My youngest asked me to do this puzzle when I was choosing what was next, and like the pushover that I am that’s exactly what I did. It was alright, much darker than it looks and just about as difficult as I’d imagined. Meh. It’s ok.
Typical Ceaco quality. Nothing horrid or fantastic, on the lower end of the quality scale in my opinion.
I’ve had this puzzle for at least 4 or 5 years, and it kept getting moved around in the shuffle of puzzles; I was never in the mood for it. At least it’ll be on it’s way to the thrift store now that it’s complete.
She’s got a beautiful face and the artwork is lovely – just a little dark around the edges for my taste. Kinuko Craft’s images make for beautiful but quite difficult puzzles. I’ve still got a few here, and they’re still being shuffled around because these days I’m usually not in the mood for that much challenge (unless my baby boy asks me to be 😉).
Lady in the Meadow by Kinuko Y. Craft – Sunsout – 1500 pieces
I found this puzzle at mom’s house, and I don’t know what in the world I was thinking when the decision was made to assemble it – it’s so difficult! It’s got all the things I don’t care for in a puzzle image, why in the world did I start assembling it? Honestly, I have no idea, other than because mom loved the image so much. I think I did it for her. 💗
I put this on my second, larger board and only worked on it a little bit at a time, I didn’t want to become too frustrated with the dark, difficult image. It took me several weeks to complete, but I think that was the best way to assemble it; when I found myself getting annoyed with the difficulty that was my cue to walk away and work on something a bit less demanding.
This is my second puzzle with an image from this artist, and although I love her style and artwork, I much prefer her lighter and more colorful images. This one is so dark!
The double border was quite difficult, and I’m not sure why there were the 2 border lines down the center – perhaps we’re viewing this scene through a window? In a cave? It’s odd, but who knows what the artist was thinking. All I know is that it made an already dark and difficult image even more of a challenge.
Not only is this a pretty face, but you can also see that the quality wasn’t great; there is quite a bit of image lift on the tabs and the puzzle did not lay flat. The image lift is something you get used to when you buy secondhand puzzles, many times disassembling causes image lift; it does interfere with the enjoyment I get from running my hands over the completed puzzle though. With all the tabs sticking up I worry that I’ll tear part of the image off, so there was no satisfying puzzle massage with this one. 😦
You can also see that it’s cut like an Educa puzzle, all the pieces are ballerinas except for the humpback/swayback pieces. This is odd for a Sunsout puzzle, I’ve worked many of them and have never seen this piece shape before. The fit was this puzzle’s best quality – it was exceptional – not too tight (which some Sunsout puzzles can be) and not too loose; it was almost perfect, and you could lift the entire puzzle without any pieces coming off at all.
It’s a beautiful, if odd, image and I’m extremely proud of myself for finishing it! When I come across more interesting and crazy difficult puzzles at mom’s house I think they’ll go right into the donate box – I’ve learned my lesson! 😉
The Grail of the Summer Stars by Kinuko Y. Craft – Ceaco – 550 pieces
The picture does not do this puzzle justice, it is absolutely stunning! With beautiful colors, and an intricate and detailed image it was a challenging but super fun assembly. The quality was less than stellar, but the gorgeous artwork definitely made up for a lot of that, I absolutely loved this image!
Unfortunately this was one of those Ceaco puzzles with the splitting chipboard, image lift, and that doesn’t lay completely flat. This was a new puzzle right out of the box, so none of those things could be attributed to previous assemblies. That said, the fit was very good, and the reproduction was gorgeous. I fell in love with the image; no matter what the quality was like I was going to finish the puzzle to see it complete.
What astounded me about the image was that the more I assembled, the more tiny details I found. There were hieroglyphs on the pillars, angels on the balcony, and other things you don’t notice when you first see the entire image.
Even with the quality problems I’m still glad to have had the chance to assemble this puzzle. And there’s another one by this artist in my possession that I’m very much looking forward to doing. It’s a bit darker in color, but the hope is that it’s gonna be just as dazzling as this one.
From a quality standpoint I can’t really recommend this image from this brand, there really were serious issues with the chipboard used and how the image adhered to it. But if you find a puzzle with artwork by Kinuko Craft you might want to weigh the pros and cons; the art is amazing!
As an added bonus, this is what happened when I tried to take pictures. My furry baby wanted to say hi …..
What a sweet face this boy has! He looks sad, but that’s his “Mom, are you done yet?” face. He wanted to go outside and play. 💗
My Jigsaw Journal 