Playing Cards
Piatnik
1000 pieces
20" x 27"
purchased new from Amazon ($18)
Difficulty level: easy
There is a discontinued 6000-piece version of this puzzle that I would love, but I haven't able to find a copy. I have been working simultaneously on two exceptionally difficult puzzles and wanted a little break to do something fun. Piatnik's cut and quality are both top-notch--I just wish they did larger piece counts and more fine art subjects.
Jackson Pollock's Convergence
Pomegranate
1000 pieces
$16 new from ebay
Difficulty level: really, really hard!
Enjoyment level: off the charts fun
My first Pomegranate. I like the piece variety and the matte finish. They seem to have consistently the best images out of all the puzzle manufacturers with their fine art puzzles. I only wish they came bigger than 1000 pieces.
The puzzle has a nice piece variety; this helps make a puzzle that would be insanely difficult if it used mostly standard "hole peg hole peg" pieces into only very, very difficult.
After doing the border, I initially sorted entirely by piece shape, thinking that would be the best way to attack. Horrible idea.
Next I dumped all the pieces back in the box and started looking for pieces that were predominantly white or blue, as those were the easiest to spot, and there weren't quite as many of them as there were red or yellow or brown ones.
Once I had assembled all I could based solely on color, I finally re-sorted all the remaining pieces by shape, and laid them all out. This at least allowed me to see all the pieces at once.
Slowly it came together, and then the final push.
This is the first puzzle I've done that I didn't simply crumble up and throw back in the box; rather, I carefully broke the puzzle into sections to store back in the box.
Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers
Piatnik
1000 pieces
$11 on ebay (complete)
Difficulty level: fairly easy; the brown pieces I did at the end were a little tough
Brooklyn Bridge
Ravensburger (mid-90's? pre-2001, anyway)
2000 pieces
30" x 39"
found on the giveaway table in my apartment building
Difficulty level: pretty tough, the sky is extremely difficult
The sky is brutal. First I sorted by shape, then pulled the lightest and darkest pieces. Working along the top (dark) and bottom (light), I repeated the process, making slow progress.
Map of the Sky
Eurographics
1000 pieces
27" x 20"
purchased new ($16) from Amazon
Difficulty level: moderate
I really want these 3000 and 6000 piece versions of the sky map, but they're out of print and really expensive and hard to find, so I settled for this 1000-piece one from Eurographics. I really like the cut of this one; like the Dalek puzzle this is more of a Springbok cut and has very few similar pieces, and hardly any of the standard "peg hole peg hole" shape that compose 90% of most puzzles.
Outline:
Filled in all the lettering and black sky:
Assembled the two circles:
Filled in the plain dark blue:
Did the lighter blue constellation pieces:
Then the rest:
Dalek Blueprints
Culturenik
1000 pieces
27" x 20"
purchased new ($17) from ebay
Difficulty level: First 800 pieces were easy; last 200 were moderately difficult.
I'm a big Doctor Who fan, and this puzzle looked tough (it reminds me of a 6x smaller and 100x easier version of this puzzle, which is tough to find and expensive when you do). The cut is really nice--it's more of a Springbok cut with its huge variety of pieces, rather than the standard "two holes, two pegs" that make up most puzzles.
The first thing I did was to separate the pieces into four categories: edges, lettering/numbers, pieces that are solid blue, and everything else. The border and lettering were first, naturally:
Next I focused on getting the two Daleks together:
The I filled out all the pieces that had any sort of line or marking on them . . .
. . . leaving just the solid blue to go.
And then it's done. Fun, quick, moderately challenging puzzle.
Giovanni Paolo Pannini's Picture Gallery
F. X. Schmid, late 90s(?)
2000 pieces
36 1/2" x 25 3/4"
$34.99 from ebay, sealed/complete
Difficulty level: Fairly difficult
Pannini's title is actually Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, titled here just Picture Gallery, while the notoriously difficult 5000-piece Ravensburger edition is titled Views of Modern Rome. There are also 4000- and 6000-piece versions from other publishers.
After two sessions, I have all the border done, plus the red curtains, most of the men, and have started on the frames.
After getting started on the frames, I concentrated on getting the paintings themselves done, starting with the skies; each one is almost like a mini-puzzle.
The last 200 or so pieces are pretty tough--mostly shadows and statues and bits of architecture and walls that have no detail.
This was a hugely enjoyable puzzle, one that I completed in about half the time as the Step puzzle that was half the size.
