maker: Artifact Puzzles
Mushroom Glow by Tomasz Pietrzyk (Artifact)
Ash and I did an Artifact 286-piece puzzle, “Mushroom Glow” by Tomasz Pietrzyk (https://www.tomekpietrzyk.art/en/), puzzle design by Matt Lyon. We broke into it last Tuesday (11/11) & got about halfway finished, then picked it up & finished it today. The bottom quarter of the puzzle was really challenging — pretty dark and hard with some […]
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Richard Friend, Limberlost Woods
The third of three Artifact / Ecru puzzles that Yael loaned to me. The image looks initially a bit overwhelming, but all the trees have distinct patterns (a small number of repeats) that it made it easy and fun to assemble small pieces, and then match edges to other pieces. This was a 355-piece puzzle […]
Sky Village by Heather Gauthier, Artifact Ecru 409
“Sky Village” by Heather Gauthier, Ecru, 409 pieces. This is the second of a batch of three puzzles I borrowed from Yael. It was a steady, not difficult, solve, with lots of different areas of variously colored fruits, various textures on the animals, beads & ribbons, all on a damask-style background. (Looking at Gauthier’s website, […]
Roch Urbaniak, Unexpected Visitor
My neighbor and I have a lovely little neighborhood wooden puzzle lending program, and she has this Artifact puzzle I’ve been yearning to do — “Unexpected Visitor” by Roch Urbaniak. The Urbaniak image is beautiful, and the cut design by David Figueiras was lovely — geometric rows, plus fun astronomical / night themed whimsies, with […]
Shroom Town, Kristian Adam (Artifact)
When I saw this puzzle, “Shroom Town” (art by Kristian Adam), it reminded me so much of Ash’s little sculptural mushroom villages, that I had to get it. We had fun assembling it today — I was more challenging than one would expect from a 211-piece puzzle. The irregular edge really added to the challenge! […]
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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 […]
Poohsticks, by Iwona Lifsches, from Artifact
“Poohsticks” (image by Iwona Lifsches, cut design by Ashley Boyd, puzzle by Artifact) was the second in a Hoefnagel pack (with a BCB puzzle) that I knocked off while recovering from a bug. This one was interesting — the majority of the pieces had one of three standard interlocking shapes, a tulip, a fish fin, […]
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 […]
Artifact Puzzles Abu al-Hasan Squirrels
From Artifact Puzzles, via Hoefnagel, public domain art by Abu al-Hasan (1589-1630) or possibly Ustad Mansur. Squirrels in a plane tree by Abu al-Hasan (1589 – c. 1630) , Mughal India. Ash and I liked this one – the geometric shape to the “square” pieces, the whimsies, the border …. Artifact says: Here is a […]
Ryoko Meditating Skeleton by Artifact
“Meditating Skeleton” by Ryoko, from Artifact. Super fun! I really liked the irregular border. The base puzzle shape was a skull, with little heart-shaped bone socket connectors. I’ve had this puzzle since April 2022, and just hadn’t gotten around to it, but I’m so glad I finally did. The back makes me think very much […]
Mondrian, Composition with Grid 2 (1915), Artifact
This 153 piece Artifact puzzle is, unsurprisingly, a lot harder than the number of pieces would suggest. Mondrian‘s “Composition with Grid 2” is basically about 80 rectangles in various shades of blue-grey and brown-grey, over the eponymous blue grid … I really liked it. … The Artifact description calls this “calming blue”. If you look […]
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Two Cats by Yuri Gorbachev
Ash and I pushed through “Two Cats” by Yuri Gorbachev, an Artifact puzzle cut design by David Figueiras 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. update: good […]
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 […]
Outsider Insider
Artifact Puzzles “Outsider Insider” by Patricio Betteo. 409 pieces, puzzle design by Jim Muller and Kathryn Flocken. Hoefnagel! Really colorful and fun. Harder than I would have thought, due to the geometric cuts and the geometric lines, or maybe due to covid brain. Anyway, fun!
Ochiai Rofu, “Kyoto Four Scenes”
Thanks to the Hoefnagel Club, I got this challenging quadriptych (I had to look that up) of “Kyoto Four Scenes“, from Artifact Puzzles (Ecru line). Puzzling: The individual puzzles hang together pretty well once assembled, but until all the pieces are in, there’s lots of slipping and sliding and holding together. The colors are distinguishable, […]
Hasui Nocturne
From Artifact Puzzles, “Nocturne” by Kawase Hasui; originally a mystery puzzle. Tesselating fish with a beautiful engraving of a carp on the back. Pleasantly challenging and requiring of some focused attention.
Nadiezda “Night Ship”
Artifact Puzzles: Nadiezda’s “Night Ship” Ash and I did this one today, finishing it up after starting it last week. Lots of beautiful whimsies! This is a 283 piece wooden jigsaw puzzle of a gorgeous image by Mexican artist Nadiezda. The puzzle design is by Kathryn Flocken, and includes numerous sea whimsy pieces with shapes […]
Valentin Rekunenko “Swordfight”
This one was reasonably challenging — took a bit to get one’s eyes used to the contrasts between the puzzle pieces and the different frames, some parallel and some at angles with each other. The basic puzzle shape was a variation of the standard puzzle piece design, but with little tweaks — rounder and squarer […]
