Ice Cream Bars by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces
Here’s another puzzle that I was very much looking forward to, but it had very disappointing quality. It’s been a while since I’ve done a White Mountain puzzle, and they can be hit or miss – this one was a miss, unfortunately. I wanted to enjoy this, and I did – just not as much as I’d hoped. Oh well.
The image reproduction on this was was quite blurry in some places, and there were quite a few pieces not cut all the way through. The fit was good, not as tight as some WM puzzles can be, but good. The chipboard was a good thickness, and the finish was a bit shiny, but not too much so; it was mainly the reproduction that caused me so much trouble.
So let’s look at some of these ice cream bars and wrappers up close…
Apparently sex sells, even ice cream bars.
I wanted to show the difference in clarity – the Dairy Queen cup is quite clear and the surrounding wrappers were quite muddled and blurry up close – I’m not sure I was able to capture it in the picture though. Perhaps the artist used actual vintage wrappers or pictures of them and they’re just what they looked like. I can’t be sure, but it was frustrating to have some of the image be so blurry in places.
Six Klondike bars for $1.49? Wow. Just wow. And you can also see in this picture that the words are quite clear and the image of the boy and the ice cream bars is fuzzy and indistinct.
The overall quality of this puzzle was quite a letdown; I was hoping for an entertaining collage with good quality that I could just relax and enjoy – this puzzle wasn’t it. ☹
This was a large piece puzzle by Ravensburger, and both the quality and the image made for a wonderful puzzling experience. The pieces felt amazing in my hands, the artwork is stunning, and the fit was exceptional – loved it!
When I work on a puzzle like this it reminds me why Ravensburger is one of my favorite brands of cardboard puzzles; the quality far surpasses most other puzzle companies and they have such a broad range of images in their catalog to choose from. And there’s something about the larger piece puzzles of theirs that is even more satisfying to work with – I just adore them.
This beautiful painting on the wall doesn’t seem very detailed when you see it close up, but you know exactly what it is – an homage to a Monet painting. Gorgeous!
There was something about this tableau in the corner of the image, it’s absolutely beautiful. I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever I see someone bathing on tv or in the movies and there are lit candles everywhere my first thought it how much of a pain in the a*s it would be to light them all in the first place. Or clean up after them when wax spills onto tables or other surfaces. Candlelight is lovely, but sometimes it doesn’t seem as though it’s worth all that work.
Stunning image, fantastic quality, and a wonderful all around assembly; this puzzle is very highly recommended. 🛀👍
This is a beautiful image, I’m not sure that it’s “calming” for me though. I wish there were more to say about this puzzle, but it was just…meh. Not bad, not great – it just was. Most certainly it is more about me than the puzzle itself or the image, but that’s how it seemed.
Spin Master has come out with these Calm puzzles; there is an app to download (comes with a free 30-day subscription) and you use the app to enhance your experience with mindful audio content from Calm, the #1 app for meditation, relaxation and sleep.
I’m not interested in an app to help me enjoy my puzzles; all I need is a beautiful image made by a quality jigsaw puzzle company and some great music to sing along with or just peace and quiet. Having the audio curated for me just isn’t what I’m looking for.
The quality was good; there were quite a few pieces with bent tabs, but the chipboard was a good thickness, the fit was very good, and the image reproduction was lovely with a matte finish.
I wish I had to more say about this puzzle, I’m just not feelin’ it at the moment. Sorry.
Loved this puzzle – and as an added bonus – I was helped along by both my daughter and my hubby! Hubs put together the border (part of it was wrong but that’s ok, I put it right eventually); and my daughter put together the dark blue shirt. I know that’s only a few pieces, but it counts and I loved that she helped. She also helped me choose this puzzle to assemble before we started, it was her favorite of all the MicroPuzzles here to choose from.
This would be a great puzzle in a larger piece count, the colors and patterns on each shirt were quite fun to sort out and put together.
My brain isn’t working this morning, so there’s isn’t much more I can think of to say about this little puzzle – other than that I still love working with the little pieces, and there’s something so satisfying about completing a MicroPuzzle for me.
My frame of mind was NOT in the right place when I was assembling this puzzle; usually collages make me happy – this one just wasn’t entertaining. There were so many faces, so many pieces with just an eye or an ear, and I found myself having to check the poster frequently to see where things went. It isn’t how I normally puzzle, and unfortunately I just didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’d hoped to.
It was fun at the beginning, once the border was completed I put together all the words – love that part! 💖
After the words were done it got more tedious and annoying for me. I just wasn’t in the right headspace I suppose, normally these types of puzzles are great fun. In the 70s my family and I watched plenty of these tv shows together, they all hold memories for me so I was really looking forward to this assembly. Apparently I just chose to assemble it at the wrong time, it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my own.
Luckily, near the end hubby came in the puzzle room to talk to me and after telling him how frustrating the puzzle was he decided he was going to help me finish. He helped with the final 70 or 80 pieces. Of course that’s his M.O. (modus operandi); there’s nothing he loves more than coming to my rescue. So, I tell him that this puzzle is frustrating me and he rides in on his white horse – and saves me from a tedious assembly.
It was nice working together with him, I don’t usually have anyone sitting side by side with me to puzzle anymore.💕
Unlike most the other puzzles with tv shows from a particular decade I can tell you that I know every single show in this image, and have seen at the very least one episode of each program. Back in the day there were only three major networks in the States, so there wasn’t a lot to choose from; no streaming services, no cable television with a thousand different channels, no DVDs or VHS tapes of movies to watch at home. There was the television…that’s it! And the shows in this puzzle were all very popular, so my family watched most of them on a regular basis.
M*A*S*H was a family favorite back in the 70s and 80s, we all watched it together – back when the whole family sat together to see a tv program. My oldest son and I still watch it on a streaming service when he wants to spend time with me; we usually work on a jigsaw puzzle together and enjoy Hawkeye and Trapper or BJ making mischief and tugging on our heartstrings.
The Carol Burnett Show was another favorite of mine – me being the comedy nerd that I am. The scene shown above from Went With the Wind where she comes down the staircase dressed in the draperies complete with the curtain rod was one of the funniest scenes in the history of television (if you ask me). I can still remember laughing hysterically when I saw it for the first time, and remember how long they had to wait for the audience to stop laughing so they could continue with the sketch. Carol Burnett just turned 90 years old – what a comedy treasure she is. 🤗
I wish I could tell you how much I enjoyed this puzzle, but I really didn’t – it just wasn’t the right image, or the right time – or both.
Don’t be dissuaded by me though, it’s a very good quality puzzle with an excellent fit, it even stands up on it’s edge (forgot to get a picture of that before I disassembled it). If you’re looking for a well made collage of tv shows from the 1970s, look no further.
My Jigsaw Journal 