American Eage by Sharon Turner – Sure-Lox – 300 pieces
This is such beautiful artwork, I love the feeling of different colors and textures that form such a striking image. It was very quick to go together, and made for an excellent puzzling experience.
Sure-Lox puzzles used to be on my “never buy” list, but their quality has improved quite a bit. Their update with better quality and new packaging puts them nearer the middle of the road as far as quality brands for me. The pieces are thick and the fit is very good. The finish is quite shiny but otherwise the image reproduction is good as well. Only having one piece shape is a bummer, but in a 300 piece puzzle it isn’t quite as annoying to me – especially when the image is so interesting.
This is the first puzzle image from Sharon Turner that I’ve done, and I have to tell you that it was absolutely fabulous to assemble. The colors, textures, and overall artwork are just beautiful and it made for a really entertaining puzzle. I hope there are more of her images on puzzles for me to find.
Purrfect Blooms by Limvalencia – Sure-Lox – 500 pieces
Purrfect Blooms was a cute puzzle that went together pretty fast. I didn’t realize when I bought it that it was primarily about cats – they are everywhere! I counted 16, but there may be more.
This Sure-Lox puzzle didn’t impress me as much as the last few that I’ve done. On the positive side there were a variety of piece shapes that fit together well, and the image reproduction was good; on the negative side the chipboard wasn’t nearly as thick as the newer puzzles, and there was something about the finish that made the pieces feel odd to me. I didn’t like the way they felt in my hands.
Free kittens? I think if I were there with small children I’d be keeping close watch over them! 😉
In this small section there are 5 cats/kittens. I didn’t even notice any of them when I got the puzzle, and I obviously didn’t read the title either – that would have been a big clue. I guess I don’t get the captain observation award for the day, do I?
I didn’t really like the way the pieces felt in my hands, but the fit was very good. It didn’t feel too tight, as though you had to work to put them in, but in the end you could stand up the puzzle very easily, no pieces even tried to come apart.
Overall this puzzle was good quality, even with the thinner pieces; but it didn’t leave me with a good feeling about it. I’m not sure exactly why that is, it’s just a general impression that I have about it, purely an opinion.
It’s a cute image that was fun to assemble, but I’m not sure I would buy another of the 500 piece count puzzles from Sure-Lox unless the box was one of the newer packages. This one didn’t have the new packaging, so perhaps that’s why I didn’t enjoy it as much.
Aquatic Harmony by Chris Hiett – Sure-Lox – 529 pieces
Aquatic Harmony is an older Sure-Lox puzzle, so unfortunately the quality is quite lacking compared to the newer puzzles of theirs that I’ve assembled. It had very thin pieces, image lift on several of them, and some of the pieces weren’t completely cut through and couldn’t be separated.
It’s supposed to be a puzzle that the whole family can work on together, with three different sizes of pieces so that both young and older family members can participate. But the way this one is constructed, it doesn’t seem like it’s feasible for everyone to work together on their respective pieces. It’s designed so that the largest pieces are on the outside, going smaller into the middle; the smallest pieces can’t be connected to anything until the middle sized pieces are in place. I suppose they could be assembled by themselves and then placed into the puzzle, but that’s not always easy to do with a lesser quality puzzle like this one.
This is the puzzle with just the large pieces assembled. The middle pieces go next, working towards the center.
Now the middle sized pieces are all put in, and it’s time for the “adult” pieces to go in, right in the center.
This was a difficult puzzle, almost everything was blue, or shades of blue and white. The underwater section was the most challenging, even with the largest pieces. The image itself isn’t one I would choose for a family puzzle, it seems pretty demanding for a puzzle the whole family would be working on, perhaps a more colorful one would be better. This is all just my opinion of course, there are probably plenty of families out there that may think this image is perfect for the whole family to assemble.
I’d like to tell you I enjoyed assembling this one, but the truth is that it just wasn’t my pile of pieces. It’s not exactly a monochromatic image, but it certainly felt as though it was, and they are not a type of image I particularly enjoy. Image aside, the poor quality of the chipboard and the cutting makes this a puzzle that I can’t recommend. There are plenty of other brands out there that produce very good quality family puzzles, and my suggestion is to give one of those a try.
Birthday Candle by Stephanie D. Roeser – Sure-Lox – 300 pieces
This image was too funny to pass up, how could you walk by this puzzle on the shelf and not give it a try? That face!
I’ve found that the newer Sure-Lox box means better quality, so I was confident buying this puzzle. I’ve been impressed with the new quality, especially on their 300 piece puzzles. The chipboard is thick and both the fit and the image reproduction are excellent – look at the bright, beautiful colors, and the sharp focus on the cat!
I decided to sort and assemble this a different way, and documented as I went. It was put together at night when sleep wouldn’t come – as per usual these days. Insomnia = lots of puzzle time.
After the edge was complete I started with the the cupcake and candle, and it went together quickly. I love the colors, it’s all so bright and cheery.
Next to be assembled was all of the background; it took a little more time and since I put the box away I was only using the colors to find my way. Shapes were of no help because all of the pieces were ballerinas. It didn’t make it too difficult with this image though; the colors were all the help I needed.
Next I put in all the pieces with both cat hair and background color. Assembling the puzzle this way, from the outside in was quite entertaining and although it doesn’t lend itself to most puzzle images it was fun to try it on this one.
All that was left was to fill in the cat, it was the most difficult part, obviously. After the eyes, nose, and mouth the whiskers were the next to be put together; they were brilliantly white and easy to pick out. Once those were all done all that was left was just fur, which is notoriously difficult; but because there were only 300 pieces to begin with there weren’t that many pieces left, so it went pretty quickly.
The image was great fun, the background colors made it interesting, and I loved the process of assembling in from the outside in and documenting it as I went. Hopefully you, my readers, liked it as well. Meow! 😽
Details:
Title:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Birthday Candle
Artist:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Stephanie D. Roeser
Brand:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sure-Lox
Piece count:Â Â Â 300 pieces
Size:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Approx. 26 x 18 in. (65 x 46 cm)
Purchased:Â Â Â New
Quality:
Board:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Very good
Cutting:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Very good
Image:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Excellent
Box:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Average
Fit:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Very good
Puzzle Dust:Â Â Â Small amount
Piece cut:Â Â Â Â Â Grid cut
Piece shapes:Â Â No variety, all one shape
Finish:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
This puzzle is just too, too adorable. It’s a little bit odd though, did you notice the owl in the window? It took me a while to see it at first, in fact the only reason I noticed it was that I was trying to figure out where an eye went! And if this tableau is about the True Love our pets give us, tell me, who has a deer as a pet? That’s just a little weird. Cute, but weird.
French bulldogs are my absolute favorite breed, how adorable is this little one? I just want to cuddle with him/her for hours and hours!
There’s something about that sad face underneath the shower cap, I can’t really explain it – it just makes me laugh.
My Jigsaw Journal 