April 2018 Purchases (No Such Thing As Too Many Puzzles)

Let's face it, I buy way too many puzzles, so many in fact, that I doubt that I'll ever get to all of them. (We are probably all at least a bit guilty of that, I suspect.) I already have something over 80 puzzles now that are waiting for me to get to them...but I keep buying them.  After all, who can resist a bargain puzzle - or even just stumbling upon that "perfect" puzzle at full price?  Not me.

But for some reason (good or bad, I'm not sure), this is the only puzzle I've bought so far this month:

Spiritual Gathering, SunsOut, 1000 pieces, 27 x 20 inches

Native American portraits have always intrigued me, and this is a nice representation of some of the greatest chiefs of the nineteenth century, so this was a natural for me.  And the topper was that I picked it up at a Tuesday Morning store for only six dollars.  Honestly, I'm not sure when I will finally get around to solving this one, but I like knowing that it's there waiting for me.  This is the only one I've seen, so it's probably not a real popular puzzle that was printed in great quantity.

While I'm at it, I'm going to take time for a little rant about Tuesday Morning.  The company has two locations equidistance from my house, and until this week, both locations used a similar shelf-presentation for their puzzles (kind of messy and easy to browse). Well, today I went to the location I haven't found much at lately and found a big change.  The puzzles are now tightly crammed into shelving that barely leaves finger room to move them around to see what's at the end of the lines.  And the shelves are lower down then before, forcing a browser to bend over for minutes at a time while they try to figure out a way to see what's so tightly packed in there.  Very frustrating...and one of the dumbest "improvements" to a store I've ever seen.  Shame on you, Mr. Store Manager, shame on you.

Americana-Themed Puzzle Art

A 1991 Americana puzzle titled "Seashore," minus two pieces

It soon becomes obvious to puzzle solvers that several common themes run through the puzzles being produced by a few dozen puzzle companies these days.  Puzzles featuring cats or dogs, nostalgic countryside settings, books and bookstores, foreign cities, cartoon settings, flowers and gardens, memorabilia, fine art, etc., seem to dominate our choices. But of all the themes prevalent today, Americana seems to be the one hardest to escape. Go to any U.S. retailer selling puzzles these days, and Americana-themed puzzles are likely to make up around 25% of what is for sale.

The video featured below helps explain the appeal of Americana style puzzles and why they have been popular for so long.  (I buy vintage puzzles when I can find them, and it is not unusual for me to find Americana pieces from the eighties and nineties.)






I enjoy the images primarily, I suppose, because their idealized take on the past makes me feel good about myself and this country and what we have accomplished.  That's likely to be the primary appeal of this kind of puzzle, of course, but as a little bonus, I'm also learning about a whole subset of artists to whose work I would otherwise never have been exposed; people like: Linda Nelson Stocks, Sheila Lee, Ellen Stouffer, Joseph Burgess, Jane Wooster Scott, and (of course) Charles Wysocki.

Generally, Americana-themed puzzles (at least to me) are a little easier to solve than a lot of other styles because of the dominance of straight lines and the clean breaks between colors that they utilize. I don't know about you guys, but I have the most trouble with subtly blended colors, and the darker those colors are, the harder the puzzle is for me to solve. I seldom have that problem with Americana.

I just took a quick look at the collection of puzzles still waiting for my attention, and I see that I have at least a dozen more Americana pieces on the shelves.  I don't know if these puzzles are sold much outside the U.S. and Canada, but they seem to do quite well here.

Working on "Pet Day" from SunsOut

Currently, I'm working on this 1000-piece puzzle from the SunsOut puzzle company.  I check in periodically at the local Tuesday Morning outlet to see what they have on the shelves (this is, by the way, a great place to get brand new puzzles at about a 40% markdown).  As you can see from the box cover, the pieces are "larger size," meaning that the finished puzzle is 27 inches tall and 35 inches wide.  

I was intrigued by the realistic faces and body-types of this image from Susan Brabeau, and it has not disappointed me. I've been fooling with it for a couple of hours each of the last four days, and it's almost half-done now.  I like the variety of piece-shapes and sizes, and the colors are pretty close to what is represented on the puzzle box (that seems rarely to be the case), and that helps me sort pieces with some idea about where the various little stacks will end up fitting.  My only complaint to this point is that some of the pieces fit together so loosely that it doesn't take much to unlock them without realizing you've done it.  

Here's a look at where I am at the moment - probably won't work on it much more today because I'm watching the Astros vs. Padres game right now, and my guys are struggling to score runs tonight, making it hard for me to concentrate on the puzzle.  

Site Intro

"Perpetual Motion"  by NYPC, 500 Pieces

Welcome to my latest work in progress. I have been a blogger for the past dozen years, but as my tastes and lifestyle have changed during those years, I've found myself publishing several different blogs.  I have blogged on politics, books, and music over the years, but I am now concentrating entirely on a blog for puzzle fans because I'm anxious to learn all I can about the hobby (and the business). 

I rediscovered jigsaw puzzles last August, and I've had one going as a work-in-progress since the moment I began a little 500-piece Beatles puzzle I found in a markdown bin at Barnes & Noble.  As soon as I've finished one, I've either framed it or re-boxed it, and quickly moved on to the next one. In the last eight months, I've learned a lot about the hobby, but I realize I've barely scratched the surface when it comes to jigsaw puzzles. I was, for instance, surprised to learn how internationally popular the hobby is, how passionately people take it, and how friendly veteran puzzlers are to newcomers.  It's been a wonderful experience so far, one I hope to continue and enjoy here.

So I'm "Under Construction" again...but hoping to have something reasonable up in the next few days, something that you will enjoy as much as I do.  Thanks for giving me a shot, folks, and thanks for being such a friendly community.  In the meantime, if you stumble upon this blog, I would appreciate you helping to spread the word to your friends.  As I said earlier, I want to learn more about puzzles, and the best way to do that is to tap into the knowledge base that's already out there. Let's learn together.