Review: Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers

On March 2, 2018March 2, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.

Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers by Makoto Nakamura – Pomegranate – 300 pieces

The title of this puzzle is a mouthful, I know – but if you look closely you can see the reason for the name. All of the “flowers” you see are made up of Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers! Click the link to see this puzzle at Puzzle Warehouse.

Makoto Nakamura is one of the foremost tessellation artists in the world, and I adore his work! If you’re a regular reader of the blog you might remember the Pesky Parrots puzzle I assembled last year, it was by the same artist only the tessellations in that puzzle were the pieces themselves! I love that Pomegranate chose one of his works for their puzzles, isn’t it a striking image even before you recognize the animals?

Pomegranate puzzles are in the top echelon of puzzle manufacturers in my opinion; their quality is exceptional! The pieces are wonderfully thick and feel good in your hands. They fit together with just about the perfect amount of tightness, and the matte finish doesn’t glare under lights. Their catalog focuses on illustrations and fine art, and the image reproductions are crisp and clear and retain the original beauty of the artwork. I don’t normally comment on puzzle boxes, but the Pomegranate boxes are the sturdiest I’ve found; and as an added bonus nothing covers up the full image on the box top – you can see the entire picture! Not many companies do that, and it is very much appreciated by puzzlers. Click the link above to see all their puzzles currently available at Puzzles Warehouse.

Even though looking at the pieces made me think it might be a challenge, it was exactly the right amount of challenge for me. I couldn’t walk away from it! I started with the red and pink fishes in the center, and then worked color by color to finish flower after flower. It wasn’t super easy, but it wasn’t eyeball-crossing difficult either – just right!

If you enjoy this image, I highly recommend this puzzle. It’s excellent quality with a beautiful and interesting image. I loved it! ❤💐

Details:

Title: Cats, Rabbits, Birds, Fish, and Flowers
Artist: Makoto Nakamura
Brand: Pomegranate
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 20 x 20 in. (51 x 51 cm)
Purchased: N/A

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Very good, sturdy with complete image on front
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Review: Dog Gallery

On February 26, 2018February 26, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

This post is sponsored by Cobble Hill Puzzles.

IMG_E4317 — Dog Gallery by Gretchen Kish Serrano – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was such great fun, I’m so glad I got to assemble it! If you love a good collage, great works of art, or dogs, you should enjoy this puzzle as much as I did. Gretchen Kish Serrano has inserted dogs into famous works of art, and the result is this adorable, funny, and fun to assemble puzzle.

Cobble Hill puzzles are excellent quality in my opinion, and this year they also have a new box design and have added posters to the puzzles to make up for the logo covering a portion of the image on the lid. Even better! I’m not a collector, so the box design isn’t usually something I’m overly interested in, but for those of you who do collect the new box designs are quite nice. The puzzle image takes up the entire lid, with a small logo in one corner; all 4 sides have a portion of the picture along with brand name, artist, title, and piece count, making it easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally. Puzzle Warehouse is one of Cobble Hill’s preferred online retailers; click here to see all Cobble Hill puzzles currently available.

Their pieces are a good thickness and fit together quite well. The fit on this puzzle was a little bit loose but not so much as to be a distraction. The image reproduction was excellent with a matte finish; the random cut made the assembly interesting and fun, and the image was perfect for puzzling in my opinion!

I started with all the smaller images within the image (it wasn’t difficult to sort them), and then I assembled the 2 patrons – don’t they look like good girls/boys sitting so quietly looking at the art? When all that was left was picture frames and red background I sorted the remaining pieces by shape/number of knobs and started working on filling in. This is usually the part that begins to feel tedious after a while, but not so with this puzzle. The difference in the shades and patterns of each picture frame, along with the random cut of the pieces made the filling in almost as fun as each picture itself.

I highly recommend this puzzle, especially if you’re a dog lover like I am. The moment I saw this image I knew I would love assembling this puzzle – I hope you do too! 🐶

Can you name all the works of art represented here? I know them all except for the one in the upper left corner, can anyone help me out and let me know the title and artist? I couldn’t find anything online, but I was most likely not looking in the right places. My favorite artwork from this puzzle is below, along with the original artwork – I love that long flowing hair!

450px-sandro_botticelli_-_la_nascita_di_venere_-_google_art_project_-_edited

It’s The Birth of Venus re-imagined! I love it! How about this next one….

It’s The Kiss by Klimt! Isn’t that adorable? One last one, because I can’t resist….

Salvador Dali’s famous melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory. Those dogs look completely unimpressed – what great faces!

Details:

Title: Dog Gallery
Artist: Gretchen Kish Serrano
Brand: Cobble Hill Puzzles
Piece count: 1000 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 19 in. (68 x 49 cm)
Purchased: No cost, sent for review

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Sturdy
Fit: Very good, slightly loose
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Review: Sugar & Spice

On February 23, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Sugar & Spice by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

I’ve done several Charles Wysocki puzzles lately with single buildings, and I very much enjoy them. They’ve mostly been Buffalo puzzles, and I honestly prefer the 300 piece count in this brand.

For me, I have to be in the right frame of mind to do a larger Buffalo puzzle, it’s something about the size of the pieces, but I’m honestly not exactly sure what it is. I open a 1000 piece Buffalo puzzle that I love the image of and look at the pieces, and most of the time I put the lid back on and say “not today”. I prefer the 300 and 500 piece counts because they’re not as overwhelming to me. Of course lately I’ve been preferring those piece counts because of physical limitations on the amount of time I’m able to puzzle; it’s not a reflection on Buffalo quality, which is quite good.

This puzzle was great fun, and the assembly was relatively quick. The Wysocki puzzles with only one building are a little more unique and therefore more enjoyable for me to do. I love the look of his artwork, but his regular folk/Americana puzzles all start to look the same to me and aren’t as interesting for me to assemble. This one was great with plenty of interesting parts to find and put together and a lovely finished image.

What makes a great puzzle image is so subjective, everyone enjoys something different. That’s what’s so great about puzzling! There are so many companies and so many artists that you’re bound to find something that jumps out at you and begs to be assembled. For me this was a great image with wonderful quality and I definitely recommend it!

Details:

Title: Sugar & Spice
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Brand: Buffalo Games
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 21 x 15 in. (54 x 38 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Review: Flower Kaleidoscope

On February 16, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Flower Kaleidoscope by Lori Schory – Ravensburger – 300 pieces

This puzzle is even more beautiful than the picture, and the picture is pretty darn gorgeous! As soon as I saw this image I couldn’t wait to get assembling, it’s just such a lovely puzzle.

This is a large piece Ravensburger, and though it’s only 300 pieces it’s the size of the average 1000 piece puzzle. I enjoy the larger pieces lately, as I can’t sit and puzzle as long as I used to; putting only a few pieces together seems like I made great progress in a short amount of time. 🙂

The quality was wonderful, and I can’t say enough about the image reproduction – just stunning! The colors are bright and beautiful with no fuzziness. I adored assembling this puzzle, and I look forward to finding more beautiful nature puzzles from Lori Schory.

Details:

Title: Flower Kaleidoscope
Artist: Lori Schory
Brand: Ravensburger
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 20 x 27 in. (51 x 69 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Average, quite large for a 300 piece puzzle
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Review: Wild Animal Park

On January 8, 2018January 8, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Wild Animal Park – Ravensburger – 380 pieces (Family Puzzle)

I had no idea that my favorite puzzle manufacturer made family puzzles! It doesn’t look like they’re being produced anymore, but I was happy mom came across this beauty on one of her thrift store runs. I enjoy working a family puzzle once in a while, even for just one person I think they’re an entertaining departure from the “normal” puzzle.

The entire bottom section has the largest pieces (approx. 55) and are the easiest to assemble for the youngest children; the top left of the puzzle has the medium sized pieces (approx. 80) and are a bit more difficult, and the top right of the puzzle has the smallest sized pieces (approx. 250) and is the most challenging section. This section isn’t easy, and if you’re not someone who assembles puzzles regularly you may find this section a bit difficult. I really enjoyed the fact that the adult portion of the puzzle wasn’t super easy, which I’ve found to be the case with some family puzzles I’ve worked. I found every section entertaining to assemble and it was hard for me to walk away from working on it. I get a little obsessed sometimes. 😏

I’ve enjoyed every family puzzle that I’ve done, no matter who the manufacturer is. I think they’re an excellent idea and great fun to work with others. I’d love to find more of the series of family puzzles that Ravensburger produced, as I think they’re one of the best quality family puzzles that I’ve assembled. They’re not too simple, and I think that challenging images/puzzles are important to keeping a person’s interest; every different section was just the right amount of challenging. I would definitely recommend this puzzle, it’s extremely well done!

*This is post number 500 for My Jigsaw Journal, wow!*

Details: