maker: puzzle hand-cutters

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 […]

Cats and Birds, Miko, BCB
Brookie Biglands (BCB) hand-cut this puzzle, with art by Miko, “Cats and Birds”, and I got it via Hoefnagel. Beautiful wood, beautifully cut, and with fun art. A pleasant solve!

Chestnut & Hemlock, tree snuggle
This was a beautiful birthday gift from Michele …. Ash did it. (-:

Chestnut & Hemlock pocket owl
My partner got me a couple of very sweet handcut puzzles from Chestnut & Hemlock, in Alabama. Ash and I did the “pocket owl”, which was beautiful.

Mandala Effect, Loubud
My second Loubud Puzzle, “Mandala Effect” (labeled Mandela on the box). A fast, pleasant solve. Such a beautiful image! We loved the cattiness of the mandala, and the multi-piece dog and unicorn whimsies. (Plus the little seahorse.)

Brawlin’ Betties from LouBud Puzzles
I learned about LouBud from Rebecca Tushnet, of course, and was immediately drawn to this “Brawlin’ Betties” benefit puzzle — benefiting the Brawlin’ Betties, a Santa Barbara-area roller derby team. LOVED this puzzle — so cute with the cut-outs for the roller skate eyelets, and the quite elegant “BB” logo. A keeper! Not hard, at […]

Monet’s Poppy Fields, cut by Carol Ottenberg
In a recent pack from Hoefnagel, I had two fun hand-cut puzzles — one from Stave, and this one from Carol Ottenberg (aka Ledgewood Puzzles), who I was happy to meet at Puzzle Parley 2024. Look at those fabulous whimsies — hand-cut! The image is cited as Claude Monet’s “Poppy Fields at Vetheuil” (1879), and […]

Miko’s Jazz Frog Choir, cut by BCB
I have loved all the BCB (Brookie Biglands) puzzles I’ve done, and this one is no exception. The cutting is so lovely & well-fitting, the puzzle hangs together vertically by one hand, and the image (by “Miko“) was cute. This was one of a Hoefnagel pack, and I did both of them on Sunday, recovering […]

Chris Yates Baffler 4949, Warp and Woof, Orange
August 4 – Hard! We started to make some progress but there’s a lot to go. August 7 – Finished! Chris Yates’ posts on flickr (or was it instagram?) about this puzzle — indispensable, honestly.

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!

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.

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!

Parrots and Parakeets by Conrad Armstrong
A fun puzzle via Hoefnagel. Hand-cut by Conrad Armstrong,

BCB “Smellin’ Good” Bamboozled
Another fun “snuggle” piece style puzzle, from BCB Puzzles, via Hoefnagel — this one was very doable; the frame was actually more challenging than the snuggle pieces.

BellArt Angel Maze Fish
Weird story. I got this BellArt puzzle from Hoefnagel, and then Ash and I did it — part of it — and then apparently I put the box on the top of the car? and it fell out? and someone found all the pieces (but two) and the box and put the puzzle together, and […]

Puzzlapy, Fish Bowl
One of two cute cat puzzles from Puzzlapy, via Hoefnagel.

BCB, Hat Shoppe snuggle puzzle
Boy, I am terrible at these puzzles where you just snuggle a bunch of pieces together, and they sort of ambiguously fit together, in the subtlest of ways …. Hoefnagel sent me a pack with the Chris Yates puzzle and this BCB “Hat Shoppe” puzzle. I was able to (correctly) assemble quite a few sets […]

Chris Yates, Remote Archipelago
Courtesy of a Hoefnagel pack, a little wooden semi-representational puzzle of islands by Chris Yates. Hoefnagel says: 61 pieces, hand-cut, there is no picture on the box, but we can tell you this little puzzle was inspired by the idea of a remote archipelago, and the puzzle does not have a printed image, rather the […]

CobbPodgery, WPA poster
Courtesy of the Hoefnagle wooden puzzle club, a hand-cut puzzle from CobbPodgery (E. Cobb) — the WPA poster, “Let Them Grow”. A thinnish wood, and I was a little worried that the four-color graphic with lots of blocks of color would be hard — but the puzzle cut made it steady work, and there was […]