Category: Helsinki

Panorama Map of Europe, 2022-02-22

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This, unfortunately, turned out to be probably the worst Ravensburger that I’ve ever done. Many of the pieces won’t lie flat, and the fit was also quite loose. I don’t mind a loose fit, but combined with a bad cut it doesn’t make for an enjoyable experience.

The puzzle is from 2004. I bought it second hand, but the bag with the pieces was still unopened.

Panorama Map of Europe, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 22, 2022.

Until I started working on it, I thought there would be hardly any text in this puzzle. Well, turned out that there were plenty of place names, you just needed a magnifying glass to see them:

I can’t think why they would have made the text so small. All in all, not a good day for Ravensburger.

Burning Giraffe, 2022-02-14

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Another puzzle with a Dalí image. Many Bluebird art puzzles have gone a bit wild with the colour saturation, but that’s definitely not the case here. The image on Wikpedia looks more saturated than this, but photos can be deceiving, and even more so when viewed on a computer.

Burning Giraffe by Salvador Dalí, Bluebird, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 14, 2022.

There is an actual burning giraffe in the image, to the left, although I didn’t notice it before I started doing the puzzle. Dalí had used the burning giraffe image before, and according to Wikipedia, “Dalí described this image as “the masculine cosmic apocalyptic monster”. He believed it to be a premonition of war.” The painting is from 1937, when Spain was in the middle of a civil war.

Secret Garden, 2022-02-09

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Another Kaj Stenvall collection puzzle. This one was fairly easy, and the quality was otherwise OK, but the fit was very loose. I didn’t really mind, I really enjoyed this!

Secret Garden by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 9, 2022.

Whose Move, 2022-02-02

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Remember ths Kai Stenvall Collection? I just realized that it’s been an entire year since I found the last puzzle in the collection and completed it. I’m going to start doing more of these, otherwise I’ll never get them all done. Two cranky ducks this time, looks like some sort of marital dispute.

Whose Move by Kai Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 2, 2022.

This was thankfully one of the older, better quality Tactics, otherwise those sheets would have been impossible. It looks so clear now, but most of the blue pieces looked more like grey before I put it all together. Not easy, but it remained enjoyable to the end.

Dark Chill, 2022-01-29

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Another wonderful Kandinsky. There was quite a lot of blue, but it wasn’t too much of a problem. When I finally sorted the remaining pieces by shape, I found that the the smallest pile was the one with two tabs opposite. This was my first Bluebird with a large area of the same colour, and the cut was OK, although not excellent. Pieces sometimes fit where they don’t belong, at least if you don’t look carefully 🙂 This 1000-piece puzzle was made in Poland, unlike the larger Bluebirds that are made in Turkey. I think the cut of the larger puzzles is better.

Dark Chill by Kandinsky, Bluebird, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 29, 2022.

The title on the box was in German and French only (Dunkle Kühle / Fraîcheur sombre), and the translation is mine (I don’t know if there is an established English translation). The painting is from 1927, when Kandinsky was working in Germany. He left when the Nazis took over.

Wine Labels, 2022-01-27

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This was a great puzzle! It would have been nice as just a collage with wine labels, which is what I thought it was, but when I started doing it, I noticed that some parts of the labels continued onto neighbouring labels. I’m not sure if these are actual wine labels that have been edited, or if they are entirely imaginary, but either way, they made for a wonderful puzzle.

Wine Labels, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 27, 2022.

A giraffe taking a bite out of a balloon and my favourite label, the Argentinian Malbec.

Space Hoppers and Scooters, 2022-01-26

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A Gibsons collage with toys and games. This continues the recent trend where 1000-piece Gibsons are excellent quality, and 500-piece ones are pretty bad. They must use different subcontractors. This was similar to the Jumbo Wasgij-puzzles, it has the same waxy finish, and a similar cut. It also says Made in the Netherlands on the box, so it may not be entirely accidental. (There was no indication of where the previous substandard 500-piece puzzle was made, I checked.)

Anyway, the puzzle was great fun, even though there were few of my favourite toys in there.

Space Hoppers and Scooters by Val Goldfinch, Gibsons, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 25, 2022.

Here’s one that I have fond memories of:

Basically a big, air-filled ball that you could hop around on, holding on to the “ears”. Mine was orange, and I don’t think it had a face painted on.

Football and games. None of the board games are familiar to me.

Wayne’s Garage, 2022-01-25

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I’ve only done three MasterPieces puzzles before, and those were all much better quality than this one. Unfortunately, the fit wasn’t very good. It was mushy, not as bad as Sunsout at its worst, but the same kind of bad fit. This was a very recent acquisition, and I noticed that the price was lower than for the previous MasterPieces puzzles I bought. I would rather have the better quality and the higher price.

Wayne’s Garage, MasterPieces, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 25, 2022.

So, I started out a bit grumpy because of the bad cut, but I have to say this image was so much fun that I still enjoyed myself enormously. I especially liked all the signs on the wall 🙂

On an unrelated note, I found the lost piece from Monaco Classics. It was in the fridge. Yes, in the fridge. I think I know how it happened: there was a box of clementintes in the fridge, and I took it out for a while and put it down on the table where the puzzle was. When I put the box back in, there must have been a piece stuck to the bottom.