'Sailing Against All Odds'
Thoroughly enjoyed this old-school puzzle.
Having lived a lot of my childhood at the Lower South Coast in Umtentweni, watching passing ships, while combing the beach was always exciting.
Brand: Castorland
Serial Number: C-104529-2
Country Puzzle Made: Poland
Puzzle Title: Sailing Against The Odds
The number of Puzzle Pieces: 1000p
Puzzle Completed Size: 68x47 cm
The Tactile Feel of the Puzzle: I'm a very tactile person, so the feel of puzzle pieces in my hands is important to me. This particular puzzle is made using thick cardboard that is smooth, sturdy, easy on the fingers, and feels particularly satisfying to the touch.
Quality of the Puzzle Pieces: Castorland is one of my favourite puzzles. Their pieces are well cut and sturdy. They use a cardboard thickness for their puzzles, which allows for bending and twisting of the pieces without them breaking that easily.
How Long Did it Take Me: 1 day (enjoy turning it into a time challenge for myself)
Difficulty: Initially thought this would be a really tough puzzle, however, once you get going it flows really well. Firstly, separated all the straight edges and built the edges of the puzzle. This is just my preference, giving me a general guide, and showing the actual size of the puzzle on my table.
I tackled the sunset through the storm clouds first and looked for all these pieces and laid them out inside the puzzle. This section was surprisingly a little tougher so put it aside and moved on to the sea, which turned out the easier section for me. Next was the ship. The sails proved to be a little challenging, the pieces with one or two ropes were the easiest as were the three masts.
Once done I tacked the sunset area and moved quickly onto the storm clouds. The sunlight catching the sails and the use of lighting generally by the artist is quite remarkable.
Is it a keeper:? Without a doubt, if you like the old-school puzzles.
Where Can I Buy this Puzzle in South Africa: If you google where to buy Castorlands puzzles in South Africa various large and small outlets pop up. My go-to is Take-a-lot, Westpack, and Readers Warehouse. PNA has a large range and a long aisle of good-quality puzzles.
Brands Website: https://www.castorland.pl/en/puzzle
Castorland's website discusses the benefits of puzzles and how to assess the difficulty of a puzzle.
According to Castorland (2022), puzzles will provide improvement in your manual skills, visual perception, your cognitive skills responsible for organization and ultimately improve your strategy of piecing everything together. Castorland (2022), further mentions that your patience and perseverance skills will be enhanced, and of course, in the end, you would have completed a beautiful picture piece by piece, something that will give you a great sense of satisfaction.
Deciding on the degree of difficulty of the puzzle, according to Castorland (2022), would largely depend on the following factors: the number of pieces, the piece sizes, the quality, and if you are a beginner or a pro. The quality of the image and its colour variation, and if there are various features that stand out, that would help you in the arranging of the pieces. These would include for me personally, a landmark, usually your starting point, then according to Castorland (2022), the contours of the image and the shapes of the pieces. I do intend to agree with them.
Sources consulted:
How to choose a puzzle.2022. Available: https://www.castorland.pl/en/puzzle Accessed on 2022/02/18
List of Illustrations:
Figures 1-8: Williams, K.J. 2022. Kim Williams Photography
Yours in Puzzling
Kim
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