Two Pandas

Two Pandas
Frank Lukasseck
MB Puzzles/Hasbro

Stats:

Pieces: 100

Size: 12.5" tall x 15" wide

Shape: rectangle

Location of printing: United States

Location of manufacture: United States
Puzzle Vintage: 2008

Artist: Frank Lukasseck, Corbis

Purchase location: (from the free table at school)

Start Date: February 23, 2018

O came home with another puzzle from the free table at school!  She had tried working on it with her mom the day previous, but they had been unable to complete it before they had to clean up and disassemble it.

We did some measurements to see if we could use the board from Crystal Kingdom, but it was a half and inch too short, so we decided to build it on the living room carpet.

O mentioned that when she was building it the day before, she found the pieces were weirdly shaped, and did not click together very well.

First sort separated the corners, the edges, and the center pieces.  As we were sorting we realized this puzzle was mostly black and white (who woulda thunk it, being a photo of pandas!), so it was likely going to be tricky.

We used the box for a reference, which seemed to be an important decision because the puzzle is essentially three colors - black, white, and green.

It took about 15 minutes to build the frame, with the usual siblingual distractions for O.

From there, O separated out the eyes, noses, and claws of the pandas. I worked on the grass at the top.

O worked on the white parts of the pandas, and requested milestone photography.

From there we realized that the remaining pieces were all the same color, and O suggested we figure out the rest of the pieces based on piece shape.  A young woman after my own heart!

Also, the piece shapes were generally the basic shapes I've discussed before, but each one was definitely unique, with funky curves and did not interlock well. That might have been from the general thinness of the pieces, too.  It frustrated us repeatedly when the pieces floated apart while building.  But, the weird pieces did make it easy to know with great certainty if a piece fit or not.

More milestone photography.

I looked up the puzzle manufacturer, as I had vague memories of my own MB puzzles in my childhood.  Apparently Hasbro bought Milton Bradley (MB), then Parker Brothers, then merged them to form Hasbro Games. In 2009, a year after our panda puzzle was manufactured, MB and Parker Brothers dropped their names completely, and are just all Hasbro now. I looked on the Hasbro Games website, and they no longer make puzzles. 

Completion!

A fine puzzle!

Completion date: February 23, 2018

Missing pieces: 0

Belvedere pt. 1

I finished Birducopia, but didn't want to break it down until the young people who live with me had seen it - there are so many hidden creatures in it that they had enjoyed discovering while I was building it.

So, I figured I could finally build another long rectangular puzzle I hadn't been able to in the past because of table size, and I could build the frame with Birducopia still on one side of the table. Huzzah! I started to build the frame, and took photos of puzzle dust and ... long story short:

"Belvedere"
M.C. Escher
Buffalo Games

Stats:

Pieces: 1000

Size: 26.75" tall x 19.75" wide

Shape: rectangle

Location of printing: United States

Location of manufacture: United States

Artist: M.C. Escher

Purchase location: Diversions Puzzles & Games.  Probably.

Start Date: February 11, 2018

I had started this one before, but had to disassemble it before completion.  So, here we are!  I remembered a little bit from my previous attempt, but in retrospect I feel that my murky memories were unhelpful.  Almost detrimental.

This is a puzzle from Buffalo Games, which is a fantastic American Brand from Buffalo, NY.  The pieces are square-based, but with some new piece shapes so that's cool.  There were a few pieces with the layers separating, but I fixed them with some white school glue no problem.  Other than that, the quality is uniform and good.  Good print quality, and thick pieces with a good snap.  The cuts are all perfect.

It also came with a poster of the artwork, which will prove to be quite helpful.

Did the first sort and found the corners, the edge pieces, inside pieces with person parts, and ones with stick/pipe looking things on a dark background.

I also tried to find one of each piece shape, because there are some interesting variations.

The top row is the basic familiar shapes, from left to right: all-tabs, house, panda, regular, dancer and all-holes.

The bottom rows are the same basic shapes, but with a sledge replacing a side.  The sledges are satisfying to slide into each other, but obviously they do not interlock really.

This puzzle is hard.  It is monochromatic, and, well, M.C. Escher.  I am slogging through this thing, trying to do the white parts at the top, or the tile floor-looking thing at the bottom.  Ok I got this guy's head together.  Oh my gosh this is freaking HARD. 

Yes my puzzle dude, I feel this way.

OK so this is not fun so I am going to use the poster.  And I will not feel guilty about not building blind.  Because building blind is an arbitrary rule that I created to add challenge and fun to the puzzle building process.  And since I created the rule for myself for my own enjoyment, then I should only follow it if it does create enjoyment.  At this moment, it will give me much MORE enjoyment to study the poster (Thanks, Buffalo!!) so I can put this thing together eventually.

Oh this is much better!

Birducopia pt. 2

I've been meaning to blog more about the building process on this puzzle, but it came together really quickly.

Having built significant color groups already, then the frame, it felt like things came together more quickly than they would have otherwise, even though I know that's silly.

Man, I realize that it came together so well I didn't photograph the completed frame.  This is a piece of it, though. Lovely polka dots!  

I worked the rest of the puzzle through small color motifs, like blue line over brown background, or white line over black background:

Also the top and bottom edge have a distinct green, and so the pieces there were easy to find as well.

One frustration I had with the puzzle was unique piece shape.  As in, the pieces were all square-based, which is fine, but when you cut that way, it is important that the pieces be unique enough that incorrect fits are uncommon.  That was not the case here. There were many instances, including on the green edge pieces, of pieces seeming to fit, but not being correct.  I mean, that sort of thing happens with most puzzles from time to time, but this happened enough here that I believe it is not just me, that it is the puzzle. The piece quality is very good - the printing lovely, the cuts all perfect, but awkward fits are a heart breaker.  I'll happily do a Pomegranate again, but I think it will need to be one with distinct artwork like this one.  Anything muddy (which is a fun challenge anyway), would be exceptionally challenging, since shape-based building would be much more fiddly.

IdaCat was very interested in this puzzle.  She sat on it while I was trying to work on it, rolled around in the loose pieces, and deposited them all over the living room.  Super helpful.  Good job, kitty.

Completion date: February, 10, 2018

Missing pieces: 0

Crystal Kingdom

"Crystal Kingdom"
Melissa & Doug

Stats:

Pieces: 48

Size: 12" tall x 15" wide

Shape: rectangle

Location of printing: ?

Location of manufacture: ?

Artist: ?

Purchase location: (from the free table at school)

Start Date: February 4, 2018

O asked me this morning if I would like to do a unicorn puzzle with her.  Absolutely I would like that!  So she brought out a wooden puzzle she had gotten from the free table at school.

The puzzle has its own little wooden tray, so that was pretty neat. We found the corners and put them in place, and I sorted out the edge pieces, showing O how the flat edge of the pieces sits nicely against the inside edge of the tray.

The pieces are wooden and we both had frustration at times making them go together, and verifying they fit at all.  The pieces are very shiny!  One edge piece was missing.

We made good progress though, and completed it in nice time.

Completion date: February 4, 2018

Missing pieces: 1

Town Houses pt. 2

In preparation for a small gathering at my home for my birthdaytimes, I did another sort, separating by like patterns: tile roof, bushes, and clouds/maybe trees, and the remainder which was other house parts.

I figured that way if folks wanted to do adjacent pieces, they would be easier to find.  I found a few paired pieces and left them out for people.

Several of my friends and family members enjoyed coloring at the party.  My sister did a lot of roof work, with a distinct pattern that now adorns many houses.

Megan also did some roof, but with a more rainbowed color palette.

Since then, the children who live in my house, and other friends have also made contributions.

It is starting to look really cool, you guys.

I completed the puzzle, and have continued to color, mostly finishing pieces that are partially colored.  The kids have taken over the sky.

So, even though the puzzle is technically completed, as far as assembly is concerned, all the pieces are not colored, so when that is done, I will come back to this and mark is as completed.

I think, too, once I have all the partially-colored pieces totally colored in, I will put all the pieces back in the box, with totally colored ones in a zip lock.  As people color the pieces, they put them in the zip lock, and then when all the pieces are colored I will reassemble the puzzle and it shall be complete.  Huzzah!

Town Houses pt. 1

It was my birthdaytimes, and I wanted to have a puzzle that could be colored in, like a coloring book.  I want the people in my life to color pieces of the puzzle which I would assemble, and it would make me think of all the lovely people every time I assemble.  Woohoo, I thought,  what a great idea.

So I went on ye olde Amazon.com and looked for such a thing.  If it stayed within the theme of fine art puzzles, that would even be better, so I can get back on track with that whole thing.

I found a puzzle based on Johanna Basford's Secret Garden coloring book for adults.  Fantastic!  Basford's work is super rad; this will be great.  500 pieces, so I can assemble it quickly, and it is Buffalo, which is an excellent brand.  Made in the United States, superior piece quality.  Great stuff.  It arrived on my birthday, with the fancy markers I bought just for this occasion.

Yay!!! Look how awesome!  I cracked it open.

What. These pieces are all colored in already.  This is TERRIBLE.  I mean, it's a pretty puzzle and I look forward to building it but THIS IS TERRIBLE.  I have a PLAN. A BIRTHDAY PLAN.

My good monster and I were going out and about on adventures by the mall anyway, so we stopped into the puzzle store Diversions Puzzles and Games in South Portland. I looked around a bit, because they always have such nice things, and it was my birthday!  I didn't find any coloring puzzles, so I asked the sales associate. I explained my desires for a collaborative puzzle/art experience and she thought that was pretty rad and showed me the only coloring puzzles they had, and promised to go out back for a Christmas themed one if I wanted that.

I found one that I liked very well - it was rows of houses and thematically the imagery of a neighborhood fit best with the experience I wanted to have.

I bought my puzzle and was excited to get home and check it out.

"Town Houses"
Eurographics

Stats:

Pieces: 300

Size: 13" tall x 19" wide

Shape: rectangle

Location of printing: United States

Location of manufacture: United States

Artist: unknown

Purchase location: Diversions Puzzles and Games, South Portland, Maine

Start Date: January 25, 2018

I love Eurographics puzzles.  They may not be terribly fancy when it comes to piece quality, but they are definitely solid, with clean cuts, a modest amount of puzzle dust, and the best works of art.  They are typically made in the United States (though sometimes printing in Canada), and they are super reliable when it comes to challenging and creative piece shapes.  

Also, the boxes are really excellent! The box for this puzzle is an incredibly tight fit, so I can rely on no pieces escaping. 

Stripped off the plastic, popped open the box, and inside:

This is an awfully big box for these contents, Eurographics.

What is in this baggie?

What the hecken?

Oh I see.  It is a hanging kit.  Fun!  Extra stuff!

I strategically shook the plastic bag of puzzle pieces to get all the dust to go down into the bottom corner.  Usually these bags have a few holes in them for air to escape but not pieces, and I was careful to not let too much dust floof out the holes.

Not too shabby. I tore open the bag and blindly pulled out a piece to color. I was wicked excited to try the new markers and see how they worked with the puzzle.

Pretty cool. This is going to be fun.

First sort was just corners, and edge pieces. 

I was trying to decide if I should build half the puzzle, so people can decide if they want to color adjacent pieces together, for context, or just color random pieces.  

The missing edge piece is in the pile.  I found it.

All the pieces are uniformly shaped, all normal shape.  But, as a Eurographics, the variations are many and pleasing, so you don't really notice the uniformity, which is fun.

Birducopia pt. 1

"Birducopia"
Charley Harper
Pomegranate

Stats:

Pieces: 1000

Size: 32" tall x 16" wide

Shape: rectangle

Location of printing: China

Location of manufacture: ?

Artist: Charley Harper

Purchase location: Amazon.com

Start Date: January 23, 2018

I waited to start a new puzzle after I finished the Ravensburger pencils because I wanted to do my initial sort at my friend DCatz's house.  She and I like to get together periodically for quiet evenings of puzzling and knitting and complaining about Paul Hollywood's ways.

I chose this one carefully; it's a puzzle I purchased last summer, as part of my goal to only have puzzles depicting fine art.  I realize this is a bit silly now considering that the first two puzzles I examined on this blog were assuredly not fine art (sorry, Adrian Chesterman), but that was my goal, and something I like to do.  In examining each piece, I find that I am looking at the art itself in a different way, noticing the strokes of the paint brush, the composition of the piece, and creating a better appreciation in myself for the art and the artist.

The reason I had not done this puzzle previously is when I got it in the mail, I noticed the dimensions:

My old puzzle table was not big enough to make this puzzle.  Before cracking open the box, I measured the puzzle table I have now.

Victory!  With an inch to spare on each side!

The box says this about the artist, Charley Harper:

As an avid naturalist, Charley Harper’s life’s work was painting the insects, plants, birds, and animals he loved. Early on, his ultrarealistic works gave way to familiar scenes based on bold geometric shapes, crisp lines, and jolts of unmodulated color. Harper’s posters for conservation organizations have become some of his most enjoyed works—skillful and playful menageries of local wildlife. Populated by ferns and fawns, salamanders and scarlet tanagers, Birducopia presents a multitude of creatures from Ohio’s Penitentiary Glen.

Pomegranate also publishes Charley Harper's wildlife art in a variety of products, including What's in the Woods? A Nature Discovery Book (2013), which highlights Birducopia'a creatures up close.

There is a multiple-part retrospective on Charley Harper here, should that interest you.

This is my first Pomegranate.  They are very high quality pieces with minimal dust, and excellent cuts.  I noticed on the box the puzzle was printed in China, but I was not sure where it was otherwise manufactured, so I emailed the company.  I will update when I get a response.  I did see on their website that they will replace missing puzzle pieces, so that is very cool!

Anyway, since I don't have a satisfactory travel method right now, but I do have my sweet sorting trays, and they are very easy to transport, with very minimal spillage.  Huzzah!

I did the sort for edge pieces, found the corners without incident, and then took out a handful or so of middle pieces to try to determine some clear color themes to do the first inside piece sort.

This puzzle is so colorful, and I haven't studied the image in detail (I plan to build it blind), so I wasn't sure at first how to sort.  Based on the edge pieces, the orange bits with stripes, and the stripey green ones seemed like ones I would use early on.

There were some colors that were substantially bold, and I picked those out, too.

This was looking pretty good, and I had few enough of the blue, and black and white pieces to start building.

Due to the portability issue, I have started on the insides before the frame, which is not something I have done in my late-30s puzzling hobby.  UNTIL NOW. Hahaha.