Year: 2025
Totem Pole in the Mist by Terry Isaac (Cobble Hill 1000)
I loved this painting of a totem pole and crow by Terry Isaac (and look, Terry also includes a page highlighting puzzle adaptations!) and it made a lovely 1000-piece puzzle by Cobble Hill. The background ended up offering a gradient, more or less, from the top right light-sky quadrant to the bottom left darker grey. […]
Street Art, Zen Puzzles
Ash and I really enjoyed this small-ish puzzle from Zen Puzzles, “Street Art“, in the 125-piece size. I’m actually not sure what animal it is — a dog? with the tongue — a lion? — but it’s so colorful and cool that it was a pleasure to look at it. Two of the whimsies seem […]
Elephants by Anna Platts, Liberty
Another in a fun Liberty pack from Hoefnagel: “Elephants” by the artist Anna Platts, 253-pieces, 9″x12″.
The Witching Hour, Liberty
Vintage witch (that has a pleasant mouth-feel) by Liberty, with themed whimsies. I really liked the pumpkin …. Via Hoefnagel. I haven’t been able to identify an actual artist for this. Googling around, I found various listings for this image, described as an “I.S.L. series” postcard #552 (notice the #552 at bottom left corner of […]
Ladies Orchestra (Kadinlar Orkestrasi), Derya Yildiz (Anatolian)
Kadinlar Orkestrasi / Ladies Orchestra Derya Yildiz
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Inflating Balloon by Benh Lieu Song, Snowflake
Fabulous image by photographer Benh Lieu Song (mediawiki user:Benh, flickr blieusong — it’s capped Benh LIEU SONG; is that the preferred captioning? or just a way to tell people LIEU SONG is the surname?) captioned on Wikipedia as “A hot air balloon being inflated before air trip over Cappadocia, central Turkey, as seen from inside“, […]
English Balloon by Ryan Snarr (Boardwalk)
Hoefnagel sent me a pack including an 83-piece puzzle by Boardwalk Puzzles, “English Balloon” by Ryan Snarr, which I knocked off in short order. The puzzle description: ENGLISH VINTAGE BALLOON Join an air-born treasure hunt across the English countryside in search of Staffordshire gold. Mr. Green, Jane Air, Coxwell the bird, and Henry the dog navigate […]
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Dancing with the Stars, Alfredo Arreguín, Clementoni 500
I loved this image, titled “Dancing with the Stars” — a 500-piece puzzle by Clementoni. Sadly they didn’t list a credit, but google image search turned up very similar images, by the recently passed artist Alfredo Arreguín (1935-2023). I am always mesmerized by Arreguín’s work — the jaguar puzzle by Artifact is one of my […]
Granny’s Attic by Kaaren Biglands, handcut by BCB Brookie Biglands
A fun snuggle-style (BCB / Brookie Biglands calls them “Bamboozle Puzzles”) puzzle, via Hoefnagel. The frame was actually a reasonably challenging jigsaw, and the snuggle part was quite doable — I was actually able to do it without “cheating” or using any kind of solved image. I love that Biglands uses her mom’s art! And […]
Garden Magic 2 by Christine Reichow, Starz
I got to try a Starz puzzle, thanks to the Hoefnagel club. “Garden Magic 2” by Christine Reichow, a Florida based artist. Starz is a laser cutter based in Illinois. The wood is not plywood, but a solid maple hardwood — the pieces felt really light, which was a little surprising to me, but maybe […]
Canvas, Cloudberries
My first Cloudberries. I’ll admit, I don’t get it — I had the impression that Cloudberries was sort of a cut above, but it feels like basically any reputable cardboard puzzle company. There were actually more than one or two false fits in this cut. Plus, at least half a dozen pieces where a cardboard […]
Lead Shot Stars by Jacob Van Loon, Soonness
Loved, loved, loved this 1000-piece puzzle by Soonness — “Lead Shot Stars” by Texas-based Jacob Van Loon.
