Afternoon Visitor by Steve Read – Wentworth – 40 pieces
This image is gorgeous, and I would definitely want to do this one in 1000 pieces. Look at the dogs sleeping by the fire – how sweet are they? Steve Read’s images aren’t always ones that speak to me, but this one was a joy to put together at 40 pieces, and I can see how it would make a great puzzle in any size.
Great whimsies, I love the silverware/flatware, the detail Wentworth puts onto their whimsies makes all the difference. You can’t always tell what some of them are by shape alone, it’s the extra cuts that clarify exactly what each one is. I don’t always like the look of the extra lines on the front of the puzzle, but it doesn’t usually detract too much.
This was the last of my regular micro puzzles; all I have left now are four Christmas/winter themed ones. According to my family’s tradition, no Christmas anything is allowed until after the Thanksgiving meal. So Santa and all his helpers are just going to have to wait until after next Thursday before assaulting me with holiday everything. (Yes, I’m feeling a little “Bah Humbug” this year).
I do wish I had a few more everyday image micro puzzles though, I could use them to pad my queue – I’m running out of puzzles for the blog again! Anyone out there feeling like writing up a guest post? Done any fun or fabulous puzzles lately? 😁
Save The Whales by Robert Williams – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 515 pieces
There aren’t enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much I adored Save The Whales. It made for the most enjoyable puzzle assembly and to say I loved just doesn’t do it justice. This puzzle was such great fun!
This is the second of two puzzles I was sent for review from Mr. Bob Puzzles, and I am quite impressed with the quality. The pieces are thick 4.5mm wood, and the fit is not as loose as some other wooden puzzles. The pieces have a good hand feel, and the cut is deceptively challenging; it looks easy, but it most definitely isn’t. They also have been infused with essential oils, giving them a lovely, relaxing scent. The whimsy pieces fit the theme of the puzzle, and range from quite large to very small. I knew what to look for this time, and found all the pieces that spell out the Mr. Bob logo on the first try! 🙂
I did find that this puzzle had a quite a few pieces that had the image ever so slightly lifting at the edges, and relayed this information to the Mr. Bob team through emails. The 100 Icons puzzle didn’t have this issue at all, so I wanted to let them know that there was something different about Save The Whales. They believe they may have “overdosed” some of the pieces with the essential oils, and that’s what caused this problem. Easily remedied with careful application of the oils, or if the customer prefers it the puzzle could be scent free. (I for one love the added scents, and found them to be pleasant and relaxing.)
I also gave some feedback on the whimsy pieces; some tails on the sea creatures were quite thin, and to prevent breakage and image lift the suggestion was made to thicken them. I was pleasantly surprised at how eager the team was to hear suggestions and make changes to improve the quality of their puzzles. As an avid puzzler it’s nice to see that a company is striving to make the best puzzles they can; I appreciated their willingness to address the small issues that I found.
There was one more suggestion I had for the team, and that was to please put more of Robert Williams’ artwork on their puzzles. Robert is the “Bob” in Mr. Bob Puzzles, and I think his artwork is just beautiful! I was drawn to this image right away, it reminds me of the artwork of Edward Kinnally, which I also adore. It’s just my opinion, of course, but I certainly hope they consider my suggestion. 😉
There was only one in process picture, I was having too much fun to stop and take pics. To be honest, the only reason I took the picture was for a post about the progress of my assembly. The colors and the movement of the image was quite compelling, and once I got to assembling it was difficult to walk away and leave the next piece undone. It must be easy to find, don’t leave yet, just one more piece…
The bottom line for me is that this puzzle was completely engrossing, entertaining, and both beautiful and beautifully made. I had so much fun putting it together that even though I want to frame it and hang it as artwork, I took it apart. Hubby is planning to make me a custom frame, but I really want to assemble it again; there aren’t many puzzles I can say that about! 🐳
If you’re a wooden puzzle fan I absolutely recommend giving a Mr. Bob puzzle a try. They have some stunning images to choose from, and they’re well made and very entertaining. As an added bonus, depending on where you live, the exchange rate could give you a discount right off the bat – as of today the Australian dollar only costs 68 cents American!
Details:
Title: Save The Whales
Artist: Robert Williams
Brand: Mr. Bob Puzzles
Piece count: 515 pieces
Size: Approx. 23 x 17 in. (54 x 43 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: 4.5mm wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Very good, some slight image lift
Box: Excellent
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut, whimsy pieces
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny 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.
100 Aussie Icons by Jim Tsinganos – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 515 pieces
100 Aussie Icons is a fantastic image, and made for a wonderfully interesting puzzle. This is one of two wooden puzzles sent to me for review, and I had an absolutely great time with the assembly. I’m so looking forward to the next one!
Mr. Bob Puzzles is an Australian puzzle company that has switched over from producing cardboard puzzles to making wooden ones. They primarily focus on the artwork of Australian artists, and are trying to avoid the well-worn path of puzzle images; I think that pitfall has been avoided, their catalog is full of interesting and not seen before images to choose from. The quality is excellent, with thick wooden pieces that feel good in your hands, and a cut that looks easy, but offers more of a challenge than you think.
There’s one thing I can’t show you with a picture – the smell. Mr. Bob Puzzles uses aromatherapy essential oils to give their wooden puzzles a wonderful smell. I can’t tell you what it is, because I have no idea the exact scent; all I can tell you is they smell amazing! Mr. Bob Puzzles believes in the health benefits of puzzling (there are 10 health benefits listed on the back of their boxes), and they are adding aromatherapy oils to their puzzles to enhance the assembly experience and add to the health benefits. It’s something I’d never heard of before, but I think it’s great and the scent in my puzzle room was truly lovely.
The first picture is after one day’s assembly. The second is when it is almost complete, all that’s left is the sky. The cut is seeming a simple one, with regular “puzzle” shaped pieces, but it’s quite deceptive. There are many straight edges on the inside of the puzzle, and it makes for a much more challenging assembly than I thought. I loved the added difficulty and it went together much more slowly than a 500 piece puzzle usually does for me. In my book that’s a plus!
According to the box, all Mr. Bob puzzles have Australia themed whimsy pieces, I love the kangaroo inside the shape of the country – very cool. Of course my favorite has to be the Sydney Opera House with my initials inside! 😍 I’m not sure if that’s something they do for everyone, but I loved it.
I’m sure a good Aussie could tell you exactly who all these people are. I was almost positive that the flag bearer was Ian Thorpe (Olympic swimmer), but of course I was wrong; he’s one of the surf lifesavers. Other than that I have to confess to being an uninformed American who had no idea who the rest of these people were until Mr. Bob sent me a legend with most of the icons. I would suggest that perhaps there be a page on their website with a legend of them all so that we could see the ones we missed. This image is one of their bestsellers, and I’m sure a list would be appreciated by those of us who aren’t up to date on our Australian history.
Also, you can see in the top right of the picture that Mr. Bob has put his logo into the puzzle, very clever!
The artwork is so detailed and full of interesting people and things and it made for a most entertaining assembly. The puzzle is quite large, about the size of the average 1000 piece cardboard puzzle, and I found the large pieces are quite nice to work with. I was impressed with the quality of this puzzle, and it is most definitely recommended. I will add that I was equally impressed with their very quick shipping – this puzzle was at my door 5 days after it left Australia. Amazing!
Details:
Title: 100 Aussie Icons
Artist: Jim Tsinganos
Brand: Mr. Bob Puzzles
Piece count: 515 pieces
Size: Approx. 23 x 17 in. (54 x 43 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: 4.5mm wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut, whimsy pieces
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny 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.
Yesterday I received these two puzzles to review, I’m very excited to get to assembling today. The image I chose was Save the Whales, and I was surprised to find when I opened the package that I had not one but two puzzles!
Mr. Bob Puzzles are manufactured in Australia, and they have recently switched over from making cardboard puzzles to making wooden ones. I’m so appreciative that I’m able to assemble and review these puzzles, and my initial impression is very positive. The pieces are quite large and thick and the image is beautiful. The puzzles come in cloth bags, and each one has a “tag” to tell you which puzzle is inside…
I adore the Save The Whales image, and even though that was the one I chose for review I’m starting with the 100 Aussie Icons. I’m saving the whales for last – to build excitement perhaps. They both look like they’re going to be lots of fun, I don’t think it matters which one goes first.
When I poured out all the pieces I was shocked at how large the pile was, and it had me going through my other wooden puzzles to find another 500 piece to compare it to. This is a 500 piece Wentworth next to the 515 piece Mr. Bob puzzle…
The Wentworth is on the left, Mr. Bob on the right; there’s quite a difference in size! I’m so looking forward to going through all the pieces, looking at all the shapes and sizes and finding the whimsies. Being an American I’m certain I’ll need help identifying all the Aussie icons, but it’ll be fun even if I don’t know what they are; the image looks very entertaining!
Grandpa’s Potting Shed by Steve Read – Wentworth – 40 pieces
It’s National Jigsaw Day in the UK, and as usual I’ll be celebrating by working on a jigsaw puzzle. You’re shocked I’m sure; it’s a complete surprise, right? 😉
The United States has National Puzzle Day in January, but it isn’t specific to jigsaw puzzles – it includes all types (jigsaw, crossword, logic, sudoku, etc.). Wisely, the UK has a day just for our beloved jigsaw puzzles and in honor of that today’s post is a puzzle manufactured in England; a Wentworth wooden jigsaw puzzle.
I absolutely loved putting this image together, and to be honest I didn’t think I would like it at all. I’m not sure why, but I put off assembling this puzzle for quite a while; the image just didn’t excite. Luckily I was completely wrong and it was much more entertaining to assemble than expected. I’d love to come across this image in a larger piece count; the artwork by Steve Read was great fun in 40 pieces and hopefully would be in a larger puzzle as well.
Why there is a bat shape in the whimsies I’m not sure, perhaps the shed might be home to a small family of bats? Maybe they’re grandpa’s friends and keep him company while he’s out there. 🦇
Happy National Puzzle Day to all my fellow PADS sufferers! We may not all be in the United Kingdom, but we can absolutely celebrate with our fellow puzzlers across the pond. I hope you can find a few moments to spend with a jigsaw puzzle, or perhaps if you’re out and about you can treat yourself to a beautiful jigsaw puzzle to enjoy later.
I’m not enabling, it’s unconditional love and support, that’s all. 😁💖
My Jigsaw Journal 