Tessellating Pieces – My Jigsaw Journal

The Puzzle That Will Freeze Your Brain by Clive Branson – Wentworth – 34 pieces

These puzzles with the scary titles from Wentworth are so entertaining for me, and the beautiful and interesting shapes of the pieces are a joy to work with. Of course, I only do the micro puzzle versions of them, because assembling these difficult images with several hundred of the similarly shaped pieces actually would be scary!

At only 34 pieces, this one wasn’t that difficult, and I love the Christmas tree shaped pieces. This image is one I definitely would shy away from in a larger piece count, it doesn’t look like one that would be fun at all – at least not for me.

Putting together a difficult image isn’t something I go out of my way for, though some do enjoy the challenge of a formidable assembly. Normally, I do not. A puzzle that seems like a chore just doesn’t do it for me, it isn’t fun. I puzzle because it’s entertaining, relaxing, and a great little mental workout. If it feels like an intellectual marathon just to get a few pieces together – uh, no thank you.

Luckily, thanks to Wentworth micro puzzles, I can put together some difficult images without the stress of too many pieces. Lovely!

Helix Nebula – Wentworth (Mini Mindful Puzzles) – 40 pieces

I was planning on posting episode three of Pretty Kitties today, but suddenly remembered (yesterday) that National Jigsaw Day in the UK was in November. A quick check showed me that it was tomorrow (today), and I needed to get myself a different post set up for one of the few days that celebrate us Divine Discerning Dissectologists. 🧩

Luckily there was a big delivery of puzzles from across the pond just last week, so there were plenty of English puzzles to choose from. Helix Nebula was the one I chose, it’s from Wentworth’s new Mini Mindful collection – to calm your mind, piece by piece. They’re designed to be a little more difficult, and supposedly to take 20-30 minutes to assemble. I wasn’t keeping track, so I couldn’t tell you how long this one took me. But I could tell you that it was lots of fun, and even my husband is very excited to do this one himself. He saw the geometric pieces and said “How cool is that?! That’s my kind of puzzle!”

It’s a beautiful image, made into a beautiful puzzle that keeps you on your toes, even with the small piece count. The repetitive tessellating pieces seem difficult at first, but once your brain makes the switch to seeing how they fit together, your puzzle brain kicks in and you can see how it’s supposed to work. And I loved it!

National Jigsaw Day was founded by Wentworth in 2015, and each year I try to post one of their puzzles on this day to celebrate our honored hobby. Just because we’re not in the UK doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the day by working on a fabulous puzzle: small, large, cardboard, wooden, plastic, old favorites or new friends- it doesn’t matter. Spread the puzzle love today my PADS Posse!

How will you be celebrating today? It should come as no surprise to anyone that I’ll be working on a puzzle. What’s on your puzzle board?

Happy Jigsaw Day!