Year: 2024
Liberty, Dry Martini by Yulia Drobova
A fun Liberty graphic art puzzle, “Dry Martini“, via Hoefnagel. I thought it might be a little difficult, with large areas of dark color, but the background actually has dark red blobs, on black, so the large swath is broken up quite a bit. I still ended up with a pile of dark colored pieces, […]
Madmar “The Cathedral”
An old puzzle, “Madmar Picture Puzzle Blue Ribbon Series”, 118 pieces, marked with 1.75 — presumably the price? Madmar Quality Co., Utica New York. I got it from ebay, which is new for me. (More about Madmar at Bob’s Old Puzzles.) Beautifully papered on the back — I was really charmed by this. Sort of […]
Sarah Gentry, Mel’s Belles, Liberty
I really enjoyed “Mel’s Belles” (who’s Mel, I wonder?) by Sarah Gentry, a Liberty puzzle of a bouquet of flowers, which came in a Hoefnagel pack along with the Rex Ray “Alistair” puzzle. I requested the pack because of Rex Ray, but ended up enoying the Sarah Gentry puzzle even more! Maybe I was just […]
Rex Ray’s “Alistair”, from Liberty
2/19: Finished! Super landscape! 1:2.5 ratio or so. Also, lots of Liberty-style human figural dancers, and musicians. Liberty: 2/17: Under way! “Alistair” by Rex Ray, Liberty Puzzles, about 550 pieces, via Hoefnagel. I love Rex Ray, so I was excited to request this puzzle from Hoefnagel, but now (having just started), I am feeling daunted!
finally finished! Some Things Are Scary by Liberty Puzzles
This Edward Gorey “Some Things Are Scary” image is one of my favorite images, so I was excited to get it as a Liberty Puzzle. So hard! Why was it so hard? My puzzle accomplice thinks it may be due to pieces having a similar pattern even when they had different, yet similar, shapes. Also, […]
Stateside Vacay, Amber Day
Ash did this fun US map puzzle – art by Amber Day, “Stateside Vacay”. Notice the puzzler’s socks and the toe pointing to a missing piece.
Fry Family Shop 5×5
This puzzle is called “wooden fractal puzzle“, but I’m not sure why it’s fractal …? This was the 5×5, easy version … when I took it out, Ash thought it looked hard — I thought it was going to be easier than “Wriggle” and it was. Look for the odd piece corners that can only […]
){kind=link}
Abstract Fish by Artistry
I don’t think the fish is really abstract? More like a painted mosaic than abstract. The laser cut puzzler is “Artistry Puzzles” from Colorado, and the puzzle is called “Abstract Fish“. The description on the website says, “Santorini is a 487 piece wooden puzzle with unique puzzle pieces that relate to the image. Do not […]
Wriggle by Fool’s Gold
Okay, this is an half-completed entry in our family puzzle log. I grabbed Fool’s Gold’s “Wriggle” to do with Ash, thinking without really thinking and aiming for something that was occupying but not maddening. When I whipped it out, Ash said, “whoa, that looks hard,” and I looked at it for the first time in […]
Big Ben by Eduardo Calzado, BCB
11.5″ x 14.5″, 400 pieces, handcut by Brookie Biglands (BCB Puzzles), via Hoefnagel. Yes, the swirly sky took a long time. Lovely feel to this puzzle.
Fall Bloom by Chris Huang, Liberty
Fall Bloom by Chris Huang, from Liberty Puzzles. A relatively quick and easy solve. I liked the variety of patterns in the art, and the Liberty-style whimsies, both single-piece and multi-piece. I really liked how all the arachnid whimsies were in the soil …. On the art … are all these trees with their roots […]
Smart Fox
A teaser-style puzzle, with a fitted jigsaw frame of a sleeping fox curled on a meadow (with a blue and red striped … muffler? I don’t get it) and 25 small fox figurals fitted into the fox’s curled body. I’m going to call this kind of piecing, “snuggle pieces”. “Smart Fox” by FoxSmartBox.
Palmaris Enchanted Forest
Very pretty forest photography, with a large whole-puzzle piece-figure of a tree, and incredibly detailed etchings with yet more tree themes. Quite doable, with only 222 pieces, but required some attention and both shape- and color-matching were helpful. Palmaris description: Story Excerpt: It’s been said that trees can talk to each other. They can send […]
Oh, My Love (A to G Music)
Hand-cutter from Etsy, AtoGMusic. It seems like they are mostly selling vintage sheet music, but they do some hand-cutting of wooden puzzles, too! They describe that these are actual sheet music covers, so first sale doctrine! It’s a thin plywood, and there was some sawdust from the cut. The cut felt very similar to a […]
){kind=link}
Two Cats by Yuri Gorbachev
Ash and I pushed through “Two Cats” by Yuri Gorbachev, an Artifact puzzle cut design by David Figueras with 314 pieces. Super satisfying and fun! Loved the border, and the general diagonal layout, and enjoyed the whimsies. Look at the matryoshka dolls whimsies! I got it through Hoefnagel with the Owl Internet Cafe. Artifact description: […]
Internet Owl Cafe, Artifact
Coincidentally, just after doing the Paris Map, I got a Hoefnagel package with another VladStudio illustration! This also came with one of the lovely little Hoefnagel surprises — Mardi Gras beads from the previous puzzler! Awww…. Anyway, the black/white/blue color scheme made this puzzle a bit more challenging than one would expect. Plus, the protrusions […]
Vladstudio Paris Map, Artifact
Really fun map puzzle – greatly enjoyed the border cut (the fleur-de-lis on the four corners, and the variable patterned border on the sides). I also liked the generally swirly nature of the pieces. Not a lot of whimsies, but I enjoyed the two-piece Toulouse-Lautrec style cat — I was puzzled by the bottom part […]
Owl Be There, Fathom
Loved this puzzle, so much! Owls, beautiful crafting, puzzley but not too crazy hard. “Owl Be There“, Fathom Puzzles. Packaging was also extra nifty! And it included an owl magnet. A contender for my favorite puzzles of the year, to be sure! Fathom Puzzles is by Geoff Cota.
