Tag: Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

Review: 100 Aussie Icons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments
Aussie Icons
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!

Aussie Icons whimsies

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.

Aussie Icons 3

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.

 

Today’s Project

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Mr. Bob

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…

Mr. Bob 3

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 (National Jigsaw Day in the UK!)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments
Grandpa's Shed
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. 🦇

Grandpa's Shed whimsies

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. 😁💖

Happy Meow-O-Ween

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
Happy Meow
Happy Meow-O-Ween by Michele Ridgway – Wentworth – 40 pieces

How cute is this puzzle? It’s too adorable! You can’t really tell in the picture, but that isn’t candy beside the cat, it’s a mouse wearing a sweater that makes him look like a piece of candy corn – that seems a little risky to be dressed like a treat!

Hopefully it doesn’t get too repetitive me telling you how much I enjoy wooden jigsaw puzzles. They are a completely different experience than assembling a cardboard jigsaw puzzle and I highly recommend splurging on yourself and getting a wooden puzzle. There are many reasonably priced wooden puzzles from many different companies, and you are absolutely worth it! Happy Meow whimsies

The bat is my favorite of these whimsy pieces, the others are all sort of generic fall items. Still, they’re all pretty awesome to have in a puzzle, and the pieces that surround them have very interesting shapes too in order to fit next to them. The first thing I do when opening up a wooden puzzle is look for the whimsies, they’re so fun and I’m fascinated by how intricate the shapes can be. Wentworth goes the extra mile and makes the extra cuts to define what each piece is, they’re so lovely.

Happy Halloween everyone! I love this holiday, and I am also really looking forward to tomorrow, all the Halloween candy is 50% off! 🎃🍬🍭🍡🍫

The Summer Thatchers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments
Summer Thatchers
The Summer Thatchers by Steve Crisp – Wentworth – 40 pieces

The Summer Thatchers is an unbelievably beautiful image that was perfect for a 40 piece micro puzzle. There was no enhancing of the photo needed, it’s truly that bright and gorgeous.  I’m certain it would be quite difficult as a larger piece count, but my goodness it would be lovely!

If it’s been a while since assembling a wooden puzzle I seem to forget how much I enjoy the tactile experience; the thickness of the pieces, the feel of the image adhered to the wood, the way the pieces fall into place. There’s nothing like it!

Summer Thatchers 1

Pretty whimsies, especially the flowers, and the surrounding pieces make for an easier assembly – they’re oddly shaped and easy to find. You couldn’t make whimsies like this out of cardboard, the edges would bend and break way too easily.

Wentworth’s micro puzzles are a joy to assemble, and they allow me to work many images that I wouldn’t otherwise in a larger piece count. Starry Night definitely wouldn’t have been assembled other than in this format, that’s for sure. There are still quite a few I have here to assemble, including several winter/Christmas themed images – look for them when the holiday season is upon us, it’ll be here sooner than you think!