jigsaw puzzle day

[icecreamsanddreams]

My anxiety is through the roof today. Thought I was dealing with the news about a second lockdown OK, but I'm not really. So, I retrieved the jigsaw from its space under the sofa... can't believe I have nearly finished it. It's quite a dark picture but suits my mood, and I think I might need to line up another one.

Doing this jigsaw today has quietened my chatty brain down. Where can I look for lovely puzzles, not traditional country scene / chocolate box type designs? And quite tricky ones, but not the baked beans / jelly beans type? Any ideas?

I saw the works had some in a few weeks ago. Think they deliver too.

Art ones from galleries/museums. I'm doing a 15th century Journey of the Magi atm, it's very difficult. Our local bookshop has a good selection that are produced by Pomegranate, a US company, but widely available in the UK>

Its a great idea. We have a jigsaw library in our village, worth seeing if you have one locally?

Gibson’s ‘I Love’ puzzles are great fun to do. Lots of detail.
If you are in England and you are able, try and get to a charity shop before lockdown. Ours always has some, and I keep a selection in stock, as they are absorbing to do.

I love this chap’s jigsaws-www.ravensburger.org/uk/discover/colin-thompson/index.html

www.ravensburger.org/uk/discover/colin-thompson/index.html

I was just coming to recommend Colin Thompsons puzzles. I also like Aimee Stewarts ones, I have one by Flame tree which came from Waterstones

www.wentworthpuzzles.com/ I haven’t bought any from here (yet!) but I’m eyeing up a few as presents this Christmas, they’ve got some beautiful designs

Cloudberries do really lovely jigsaws, also nice quality too

I LOVE cloudberries puzzles, I have 3: Symmetry, Crossroads & 1000 piece gradient (which is easier than it looks). Lockdown has made me a massive puzzle nerd, spent a fortune on them since March having not really bothered doing any since I was a kid.

I did the 1000 piece Tiffany peacock jigsaw in lockdown - beautiful and fiendish. It’s available a lot of places but looks like these are the manufacturers and they have other interesting ones: www.flametreepublishing.com/1000-piece-jigsaw-puzzles-list.html

Another vote for Gibson's I Love...jigsaws. I wouldn't say they are difficult but they are fun to do, lots and lots of pictorial jokes.

I get most of mine from charity shops. Love them. Apparently they're very beneficial health-wise, similar to meditation, as you use both sides of the brain (or something)

I like to buy ones of places I’ve been on holiday. It’s nice to put it together and see all the places you visited.

I’ve just bought a couple of gorgeous ones by Flame Tree Publishing by Angela Harding - they have a Lino print look to them.

I bought a jigsaw last lockdown. It was the first time since I was a child. It was actually very effective as soothing the nerves and calming brain chatter. Crochet also works well but needed a change . I am doing a really tricky one from the works with tigers.

@icebearforpresident

I LOVE cloudberries puzzles, I have 3: Symmetry, Crossroads & 1000 piece gradient (which is easier than it looks). Lockdown has made me a massive puzzle nerd, spent a fortune on them since March having not really bothered doing any since I was a kid.

Yes!!! They are definitely the best ones I've found, love them

I second Cloudberries and would also recommend Pomegranate- both available, amongst many others, from the Yorkshire Jigsaw Store.

Butler & Hill make jigsaws to order of maps. You give them the postcode of the place you want & they do a jigsaw of a street map, ordnance survey or whatever.

It's not cheap, but I got one as a present for someone & got a street map of where they grew up. They really enjoyed it, especially as it came without a picture of the puzzle, so they had to rely on memory.

I love the Colin Thompson ones too! I’m doing the alphabet series but can’t find “E” in any shops so I’ve ground to halt now. Might start redoing some old ones to help me relax!
I haven’t tried any Cloudberries ones, but they do look amazing.

I just looked up some of these recommendations and Colin thompson's E was there.

Waterstones do nice ones including some of the pictures from the gorgeous Lost Words book www.waterstones.com/product/the-lost-words/robert-macfarlane/jackie-morris/9781912916337

Wasgij are great if you like an extra layer of challenge as the picture on the box isn’t the picture of the puzzle but a clue. (Hence the name is jigsaw backwards) we get most of ours from the charity shop.

Does anyone use one of those jigsaw roll mats & do they work? We don’t have the space to leave a jigsaw out all the time, but I would really like to do one.

The type we have is just a green piece of felt fabric it’s not that great but it depends on the quality of the puzzle pieces whether they stay together if you attempt to roll it . We just use it to lift to another table if we need to move the puzzle tbh.