Branching Out, Stave

I haven’t fallen in love with Stave “teasers” — puzzles where you assemble a frame, then snuggle various whimsical shapes into place. But I really liked this one! There was lots of significant puzzling in assembling the “frame”, which was really its own shape — a tree — with various little holes where creatures were […]
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Forest Fables, Trippy Puzzles

“Trippy Puzzle Co.” is a laser cutter, listed on Etsy, that says “designed in the US, made in China.” The box is very similar to another puzzle I got recently — can’t remember which — and includes “display feet” like a CraftHub puzzle. So I take it there is a laser wood cutter in China […]
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Nadieh Bremer Coronium, Artifact

Enjoyable puzzle (“Coronium” by Nadieh Bremer) by Artifact, courtesy of Hoefnagel – even though I don’t ordinarily love digital art like this, I really liked the cut. This 172 piece wooden jigsaw puzzle by Dutch digital artist Nadieh Bremer is named for Coronium, a new atomic element hypothesized in 1887 to explain signals in the solar […]
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King Dasaratha, Inside Out

From Inside Adventure (via Etsy), this beautiful painting of King Dasaratha, from a scene in the Ramayana. Inside Adventure says: This puzzle contains dozens of hand-drawn whimsy pieces, intricately cut into the shapes of different characters, animals and plants. They are works of art within the puzzle. … Our whimsies are carefully crafted and designed […]
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Koi Pond, Whimsy Wood Puzzles

Ash and I enjoyed this one! Kind of a simple grid cut, but a really pretty image. Held together well! Thick pieces.
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Mr Bob, Italy

Courtesy of Hoefnagel, a puzzle from Mr. Bob (“Burano, Italy”) with photography by Australian photographer Garry Schlatter — I finished it Friday July 26, but one piece is missing! Agh. Will keep looking …. Update: Whew! It turns out the piece was taped to the inside of the shipping box — I guess it was […]
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Massachusetts, Galison

Ash and Michele did this one the other day.
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Stave, Edith Bingham Give Me a Buzz

This Stave puzzle, via Hoefnagel, was a lot of fun — and not too hard for me, either, which was good. I appreciated the ways that many of the bees had definitive homes, and only had to fiddle with some of them. Also, the way that the bees’ wings made a little flower on the […]
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Whimsy Puzzles, Singing Fish

A really beautiful image, from “Whimsy Wood Puzzles“, which is now retiring. This is the “Tree of Life” cut, or actually some variation thereof, on the “Singing Fish” large-piece puzzle. Thanks, Hoefnagel! The cutting style of this puzzle — some of the whimsies in particular — really reminded me of a puzzle by “Corgi” I […]
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Cat in the Flowers (owlqueue 1)

I made a puzzle! I tried to do line-cutting and boy was that hard. I did a cat, for Ash, and here Ash is, doing my puzzle!
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puzzling at Puzzle Parley

Some of the puzzling at Puzzle Parley 2024! For my record. (-:
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Curiosi double-sided geometric

Puzzle Double “Q-Flower” from Curiosi. Double-sided, black/white, very hard! This was owned by one of the fellow attendees at the Puzzle Parley, kindly sharing her puzzle in the casual puzzling room.
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Blooming Hope, Stumpcraft

Very sweet 34-piece mini-puzzle from StumpCraft, “Blooming Hope”, art by Michelle Austin, 2024. We did
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Birds and Bees, Stumpcraft

Some group puzzling at Puzzle Parley! I did the bee, and a lot of the flower bed on the right …. This was a sweet StumpCraft, “Birds and Bees”: Artist: Pam WeberPuzzle Designer: Jasen RobillardDimensions: 27.5 cm x 27.5 cmPiece Count: 284Difficulty: 3 out of 5 The air is a buzz with the flutter of wings […]
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Talitha the Baby Owl, Puzzly

From Puzzly, a UK laser-cutter, a challenging owl puzzle. It was shaped, very push-fit, lots of false edges, and a black and white image — so fairly challenging. Very thin wood (MDF?), 166 pieces. Lots of fun whimsies (owls, obviously); my favorite was an “owl and pussycat” in a boat, on waves ….
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Puzzlapy Deer Family

Another lovely cut puzzle from Isabella Rouillard, Puzzlapy, via Hoefnagel — this one is a vintage image of a “deer family”, which led me to ponder this particular patriarchal wildlife myth and do some reading about deer mating.
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Sewing Girl by Carl Larsson, Sr B

Loved this puzzle, cut by Sr B, with “Sewing Girl”, a 1911 painting by Carl Larsson. Ash and I assembled it handily …. It also came with a very cute little side picture, too!
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Parrots and Parakeets by Conrad Armstrong

A fun puzzle via Hoefnagel. Hand-cut by Conrad Armstrong,
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Whiskered Woods, Rebel Puzzles

I tried out two puzzles from Rebel Puzzles, a laser cutter, and the first (“Whiskered Woods“) was great fun! A tesselation of cat pieces — two main styles with minor differences among some of the pieces. Required close attention to color, pattern, and the minor detailed differences. Ash is going to love this one, I […]
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Mona Lisa, Ronald W. Butler puzzles

This puzzle (Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, was courtesy of Hoefnagel. I ordinarily steer clear of the “old masters” because (a) the images are often too familiar to be interesting and (b) the colors often reproduce in a muted and muddy way. And that was true with this puzzle, as well as strip-cut pieces, and […]
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