehenge and it’s construction. Plenty of words to assemble, and there wasn’t really much wasted space or large areas of sameness that would make assembly difficult – especially with only 2 piece shapes. Excellent thrift store find!
Pencil Collage by Maureen Rupprecht – White Mountain Puzzles – 1000 pieces
This White Mountain fit together so tightly it could be stood on end! So of course, I had to take the picture that way, and with the way the pencils are laid out in the puzzle it makes an awesome picture!
We ordered this puzzle and I put off working on it for a while because it was on the “challenging puzzles” page of the White Mountain website and I needed to be in the right mood to do it. I did not find it to be that difficult actually, and really enjoyed the entire assembly. The image was crisp and all the printing on the pencils was easy to read. There were some funny sayings on some pencils and some very interesting ads as well. Super fun puzzle for me – especially because I always love to have words to assemble AND it’s a collage. Bonus!
Don’t be frightened away from challenging puzzles, sometimes the challenge is just what you need and sometimes it isn’t as difficult as you think it will be.
More Colorful Egg Pattern Favorites To Go For by Gregory L. Blackstock – Pomegranate – 1000 pieces
When I first saw this puzzle I thought, “That’s kinda cool”. Then I read the little blurb about the artist and I had to own it. Gregory L. Blackstock is an autistic artist who defines the world around him by identifying, ordering and arranging things. His artwork helps him find a sense of order in a chaotic world.
I have two children with autism, and completely understand his need for order and an outlet for the stress of dealing with people and things that are confusing or upsetting. In addition to being excited to get a jigsaw with artwork by a person with autism, it’s a fabulous fun puzzle that is hard to walk away from. Once you pull pieces for an egg and assemble them, it leads to pieces of another one, and so on and so on.
The Pomegranate quality is exceptional, their boxes AND puzzle pieces feel amazing. The pieces are thick and sturdy and soft feeling at the same time. The box feels just as great and is the sturdiest box I’ve ever seen for a puzzle. The fit is quite good and the image reproduction is as well. LOVED this puzzle! Pomegranate puzzles have exceptional quality and I would recommend them to anyone!
I must have been having balance issues when I took a picture of this puzzle because it is crazy crooked and I don’t even have the whole puzzle in the picture! In my defense I didn’t know I’d be starting a blog and posting any of these pictures. Apologies. Annie Liebovitz has nothing to worry about, I am definitely no competition!
My first Heye puzzle and oh dear, I’m in love with this company too! The pieces are a little smaller than average and look thinner than Ravensburger, but it doesn’t matter because they feel sturdy and dense and fit together very well. The image reproduction was stellar, really beautiful and detailed.
This image really drew me in, I love the concept of how a book gets published and the journey a book takes from the author’s initial meeting with the publisher to it’s eventual end being read by a consumer (even if it’s nothing like what really happens). It’s a gorgeous picture and I had a great time assembling it.
After this puzzle I had another small break from reality and purchased a LOT of Heye puzzles. In addition to the excellent quality of Heye I love the triangle boxes of the cartoon puzzles, and that you get a ginormous poster inside. The new Heye catalog was just released for 2017, and oh dear there are SOOO many that I want!