moominmuppet

I've been doing jigsaws at a ridiculous pace recently, and that seems to be my current obsession. This is a post I've been working here and there for a few days now. Lots of puzzle recs and notes down below.

From my previous post, since I'm using this terminology below:
Piece Shape: I consider the most "Basic" piece shape to be the traditional "two tabs opposite each other" that we tend to imagine as a default. Some puzzles have nothing but these (and are damned hard as a result!) Most, though, have what I'm calling "Standard Varied" shapes -- they're still basically meant to fit within a grid, and have four sides with pretty clear innies and outies in various combinations. That leads to six basic piece shapes, if I'm counting correctly. When I'm working with these kinds of puzzles I tend to sort them first by basic piece shape. Then there are puzzles with "Unusual Varied" pieces that don't fit this basic format, and puzzles with some "Representational" pieces (known as Whimsies in the puzzling world). In my tracking of my puzzles I'm using "Basic/Standard Varied/Unusual Varied/Representational" as my categories.

I'm thinking about and window-shopping puzzles largely because it's hard to sort the wheat from the chaff in finding good puzzles without knowing something about their piece shape and arrangement (since that's a big factor of the enjoyment). It's frustrating to buy an awesome-looking puzzle and discover that it's entirely composed of Basic pieces. Very rarely is this clarified on puzzle-selling sites, so instead I try to take note of which manufacturers use creative dies, and which manufacturers tend to use the kinds of images I enjoy most. Even though specific puzzles below may no longer be available (they tend to go "out of print" quickly), I'll still be better off in finding good stuff overall.

On the puzzle front, I also forgot the other day to note one of the central things I enjoy about doing jigsaw puzzles! I really love the process of having to study a single image so closely and for so long; it gives me practice looking at things in different ways, noting their tiny characteristics, things like that. And I've always been particularly good at most spatial stuff, so I enjoy that element of mentally rotating and matching.

My favorite are puzzles with a lot of intricate detail; I don't like the long slog of trying piece after identical piece in a spot (the worst was a 1000-piece map of the world where the entire ocean was the same exact shade of blue and there was almost no piece shape differentiation). I much prefer having to think more intensely about what that little detail might be, and where it might logically fit. My favorites in that regard are the series of shaped puzzles with all sorts of little thematic details within them.

I just did Hummingbird Garden (Bits & Pieces) yesterday and enjoyed it immensely. Along with the fun detail and shape, it had lots of interesting piece shapes, too, and is a good example of my favorite type of puzzle, as is this Russian Dancer (another one I've done -- I believe it's Bits & Pieces too, although it's out of print).

Fionavar Tapestry Jigsaw Puzzle -- This is one I really enjoyed and found substantially challenging, although I'm not entirely positive I still have it. Sadly, it's also out of print, and I can't find any info on the manufacturer.

A comment from a post long ago, last time I got all puzzle-obsessed: I'm really liking Educa's puzzles, and that they have a lost piece service, and even include a packet of puzzle glue in the box, although I wish they were more creative with piece shape. Ah well; can't have it all.

Puzzle Manufacturers:
This isn't any kind of exhaustive list, just some notes about those I'm aware of, and what I know about them so far:
Bits & Pieces: From the colorful printing to the ultra heavy weight board, to the two piece presentation box, we make our puzzles to the highest standards. We design random cutting dies for more interesting puzzle pieces and rotate the dies to minimize duplication from puzzle to puzzle. -- They're not lying. I love their stuff when I can find images I like. Too bad they seem to mostly do country/nostalgia/cheesy stuff.
Here are a few I find interesting:
Bits & Pieces: Set Of 2 : Comic Chaos 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzles Len Epstein 20x27 Rectangular
Bits & Pieces: Black Bear Mountain 750 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Jack Williams 25x25 Shaped
Bits & Pieces: Wandering From The Den Skunk 750 Piece Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle Russell Cobane 20x27 (all of these shaped animal puzzles are pretty cheesy, but I'll suck it up when it's for my favorite sorts of animals)

Maybe surprisingly I'm not all that fond of Photomosaic jigsaws. I dislike the disconnect between the tiny images I'm trying to match to each other and the overall image itself.

Eurographics
Amazing cosmological, scientific, and artistic puzzle images. Unfortunately, I don't currently know anything about their piece shapes and cuts. Their puzzles also tend toward lots of small items against a solid background, which isn't my ideal sort of image, but on the flip side, those small items are often things like bats and inventors and spiders and musical instruments! If they turn out to have good piece shapes I might as well order stock in the damned company, but if they're boring shapes I'll be much less interested in the future.

Buffalo Games
PhotoSeek 750 Piece Rectangular Puzzles
Side by side they look the same, but look again! The image on the package and the fold out poster have 15 differences from the actual puzzle image. Be warned - most differences will take a sharp eye and careful scrutiny to find. Are you ready for the challenge of Photo Seek? -- Sounds fun, although I wish the images were more interesting to me overall.

Buffalo Games Signature Collection: "La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat 1000 pc matte finish 27x20
Buffalo Games Sistine Chapel 2000 pc 38x26
Buffalo Games Written Images Collection: Timber Wolf 1000 pc 27x20 -- Interesting idea, although it doesn't look like they're making that line anymore, and this is the only one that interested me thematically.

Pomegranate Jigsaws -- Absolutely gorgeous high-end art puzzles. I have two of them, although I last did them a few years ago, so my memory is fuzzy. I'm pretty sure they're standard puzzle piece shape and layout -- not as exciting as the really variable stuff that's out there, but a far sight better than Culturenik's "nothing but basics" approach to piece shape.
Pomegranate: Neighborhood Watch by Kathy DeZarn Beynette 300 pc 18x24
Pomegranate: Fairies, 2010, by Michael Hague 300 pc 18x24
Pomegranate: The Addams Family by Charles Addams 300 pc 18x24
Pomegranate: Biosphere: Hydrographers Canyon, 1994 by Alexis Rockman 1000pc 20x25
Pomegranate: Edward Gorey: Frawgge Mfrg Co 1000 pc 20x27 -- I have this one
Pomegranate: Dracula in Dr. Seward’s Library, by Edward Gorey 500-piece 24x18
Pomegranate: Diego Rivera: Detroit Industry 1000 pc 29x20 -- and also this one


Solar System
Da Vinci's World -- I have this one, and really want a lot of these: Scroll down to see all the art themes by artist

Alice In Wonderland, Cheshire Cat - 1000pc Jigsaw Puzzle by Culturenik

Maurice Sendak: Sleeping - 700pc Large Format Jigsaw Puzzle by Heye

Little Red Riding Hood - 500pc Jigsaw Puzzle By Educa

Where the Wild Things Are - 1000pc Jigsaw Puzzle by Culturenik (if it's like the other Culturenik puzzle I've done, they make great designs, but their piece shape is really basic -- given that there are other Sendak puzzles out there from other manufacturers, I'd probably start with them).

Map of the Sky - 1000pc Jigsaw Puzzle by Eurographics
( Read more... )

The Other World (Arco) -- I found it! I finally found it!!! This is an action figure set I had when I was young, and still have several figures (and the interior backing of one of the boxes, which I used as a poster for years). I've been wondering for ages what they were! I still have several of the little purple and orange dudes, and the big orange centaur/cat whatever-it-is (Yurus The Terrible, apparently).

And just the other day I tracked down another set from childhood: Outer Terrestrial Creatures. I had all six of these, too. I took them everywhere in sixth grade (which was a particularly miserable year for me) and pretended in my head that I was really an alien. I came up with elaborate backstories about which planet each was from, and how their physical traits were adaptations to the various environments. (for example, the one with the sort of bubbly skin was from Jupiter, and those skin sacs absorbed and released different gasses to allow him to float up and down through the atmosphere)

In other moments of nostalgia, I've confirmed that
Blackstar is the cartoon I'd been trying to identify for ages.
John Blackstar, astronaut, is swept through a black hole, into an ancient alien universe. Trapped on the planet Sagar, Blackstar is rescued by the tiny Trobbit people. In turn he joins their fight for freedom against the cruel Overlord, who rules by the might of the Powerstar. The Powerstar is split into the Powersword and the Starsword. And so with Starsword in hand, Blackstar, together with his allies, sets out to save the planet Sagar. This is his destiny. "I am John Blackstar." -- Oh yeah.
(I still have an action figure or two from that, as well)

Also, why does no one else remember The Mighty Orbots?

Brain being eaten by a combination of Ticket To Ride Online, Doctor Who, Farscape, and True Blood (I've been in a marathoning sort of mood recently). Life's good, I'm gardening for the first time in years, we've got the truck fixed up early, there should be a firebowl party later this month. I'm in a very good, productive mood, if not a particularly social one. Tonight I'm planning on following up on some exploring I've been doing about carryout food anywhere near my office. Since I switched shifts, options are incredibly limited, and there's only so much chinese food, Mr. Hero, and pizza I can eat before I go nuts. However, I think I can just barely make it to Grovewood Tavern for a carryout order. The one time I had their food it was amazing, and I think the mini brie salad and the blackened scallops might be calling my name.

Work is good, and still remarkably chill, although I'm sure the project work will be coming sooner or later. Home is a continual project, but a good one. Not too much going on beyond that, and I'm pretty happy with that at the moment.

I'd better stop flaring soon; I can't afford the rate I'm going through jigsaw puzzles (it's generally taking one to two days to finish each).

Reminders to myself of puzzles I'm interested in:

Ravensburger Marine Wildlife (sale)
Waiting for Neptune
All the World's a Stage
Quincy Market Puzzle (sale)
Icemark (sale)
Grateful Dead Backstage (sale)
Frogs and Friends (sale)
Giocconda & Vitruvian Man Jigsaw Puzzle Set 2 (definitely!)
The World Jigsaw Puzzle Set 2 (definitely!)
Mapamundi, 1375, Cresques Abraham (definitely!)
Nicolao Visscher Orbis Terrarum Nova (definitely!)
You Are Here (planets) (definitely!)
Da Vinci's World (definitely!)
Magna Carta (definitely!)

I should grab the cheapies (especially the hospital copies -- damaged boxes) soon, but I'm all psyched to have finally found such an assortment of map puzzles. And the two two-packs I've got listed above are both really cool and really good deals, so those're high on the list, too.

Family, if you're wondering about b-day presents, the any of the above would be awesome, but check with me first, because I'm likely going to order a couple in the next week or so; I'm down to one uncompleted puzzle at the moment.

Migraine today. Migraine yesterday. Also, 'tis the season for fibro flares. Bleh. On the positive side, not depressed, just physically crappy. Still on an introverted swing, though.

I forgot to mention that I got my Portapuzzle 1500 last week, and I love and adore it. I really enjoy doing jigsaws, and haven't in probably five years, at least, because eight animals and lots of little pieces just don't combine well. This is working amazingly well. I finally did the Fionavar Tapestry jigsaw I've had for years, still in its wrapper (the breeze of patchouli and nag champa when I opened it comfirmed that no matter how long ago, it was most _definitely_ purchased in a head shop *chuckle*). I started this past weekend, finished last night/this morning. I just got started on this awesome Russian dancer, and it's a nice change from the complexity of the Fionavar piece -- this is all bright colors and clear lines, and it's so pretty up close. I love this line of shaped puzzles (ok, having just looked through the rest of the line I'll amend that to "some" of this line -- lots of those are damned cheesy); I'm working my way up to the shaped Dragon puzzle I got from James and Anna a couple years ago; I can't find a pic online, but it's similar to the Russian Dancer in style, except that it's all reds and golds, so it'll be a lot harder. I love all the little scenes buried in it, though.

So, I'm spending a lot of time working on my puzzles, watching political news. It really is my soap opera, or my sports fandom, or something. I watch way more than is actually productively providing me info. Can't wait for the debate tonight! Also, loving, loving, loving Rachel Maddow's new show. My crush on that woman just keeps growing.

Also, 'tis the season for amazingly, awesomely bad horror movies on late night TV! Oh, my DVR is filling up! I'm assuming Blue Demon was an intentional spoof; I was giggling uncontrollably through the whole thing.

Still haven't been reading anything excepts articles. Still feel very strange about that. I blame it on Sudoku; it's eaten my commute time. Really need to recreate my "books to read" pile so it's handy as I'm walking out the door in the morning. Also, need to request a bunch of stuff from the library that I've been meaning to get to.

Saw the doctor yesterday again about the leg thing, and had a really good, productive conversation with her. I think we're on a good track to getting it figured out (we're checking for both allergic reactions and coagulation problems now), and I was reminded of why I chose her in the first place, and why I plan to stick with her. She's excellent at working collaboratively, and I must have that with my doctors, or I get unbelievably prickly about my autonomy. Incidentally, recommendation for folks who are trying to find doctors they connect with -- if you find one doc you work well with, ask for their recommendation for other docs they think will connect well with you. That's how I found this GP (a rec from my gyn), and how I found my rheumatologist (rec from my counselor). Given that I have very specific psychological needs in the doctor-patient relationship, that's saved me a lot of wasted time seeing doctors who aren't a good fit for me. It does seem I need to go back to my rheumatologist, though. If we're right in guessing that my high-dose ibuprofen usage has something to do with the current medical weirdness, I'll need to come up with a new basic maintenance package for myself. Also, I need to get documentation about the fibro anyway, since my old boss and I had an understanding about my UPTO time for it, and I don't trust new boss in the same way.

Got to see Gini and Ferrett in person for the first time in ages, though, thanks to be home from work yesterday, and I should be seeing may_dryad this weekend, which is also excellent. And I have almost entirely defeated the clinic escort schedule for yet another month. Yay!


Geeky and fantastic image (worksafe)

Incidentally, I'm always on the lookout for cross-stitch and jigsaws that are outside the country/crafty norm that's most commonly available. Feel free to drop me pointers if you know of some good sites to find these. I've got a few, but not many.

I laid down to take a little nap about 7:30pm. And woke up at 2:30am. Oops. Should go back to bed; I have to be up in about three hours to go escort.

In the process of unpacking the games I ran across two plastic toy scimitars that used to decorate my wall (I think they also used to make *crash* noises when you banged them together, but apparently not anymore). It got me idly wondering about why I don't like having toy guns around, but toy swords don't elicit the same reaction. I wonder if I lived in a society where swords were actually regularly used as weapons, would I feel differently? Would I feel differently about toy guns if I lived in a society where real guns weren't a hot-topic issue?

Henna kit for kids
(firinel, marnanel, forestfire -- I'm curious what you think of that in terms of potential for fun vs potential for mess and/or freaked out grandparents or teachers)

And various general henna kits -- If I get a henna kit for bec76 at some point, that means I can wheedle my way into henna decorations for me. I'm sneaky that way.