Still to Life by Dominic Davison – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 40 pieces
This micro puzzle has beautiful, deep colors and was great fun to assemble. I love the images of Dominic Davison; they’re serene, beautiful, and calming.
As usual, this Wentworth puzzle was excellent quality. It has the loose fit that almost all wooden puzzles have, but I don’t find it as distracting as I do with cardboard puzzles. It’s probably a bit hypocritical on my part, but for me the added pleasure of working with wooden pieces makes up for dealing with the loose fit. The image reproduction is excellent, and adhered well to the wood. There are a good variety of piece shapes, including some whimsy pieces – shown below….
This puzzle had another rerun of whimsies; these are the same pieces in the Sky Roads micro puzzle. They made much more sense for this image than they did for the hot air balloons puzzle, in my opinion.
My to do pile of Wentworth micro puzzles is dwindling, there are only 5 left. They’re perfect for when I don’t have much time, when I might have to spend time in waiting rooms, or for when I have to work on puzzles laying down. I’m going to have to make these 5 puzzles last – or perhaps I should purchase some more. 😉
Yesterday I posted the Alice in Wonderland puzzle, but I forgot to get a picture of all the whimsies before I put it away. I usually take the picture of all the whimsy pieces before I start the assembly, but since this puzzle was unusual and had many multi-piece whimsies I decided to take the picture when I was finished. Obviously, I forgot.
One of my readers pointed this out to me in the comments, so I went back through the box and pulled out all the whimsies I could find. I can’t be sure I got them all, but I hope I did – they’re beautiful, and perfect for the puzzle.
This was the first Wentworth puzzle I’ve done that had multi-piece whimsies, they were very detailed and appropriate for the image. There were dodo birds, rabbits, lizards, the Cheshire Cat, and even the letters L and C – for Lewis Carroll. They made for a fun assembly!
I’ll do my best not to forget again, but no promises; my brain is aging even as I type this. 😉
The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 300 pieces
So now we’ve come to the end of my wooden puzzle “experiment”. This puzzle was the last of 5 companies that I’ve tried. I enjoyed this puzzle very much, even though I chose a puzzle from the extra difficult jigsaw page. I didn’t find it all that difficult to be honest, but it sure was fun! I’ll have a post soon regarding all the wooden puzzles, and what I’ve learned.
Wentworth Wooden Puzzles is a British company that has an excellent reputation for quality puzzles. They’re the last of the reasonably priced companies I could find, and their catalog is quite large. They have puzzles starting at what they call a micro-puzzle (30-40 pieces), all the way up to 1500 pieces. The price is on par with the other companies I’ve tried, and I’ve heard good things about their puzzles so I gave it a go (even though with shipping from the UK it was a bit more).
Most of their puzzles include whimsy pieces, but the majority of the cuts seem a bit “regular” to me; I had already gotten a puzzle with regular pieces so I definitely wanted something different. This led me to their extra difficult page where I found this interesting wrapping paper puzzle. I loved it! And, it has repetitive reindeer shaped pieces in addition to the repetitive image for more of a challenge – Merry Christmas to me! 🎄 Here’s the back of the puzzle so you can see the pieces…
Check out the repetition!
The pieces are about half as thick as the pieces from the other companies I’ve tried, but somehow almost feel more dense. There seems to be a coating or backing applied to the back of the wood as well. Although the pieces are thinner, they are still quite sturdy and they still have that wonderful, satisfying plunk when they fall into place. It’s bliss. 🙂
I poured the pieces out of the bag and thought “What have I gotten myself into?” It was overwhelming to see so many similarly shaped pieces. But once I settled down and really looked at them, I could see small differences in the shapes which allowed me to sort the pieces with purpose. Once the sorting was done, I picked 2 pieces that went together and started building – it really wasn’t very difficult for me at all. I loved it!
I enjoyed this puzzle very much and thought their quality was excellent! I’m still looking forward to trying one of their regular puzzles to see if I like the cut. Perhaps soon I can review one of those regularly cut puzzles, maybe a micro-puzzle?
*I may or may not have gone completely off the rails and ordered more than 30 of their micro-puzzles. I cannot recall at this time your honor.* 😁
Details:
Title: The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas
Artist: iStock Photo
Brand: Wentworth Wooden Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 14 x 11 in. (36 x 25 cm)
Purchased: New
Quality:
Board: 1/8″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent – very sturdy box, pieces come in a fabric bag
Einstein’s Rainbow by Edward Kinnally – Peaceful Wooden Puzzles – 260 pieces
O M G! I had the best time with this puzzle – look at those gorgeous colors! This is the fourth wooden puzzle brand I’ve tried, and oh dear – I loved this one too! Perhaps I should start playing the lotto in the hopes of being able to afford all of these puzzles I want.
Peaceful Wooden Puzzles has a beautiful catalog of images, and I adore the selections they have from this artist – Edward Kinnally. They’re a bit challenging, but colorful and interesting and a little “trippy”. Click the link to check out their website and the artists and images available. Also, when you order from their website you can choose the type of whimsies you would like – religious, universal, or none. I chose universal, you can see them best in the picture below. There are several flowers, an owl on a tree branch, a hummingbird, dragonfly, ladybug, maybe a swan, and a beautiful lady with a parasol…..
Check out these gorgeous piece shapes!
In addition, Puzzle Warehouse also carries this brand and you can order from their website too. This would be great for making sure your order is large enough to qualify for free shipping! 🙂
It will be no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, the Victorian cut of the pieces and the stellar image made for a great afternoon of puzzling. This is definitely one I’ll be doing again and again. The image is so well-adhered to the wood that it almost looks like it’s been painted on. It’s such a great puzzle, I’m pretty pleased with myself for choosing this image. Way to go me!
If you’re looking for a special gift for a puzzler in your life, I would definitely recommend checking out Peaceful Wooden Puzzles by clicking either of the links above. Beautiful puzzles!
Incidental Music for a New Year’s Eve Party by Dr. Suess – Liberty Puzzles – 527 pieces
This was the most entertaining puzzle I’ve ever assembled – it was so much fun! The image, the piece shapes and that it was a wood puzzle made it wonderful. Liberty Puzzles have so many interesting images to choose from, many I’ve never seen before, like the gorgeous one above. I love Dr. Suess!
When I was choosing which puzzle to purchase, I didn’t go for a smaller puzzle to try out the brand, I gravitated toward the larger piece counts from Liberty Puzzles. On their website they have several photos of each puzzle; including one of the whimsy pieces separately, and also a view of the assembled puzzle from the back so that you can see the intricate shapes of all the pieces. The shapes are amazingly detailed and interesting and I just had to splurge on myself and get a bigger one! Click the link above to check out their beautiful puzzles and stunning piece shapes.
Liberty has a dozen images from “The Secret Art of Dr. Suess”. They work with Dr. Suess Enterprises and choose 3 images each year to turn into amazing puzzles. I couldn’t resist Incidental Music for a New Year’s Eve Party – although that name is a mouthful. I love the colors, the characters and especially the piece shapes, they’re Suess-esque!
Before I started the assembly I pulled all the whimsy pieces I could find; look at these gorgeous pieces….
I enjoyed this puzzle immensely; and I took my time because I didn’t want it to end. The feel of the pieces, the beautiful detailed shapes, the gorgeous artwork, the excellent craftsmanship – they all contributed to this being my favorite puzzle ever! Liberty Puzzles have the best whimsies in my opinion, and there are many more than I’ve seen with other companies; about 15-20% of the pieces are whimsies.
I’ve noticed that I work more slowly and carefully when assembling a wooden puzzle. It’s almost like meditation – I’m completely in the moment and focused on the piece shapes, the colors, and on enjoying the puzzle. The pieces are the sturdiest you can find, but I find that I handle them with care, almost reverently. Perhaps it’s appreciation for the detail and excellent quality, or perhaps I’m just trying to stretch out the experience and make the fun last longer – I suspect that it’s most likely both of those things.
I’m in love with Liberty Puzzles and that’s quite dangerous, because I obviously have an addictive personality. My wishlist on their site is into the thousands of dollars! 😮 I won’t be able to get them all, but I’ve worked it out that I might be able to get a few every year. There’s my birthday, and Christmas, and Mother’s Day, and…um…Happy I Love You Day – that’s a holiday, right??
Details:
Title: Incidental Music for a New Year’s Eve Party
Artist: Dr. Suess
Brand: Liberty Puzzles
Piece count: 527 pieces
Size: Approx. 12 x 19 in. (31 x 48 cm)
Purchased: New
Quality:
Board: 1/4″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Random/whimsies/very intricate
Piece shapes: Designed for this puzzle – amazing!
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Excellent, most highly recommended
My Jigsaw Journal 