Balloon World

On March 2, 2024February 29, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

Looking back through the blog I see that it’s been six years since I’ve completed a puzzle with an image by Royce B. McClure. Oh my! His artwork is always so colorful and imaginative, it’s no wonder there are so many puzzles with his images on them; they’re so fun to put together.

This isn’t an image I would normally choose in a larger piece count, but I enjoyed it on this mini puzzle very much. On a larger puzzle this might be quite a challenge!

I don’t remember any other Wentworth puzzle that I’ve done that had whimsies that were all the same like these; but it’s always nice when the figures they choose are perfect for the image.

My (ever dwindling) collection of mini puzzles are certainly helping me out with building up my queue again, they don’t take much time at all and when I’m in need of a puzzle to post it’s easy to put one of them together quickly.

Plus, they’re great quality puzzles that are always entertaining; perfect to make this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 💓

Balloon World In Progress…

On February 21, 2024February 21, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

If you couldn’t already tell from the title, you’d know by the whimsy pieces that this is an image of hot air balloons. It’s so bright and colorful, and although it isn’t going to take me long I’m very much looking forward to it.

Normally images of hot air balloons aren’t really my thing, I feel as though it’s overdone and have seen way too many; but for some reason this one speaks to me today and I think it’ll be fun. Here’s hoping.

I tried to go puzzle shopping at the bookstore yesterday, but there wasn’t really anything interesting in a smaller piece count (which was what I was looking for specifically). I didn’t buy anything at all! 🤯

Sky Roads

On August 12, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

I needed a quick puzzle fix on a day where I couldn’t get out of bed or even really sit up to work on a puzzle. On these days the puzzles I can assemble entirely on a cookie sheet are a godsend! Thank goodness I still have more micro puzzles to assemble. 💗

At between 30 and 60 pieces, Wentworth’s micro puzzles are easy to do lying down; I can put all the pieces on a small, paper-lined cookie sheet and assemble them without even having to sit up!

This image is full of beautiful colors and made for an excellent immediate dose of puzzle happiness. I’m not sure I understand the theme of the whimsies; this image is primarily about balloons and not really about nature other than as background to the hot air balloons.

Even with interesting choice of whimsy pieces the difference in themes didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the puzzle. It was still entertaining and took my mind off of other things if only for a little while. That’s one of the reasons why puzzling is so very important to me.

No matter what reason makes puzzling important to you, keep on puzzling my friends!

Review: Alice in Wonderland

On July 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Alice in Wonderland by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 250 pieces

This was an extremely entertaining puzzle to assemble, I love the image! I’ve seen many of Royce McClure’s images on puzzles, but I believe this is the first one I’ve assembled. The artwork is so detailed and beautiful, and the subject matter is so fun and funny – it really was a great puzzle to put together. I highly recommend it!

This was one of the 5 puzzles I ordered for myself last month. It was the only one that wasn’t on sale (although I did use a code to get 10% off), I’d had my eye on it for quite some time. The image is exactly my cup of tea – served by the Mad Hatter, no doubt – and I couldn’t resist finally getting it when I ordered the others on sale. I’m so glad I did.

As with all laser-cut wooden puzzles, the fit is quite loose. I’ve never worked a hand-cut wooden puzzle so I can’t speak to that fit (if anyone would like to send me one to try out, I wouldn’t say no. 😉 )

Besides the loose fit, the quality is exceptional. The wooden pieces are thick and have a satisfying “plunk” when they fall into place. I don’t know the process of how the image is attached to the wood, but it’s beautifully done from my perspective.

The quality of the image is exceptional, the characters and faces are gorgeous! I always enjoy having words to assemble, and each of the small sections of the scene was so much fun. It definitely makes me want to find more puzzles by Royce McClure – I absolutely adored his work, it’s so appealing and detailed.

If you have the chance, I definitely recommend Wentworth puzzles; it’s a whole different experience than working a cardboard puzzle, so much fun!

Details: