Talking Tables “Pooch Puzzle”

This was a Christmas gift I received.  Finally got around to it while staying at an AirBnB after my home was damaged in a flood.   It's been great to have something calming and meditative while dealing with this stressful situation.

This puzzle required a lot of sorting.  Separating the puzzle into its individual portraits definitely made it easier. 

I'd never heard of the brand "Talking Tables" but this one was definitely well made.  All in all a quality, fun puzzle!

 

Wooden Elephant

 

My friend gave me this wonderful puzzle as a wrap gift, and we had a great time assembling it together!

I'm pretty certain it's from China, as there is no brand label on the box or insert at all.  Still, its a nice wooden puzzle with whimsy pieces that fit together well. The pieces came in an organza baggie with ribbon closure inside the box, and there is an poster that accompanies it, even though the full image is printed on the box.  It's a low piece count, but colorful and beautiful image that is intricate enough to be challenging.  Just the right size for a quick mental break at work!

 This is the first of three puzzles that my friend gifted me.  I look forward to doing the others.

Liberty Puzzles "Fates and Fortunes Halloween"

 

"Fates and Fortunes Halloween" from Liberty Puzzles was a fun way to get into the spirit of the holiday.  

This 252 pc puzzle has intricately shaped wooden pieces such as an owl, cat, witch, and other whimsical pieces.  Its small 8.25 x 13" size made it just right to complete on my desk at work.  I love the text of the poem, which reads "Softly/ Cross your fingers/ At the Witching Hour./ Over Fates and Fortunes/ The Moon will give you power."  The colors are vibrant and fun, with the background a faded hue that suggests vintage posters.

I am collecting seasonal Liberty to incorporate in all my holiday traditions!

 

Pomegranate “Colourful Wild Owl” by Ningiukulu Teevee

Here's another puzzle that I laid out in my office at work and finished with the help of my friends and coworkers.  It's a 500 piece Pomegranate.  I went shopping on Zulily specifically for 500 pc puzzles because I thought they would be easier to complete as a group project.  The repetition of colors and patterns in the bird's feathers still kept this puzzle challenging.

The image's artist, Ningiukulu Teevee, is a Canadian Inuit artist, and I can just imagine these owls standing out against a stark winter landscape.  The drawing is copyright 2013 but the puzzle is current.  Its finished size measured 18x24 inches, an easy size to frame.  The pieces were large due to the relatively small piece count of the puzzle.  This would be a fun image to reproduce for a chalk festival. 

 

Liberty "Hoppy Easter"

When I was working a full season of television I was able to treat myself twice to a Liberty Puzzles, a wooden jigsaw that is collector-level quality.  Due to demand during the Covid pandemic, to buy a Liberty puzzle one must go to their website and join a waiting list, then wait about six weeks for your name to come up  They send an email when it's your turn and you have 24 hours to make a purchase limited to a single item.  

For my purchase this spring, I chose an Easter themed puzzle.  I'll look forward to seeing these bunnies each year!  This is a 257 pc puzzle with a classic postcard theme.  It measures only 8.25x12.75 inches.  The fun thing about the Liberty brand is their whimsy pieces, and this puzzle was no exception.  There were easter eggs, a chick, and a bunny, in addition to the company's traditional whimsy shapes.  

I took this to work during Easter week and a co-worker friend of mine proceeded to put it together in an afternoon.  Even though for the most part I wasn't working it myself, it was fun to see it come together intermittently throughout the day!  I will do it all myself next year. 

 

Laurel Ink “English Embroidery III”

This is a puzzle I picked up from a local trade group.  The image is taken from tapestry and the brown tonal colors took my breath away.  But I hung onto it for quite a while because it looked difficult - and I was right!  My work friends and I thought this was one of the most difficult puzzles we had done.  It was fun to collaborate together. 

Laurel Ink's "English Embroidery III" is a 500 piece puzzle, with a finished size of 18 x 24 inches.  It's copyright 2002.  The puzzle pieces were large and random-cut.  They fit tightly together.  I'd absolutely try out this brand again.

 

Pomegranate “Flower Cycle” by Rosalind Wise

From Nov 2020 thru April 2021, I had the good fortune to have a Key 2nd AD job on a network show with a truly fun and gracious crew.  We were on the CBS Radford lot, and I had an office in the main production office building.  My office was a large room with four desks, to serve my entire department.  But I was the only one there during the course of the shooting day; most of my department was on set from call to wrap and only used the office at wrap.  So I had a generous amount of room.   My job as the information collector for the day's filming plan, known as the callsheet, meant I had find all sources I could.  One of my techniques is to always have a puzzle in the works in my office.  Folks would come in for a few minutes at a time, to find a few pieces as a break, and I would get to talk with them, picking their brain for info on their manpower for the next day.  

There were a few specific key players in my office that liked to puzzle as much as I do - John, the APOC, Michaela, the Office PA, and Bryan, the Base Camp AD.  Between the four of us we finished at least six large scale puzzles over the season.  

This Pomegranate 1000 piece is one of the most colorful puzzles I've ever worked.  The micro detail made it possible for there to be many elements to the design, and made it extremely difficult to solve.  The back of the puzzle box talks about artist Rosalind Wise's work:  "The composition of the painting is based on a large elliptical spiral along which twines a garland of garden flowers and wildflowers.  The earliest of blooms, the snowdrop, appears at the center, around which circle spring and summer blossoms....in the order in which they flower."  This was a fun puzzle to complete because I got it secondhand.  Happily, it was complete.

The finished size of 25x20 inches required a custom frame which was costly.  I ordered the white wood finish from ArtToFrame.Com and waited several weeks for the order to be filled. 

Pomegranate “Country Dog Gentlemen” by Roy De Forest

 

This Pomegranate is right up my alley - it features a painting by Roy De Forest from 1972 titled "Country Dog Gentlemen."  Knowing the time period of this work, it's not surprising that it contains a hallucination of mushrooms, amoebas, and dogs.  The box mentions De Forest as one of the original "Humorous Figuration" artists of the early 1960s.  He resided in the Bay area and taught at UC Davis from the '60s to the '80s.

 

My house has a new addition - current foster dog Carl, who may stay in our home as part of our family.  He needs a little time to settle in before we decide.  But he's getting along well with my girls and is a great playmate for Callie!  He was pulled from East Valley shelter in mid-August.  And apparently is fine posing for photos.  Meanwhile Claire and I just celebrated her 14th adoption anniversary, which means she is legitimately 15 or 16 years old, as she was fully grown when I adopted her from the Carson shelter in September of 2006.  She was recently diagnosed with kidney disease so every day with her is precious.

I received this puzzle from a local puzzle exchange group.  I couldn't believe it was complete, with no missing pieces!  We had a heat wave in California with temperatures reaching 113 degrees for about three days.  I holed up with the pups in our bedroom to conserve the air conditioning from our small window unit, and did this puzzle on my bed.  I was thankful to have something to focus on to pass the time.  It took me about two days to finish.

The finished puzzle size is 29 x 20 inches.  I'm able to find a poster frame from Wal-Mart for about twenty bucks that should fit this nicely, and so will be able to pass it along to a friend who owns a kennel. 

I love the quality of Pomegranate puzzles, both for their texture, thickness, and fit.  The pieces fit so well that it's easy to move finished sections around.  This puzzle in particular has such a range of bright colors that it was really fun to play with.  There is no copyright on the puzzle itself (though the painting is dated 1972), but looking at the Pomegranate website it seems this one is out of print, so I was lucky to get it secondhand.

F.X. Schmid “The Barnstormer” by John Wilson

Since the Coronavirus Pandemic began, Jenny's been kind enough to let me occasionally do laundry at her house to avoid the public laundromat.  I did this 300 piece puzzle today while at Jenny's house.  I timed myself, and it took about two hours. 

This F.X. Schmid puzzle is marketed as a "large format edition" with "easy to handle" pieces.  Finished, it measures 18 x 24 inches.  The artwork is by John Wilson, and copyright 2004.  The box credits "license granted by Wild Wings."  Made in Germany.  

The large pieces and smaller piece count made this a fun mental exercise to complete quickly.  I love the old time country image.  It had lots of details, like the dog chasing after the plane, the slingshot in the boy's back pocket, and a clothesline in the deep background.  A fun vintage puzzle over fifteen years old!

New York Puzzle Company "Life in an Oak" By Justine Lee Hirten and Virginia Greene

The popularity of puzzling has skyrocketed during Coronavirus pandemic quarantine, and I'm seeing the benefits.  I had a friend pass along a stack of puzzles that she had completed.  This puzzle is the first I opened.

The New York Puzzle Company's collaboration with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has birthed a beautiful line of images.  This 1000pc puzzle Measuring 26 5/8" x 19 1/4" contains so much information!  Titled "Life in an Oak," it illustrates the entire biologic cycle of life within a tree.  The box explains it "reveals the intricate relationships between insects, plants, and animals that live in and around oak trees.  Learn about the mushroom that vaporizes into an inky liquid to spread its spores, the weevils that eat acorns and in turn become food themselves, and the foxes and owls that live in the oak and prey on the mice and voles that feed on acorns."  The puzzle is copyright 2019, and comes with a poster that illustrates the puzzle, but also has insets explaining each of the animals listed in the description.

The quality of the pieces were museum-level, with a tight fit that I'd compare to Pomegranate.  I'll definitely be looking for more from this brand and series.

From the poster:

Karmin International "The Redecorators" by Linda Picken

This Linda Picken puzzle featuring painting puppies had me fooled - its blue color tones were more difficult to put together than I expected.  I framed these cute labs for a friend who has a dog boarding and training business.  "The Redecorators" is 18" x 24" at 550 pieces.  It's an earth friendly puzzle by Karmin International that is copyright 2011.  I found it at a thrift store.  There is a nice bio of the artist on the box that explains she's been painting for over thirty years and oil paintings of animals, especially dogs, are amongst her favorite subjects.

White Mountain “National Parks America” by Randy Green

This is the first 1000pc puzzle I've done in quarantine.  It did keep me busy for quite a while.  I spread out two pieces of foamcore on my bed, one with the puzzle pieces and one as a worksurface.  This is a very cool map puzzle from White Mountain - my first time trying that brand - that I bought new from Zulily.com.  I plan on framing this one without glass and getting map pins to mark all the national parks I've visited.  There are some nice descriptions and insets of the major parks.  I grew up some of my youth in Utah, which has many parks, so I'll have a good start at marking them.  

Copyright 2019, the puzzle measures 24 x 30 inches.  The artist is Randy Green.  The box is marked Made in USA.