I love collages, and I love having lots of words to put together – perfect puzzle for me! This is a Re-marks puzzle, which has pieces somewhat thinner than Ravensburger, but they are sturdy pieces with very nice image detail. They have a somewhat shiny finish which can cause some glare as you can see in the lower left corner, but the pieces fit together very well. This was a nice easy puzzle to work on after finishing Snow White.
Cinderella is now sorted and I hope to be able to start working on it tomorrow evening!
Insights by Colin Thompson – Schmidt Puzzles – 1000 pieces
I think this was the most enjoyable Colin Thompson puzzle image I have done. It went very quickly as each little box led to another little box to assemble. I love his cupboard series from Ravensburger, but this image was much less busy than those puzzles. The Schmidt quality is very good and the pieces feel sturdy and smooth in your hand. I’m actually kind of sad this puzzle is already finished! It was so fun to put together 🙂
Success! I have finished one section of this enormous puzzle and I am soooo proud of myself! I can’t sit and work for hours, so there were a lot of 5 and 10 minute increments where I was able to work. From reading posts and group discussions online I have seen that most people keep track of their actual time (hours) spent working on these large piece count puzzles, but that seems more difficult/tedious in my case. So I’m just keeping track of days. Started on September 28 and finished today, October 17. Twenty days. That’s actually better than I anticipated. 4032 pieces, the largest I have ever done 🙂
It’s small, but I’ve put a tape measure across the bottom of the picture above so you can see the size of it; 54 inches wide and about 38 inches tall. I took another picture with the tape measure along the side and a few things on top to give you even more scale – Â my husband’s longest golf club (driver) and an iPhone. It looks like a regular sized puzzle in the pictures so I wanted to show just how big it actually is.
My hubby’s driver, and an iPhone in the lower right corner – this is no small puzzle!
It was not an easy puzzle, but I enjoyed the challenge and it wasn’t so difficult as to be frustrating or tedious. The twinklies at the end were the most formidable, but once I got going I became more comfortable with the colors I was working with and each piece became easier to find. There were shapes repeated, especially along the edges, where paying close attention was a must. The pieces fit perfectly but the shading or something wasn’t exactly right. There were several times where I thought a piece was placed properly only to find that it wasn’t when adjacent pieces were added. It seemed in the interior of the puzzle that these happened only in 2’s. Perhaps each piece is repeated only once? It did not, however, diminish my enjoyment of the puzzle, and only added to my sense of pride and accomplishment once all the pieces were placed in their proper positions!
I’m giving myself a few days break, and may work a couple of normal sized puzzles in the meantime. I’m currently working on a 1000 piece Schmidt puzzle by Colin Thompson that I’m enjoying very much, and have a couple of 500 piece Dowdle puzzles to choose from as well. A little 500 piece puzzle might just be the palate cleanser I need before starting another section.
After consulting with my Puzzle Posse *mom and husband* ;), we have decided that the next section to be worked will be Fantasia. I want to get the most difficult sections done earlier on so I’m going to be alternating between the easier sections and the difficult ones. Fantasia, Cinderella and Peter Pan seem to me to be the most challenging, so they are the ones to be completed earlier in this process. Then nearer the end I won’t have to dread doing the more demanding sections because they will have been completed months ago!
I will probably start sorting Fantasia tomorrow and it may take a day or two to sort through them. Perhaps that will be a long enough break, perhaps not. We’ll have to wait and see how I feel, and whether or not I get antsy to get back to work. Of course, I can’t start work on the new section until we get the first one off the board, onto the big piece of cardboard and then figure out where we’re going to store it. Yikes. I need a bigger house!
The Talking Jigsaw Puzzle – The Office Building – Buffalo Games – 560 pieces
I’ve finally completed The Office Building! I’ve been ignoring it since my progress on the big kahuna was going so well, but I finally put this one to bed! They’re really quite fun, it’s too bad they’ve been out of print for so long. We were very lucky to find both this one and The Fitness Center at thrift stores. I’ve purposely taken a not so great picture so that if someone does have this puzzle I’m not giving away the solution.
Each window or section is four pieces, you assemble each section and once they are all assembled you have to figure out where they belong in the puzzle by clues – what the people are saying, room numbers in the background, where each person is looking or pointing, etc. Here’s a close up of a few sections to show how the clues help you with positioning.
Be careful, each window actually fits next to every other window!Back of the puzzle
You can check to be sure you’re placing each window in the correct place by checking the back of the pieces. On the back of the puzzle is the word “congratulations” in many different fonts, you can see immediately if you’ve placed a section in the right place. I enjoyed this puzzle very much, the extra challenge of having no picture to use as a guide and putting together each little section. I hope we are able to eventually find some more of the talking jigsaws at thrift stores, it’s a enjoyable challenge!
Got lots accomplished today! Made a huge dent in the filmstrip; there is still much to do but it’s taking shape and looking awesome. I know what the dimensions of this section of the puzzle are supposed to be, but knowing it and seeing it are two different things. 😮 Putting the filmstrips approximately where they belong in the puzzle made me realize what a GIANT task I have set for myself!
It’s HUGE! Â But looking very nice.
I’ll have to put something on the board with tomorrow’s picture for scale, so that the size is easier to see.
Lots and lots of Snow White!
In addition, I started and finished the 300 piece Dowdle puzzle from the thrift store. Not bad quality, loose fitting, but very sturdy pieces. This was the first Dowdle brand puzzle I’ve worked, and I enjoyed both the artwork and the quality – and it was very nice to complete an entire puzzle! I will definitely need to continue working other smaller puzzles while working on the Disney. It’s helpful to take a break and walk away when I’m feeling stuck and can’t seem to find pieces I’m looking for. It was nice today to go sit down and work on an easy puzzle that didn’t take too much concentration.
Winter by Eric Dowdle – Dowdle Folk Art Puzzles 300 pieces
I’m hoping to have the filmstrip finished tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be feeling well enough to sit for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time. I may start another secondhand puzzle as well! We have found our 2nd “Talking Jigsaw Puzzle” by Buffalo Games at a local thrift store. My husband and I had a really good time with the first one – The Fitness Center; and I may start working The Office Building tomorrow. It’s an interesting twist, like a logic puzzle within a jigsaw puzzle. Like a Wasgij or What If puzzle, the picture on the box is not the picture you puzzle; you have to figure out by what the people in the picture are saying where they fit in the puzzle. With The Office Building, you have to find out what floor and room each of the windows belongs to. It’ll be a nice distraction.
My Jigsaw Journal 