u/mundanemadness21

After Frank’s 750 pieces colour cascade debacle which I had to give up on, I decided to try out some smaller sized puzzles from the same company.

1. Spider-Man and venom (250 pieces) was tough - the black pieces were challenging and some of the border pieces were plain annoying. This puzzle needs full blown natural light to discern finer details along with a whole lot of patience and unending love for Marvel studios…I possessed none of these prerequisites, but I did complete it in the end. A few false fits, bad colouration, it was an average puzzle for me and I’d never do it again.
2. In space (250 pieces) was so much better and I enjoyed it exponentially more. The planets were put together as little islands and then all were joined together with some confusing purple- black bits in between. Overall satisfying, hardly any false fits and I’d definitely do this puzzle again a couple of times over.
3. Van Gogh’s collector’s edition (300 pieces) was the best of the three, the pieces were tiny and making those small portraits one by one was addictive, spewing new highs of dopamine in my system. It was definitely an easier puzzle in terms of clear borders and colour schemes of the art pieces. I liked the feel of the tiny pieces in my hands and every time I’d finish a small portrait, I’d feel cute lol. There was just one false fit but it didn’t cause any distress as such. This one, true to its name, is definitely a collector’s edition and I’m going to be reaching out to this puzzle for a dose of art therapy when the mood strikes.

Overall, Frank’s puzzles have quite a range and
variety and although the fit isn’t the best compared
to Jigsaw nation, Galison or Dowdle puzzles which
I’ve tried before (haven’t tried Ravensburg which is renowned for its precision fit), I guess it’s
alright considering its price point. Image quality and
subject of the puzzle matters so I guess I need to
choose wisely which picture truly will be joy
inducing instead of joy stealing.

I haven’t been puzzling lately because the puzzle I’d opened almost two months ago was way tougher than I’d anticipated. I struggled with the margins and some corner sections and then after that my brain had simply refused to get excited about it.

I made an honest reattempt today but I was done after fifteen minutes. Those colours infuriate me and I realise I’m not veered towards abstract puzzles as yet, this early in my puzzling journey. Also, I did encounter a few false fits earlier which hadn’t help me form a favourable opinion about this particular puzzle. So back to some sane, meaningful, story-laden puzzles!

750 pieces colour cascade by Frank - is going back in its box.

Has anyone completed this puzzle? What tips would you give?

Bubble Quack - 500 piece circle puzzle, Jigsaw Nation, Artist Murtaza M Bookwala

Completed this one a while back. Started off super slow, got bored with the pace and then climbed onto the obsessive rollercoaster to complete it swiftly. My mind whirled with duck imagery. I should have done it section wise instead of colour wise as many colours overlapped especially the blues and purples. But overall, it was relatively easy and super fun and I’d definitely do this one again!

I do NOT mean general destruction and mayhem of course. I am talking about destroying a puzzle (temporarily) in order to get a chance to redo it sometime in the future (or maybe not). We talk a lot about the joy of creation but what about the emotions that arise when we disengage those carefully put pieces and undo all the tenacious hours of puzzling?

I had already taped up my first puzzle that I did less than a month ago- a Dowdle puzzle on Prague, 500 pieces - and I was contemplating on buying a fancy frame to proudly display it. However, as I was scrolling for frame options, I felt a sense of burden creeping up on me - What size? What colour? Where will I hang it? Will I be able to rotate future puzzles in the same frame? So many questions! As I got busy looking at options, I suddenly stopped and understood that I’m unnecessarily converting a fun activity into a chore.

I don’t need to display any of my puzzles because once a puzzle is complete, its job is done. Done and dusted. I’ve extracted all the joy, peace, slowness, meditation, delight, frustration and all kinds of in between feelings from that puzzle and I need NOT hold onto it any longer. So I decided to destroy it - and thankfully for me, those stickers weren’t as stubborn as I’d been initially and I was able to easily rip off the plastic sheets without breaking the pieces.

The emotions? Complete and total relief and freedom - whatever is created, ultimately gets destroyed, what is born goes back to the earth - the cycle of life continues and I felt a sense of closure to move onto the next one without having a part of me held up within these previous pieces.

A blank slate is now ready to start something new again. Only to be destroyed later.

Bubble Quack - 500 piece circle puzzle, Jigsaw Nation, Artist Murtaza M Bookwala

I’m in the midst of my first round puzzle. I had planned on working on the World of the Brontes initially, however thanks to a Jigsaw Nation haul (inspired by this page), I decided to work on this quirky and colourful duck themed round puzzle.

This time around I decided to puzzle only for 30 mins each session…to savour the process, to not hurry to compete against time, to just sit with the pieces and feel the new shapes. I’m trying to avoid puzzling as a way to hit quick dopamine hits like how a 15-second reel does, but rather to turn it into a deliberately slow structured time without any goal in sight…to simply be.

It’s been an interesting experiment, my anxiety has lessened and I’m not hard on myself to finish it. I’ve been listening to a low stakes podcast every time I puzzle, and when the time is up, I stop immediately and admire my tiny progress.