feature: laser-cut
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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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 […]
The Fall by Victor Zaretsky, Dreamton 400
I finally did this lovely painting by Ukrainian artist Victor Zaretsky (maybe Viktor with a “k”? not sure which version is preferred) (1925-1990), “The Fall”, from the Ukrainian laser cutter, Ihor Reshetnikov (Dreamton, via Etsy). (Puzzle available at etsy.) I found this painting discussed on Reddit, under the title “Autumn Wind” — you can see […]
Canoeing by Tim Zeitner, Boardwalk mini
Ash and I knocked off this little mini “fun size” puzzle from Boardwalk, which is a new puzzle company to me, affiliated with Dowdle.
Butlin’s Clacton-on-Sea, Victory
A 250-piece puzzle from Victory in England, a vintage puzzle of swimmers / divers from a train company’s travel poster, “Butlin’s Clacton-on-Sea“. (Which, according to Wikipedia, was a holiday camp operating from 1938-1983.) This is probably a public domain image; it is available here and listed as from 1938 — the Clacton-on-Sea resort’s opening year. […]
Octo-Love, Are You Game?
I enjoyed this 331-piece (15″ x 11.25″ landscape rectangular) laser-cut wooden puzzle, from AreYouGame — “Octo-Love”, art by Karrie Evenson. (Apropos of nothing, Evenson’s photo in the “about the artist” insert reminds me of Ann Miller in “Kiss Me, Kate”.) The cut was quite tentacular.
Mushrooms & Beetles, Mosaic 100
I enjoyed this small 100-piece version of “Mushrooms and Beetles“, from Mosaic; it was a fast solve, and the cut was enjoyable beetle-esque. Mosaic was weirdly cagey about the artist, so I’m going to guess this is AI-generated art. Disappointing.
Frosted Fir Tree, Wentworth
I got a few new puzzles from Wentworth, and in need of a relatively short solve, I pulled out the 240-piece “Frosted Fir Tree”, with artwork credited to “Alexandru Davidenco”. When I went to see more about this artist, I figured out this is actually AI-generated art. See the licensing shop, where this user has […]
Vibrant Village, CraftHub
I ordered a bunch of puzzles from “PuzzlesUp”, which was closing, and it turned out they were all labeled “CraftHub”. Hmm. Anyway, I liked the image. The pieces were pretty interlocking. This puzzle is called “Vibrant Village”.
River Otter, Adolfo Valle, Lighthouse Puzzles
“River Otter” by Adolfo Valle, a 62-piece puzzle, 5.6″ x 6.25″, from Lighthouse Puzzles.
Sprung by Coral Bourgeois, from AreYouGame
“Sprung” was one of two puzzles in a pack from AreYouGame — both by Coral Bourgeois. I really liked this image!
Coral Bourgeois, “Elephants”, from AreYouGame
Ash and I enjoyed this — it was a little more challenging than you would think from a grid image — but it was beautiful, a nice laser-cut feel. And elephants! Coral Bourgeois is the artist — I wonder if she’s a relation to Louise Bourgeois? and the puzzle maker is “Are You Game“, which […]
Samuel Hayward “Cat in Garden”, Artifact
We three did this nicely cat-whimsy-filled “Cat in Garden” puzzle from Artifact today, with art from Samuel Hayward. Please note that Zeniba is in a very similar pose and attitude as the titular “Cat in Garden”. Artifact’s description:
Louis Wain’s Fiddling Cat, from Artifact
I really loved Artifact‘s contribution to the Puzzle Parley 2024 — the speed puzzle, Louis Wain’s “Fiddling Cat“. So I picked it up, and Ash and I did it, speed-style (that is, with a timer) and I feel pretty good about our time! Which to be clear was more than double the time that the […]
Wentworth minis
Ash and I did three Wentworth mini puzzles today — I would say, “Starry Night” was the easiest, with the Helix Nebula in the middle, and the “fractal geometry” was the hardest — with several identical pieces, eight each of a sort of triangular triskelion (maybe there is a better word for that) rotated counterclockwise, […]
Barred Owl, Adolfo Valle, Lighthouse Puzzles
Enjoyed this Lighthouse Puzzles mini-puzzle, which was sent to me free in hopes I would review it. The artist, Adolfo Valle, is Michigan-based, as is Lighthouse. (While I love lighthouses, does Michigan … have them? I know there are lots of lakes including Lake Michigan, and yes, the Great Lakes are big enough for tides, […]
Stack Attack, Rebel Puzzles
“Stack Attack” is the second puzzle Ash and I did from Rebel Puzzles, and we enjoyed this one, too! It was … definitely challenging, with its abstract and vaguely midcentury style graphics. But once we got into the swing of it, we were able to finish it off in a reasonable time! (Like, an hour […]
Geode, Nervous Systems
A fun blue geode puzzle from NERVOUS Systems, via Hoefnagel. Another reviewer described this puzzle as easy, a review at which Ash and I looked askance, but, once we got going, it was — well, not “easy”, but very doable. (Much easier, at any rate, than the Wongo elephant it was paired with!) Bastet anointed […]
Elephant, Wongo
I wanted to like this elephant by Wongo puzzles (courtesy of Hoefnagel) — I liked the image, all the fun patterns, and of course, ELEPHANT. But it was so fiddly — some of the pieces were really, super tiny. It took Ash and me several hours, together, and we had to drag in a third […]
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