Puzzle Review - Dancing Cats, by Pomegranate

🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

Illustrator: Edward Gorey

Piece count: 300 (large pieces)

Size: 18×27 in.

Difficulty: 🧩🧩/5

If you've been following me for a while, you know how much I love puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles are my favorite, so I've decided I'm going to start reviewing completed ones on my blog!

I completed a 1000-piece puzzle in the fall and through December. I loved the picture, but it was very challenging. So this month, I was ready for an easier, more enjoyable experience.

Dancing Cats, by Pomegranate, was gifted to me for Christmas. The box was covered in a plastic seal. After that was removed, the lid had no seal on it, so the box was very easy to open. I then opened the sealed plastic bag inside the box that the pieces were in and I dumped them all out into the box. 

After discarding the plastic wrap and bag, I got a feel for the pieces by running my hands through them. I noticed that the pieces were larger than normal, which was also indicated by the diagram on the back of the box that shows their actual size. The pieces were very sturdy and none of them were peeling. Very high quality!

I then emptied the pieces by hand onto the puzzle board. The puzzle dust that was left in the box was minimal. Another delight! I emptied the dust into the trash can and proceeded to sort out the edge pieces, while turning all of the pieces facing up. I also sorted out the text and pieced those together. The pieces were regular shapes, so I was easily able to sort out all of the edge pieces. 

Well, that's not exactly true. As I put the edge pieces together, I realized I was missing a couple of them. It took me about an hour to put the rest of the edge pieces together.

Day 1

The next day, realizing that this puzzle, although only 300 pieces, was as large as a standard 1000-piece puzzle, I left the pieces in the box so the puzzle board was clutter-free. Normally I sort the rest of the pieces by color or pattern, but I didn't feel that was a necessary step for this one. By the way, the size of the puzzle is clearly stated on the box, so there should have been no surprises on my part. On Day 2 I just started locking in random pieces that stood out to me. The butterfly was the first section I completely finished.

After an hour I had a good bit of it done ("a good bit" is an official unit of measurement, isn't it?). I was losing natural daylight and I didn't want to turn the bright overhead light on, so I called it a day.

Day 2

On the third day, one by one, I picked out the pieces that had purple lines on them, while also occasionally finding other pieces that fit together. Working primarily on the purple lines, however, moved it along at a pretty good pace. After filling in the purple lines, I was able to complete the rest of it pretty easily.

I worked on it for about another hour and I finished it. Oh, and I did find those missing edge pieces I mentioned earlier. (My sincere apologies for originally silently blaming the puzzle maker for not including them.) I had some of the edge pieces on the wrong side of the puzzle. I had to move entire sections to make them fit correctly, and I also overestimated the size of the puzzle. So I moved sections of the edge pieces closer together and it all worked out. Also, at times I thought there were false fits, but when I held those pieces up to the light, I could see they did not exactly fit together.

This puzzle did not come with a separate poster, but the entire image is clear on the outside of the box. And what a fun design it is! I love cats, and seeing them in these quirky poses made me smile. I set the box beside me and used it to figure out where the pieces fit together. 

I've already taken the puzzle apart and put them in a zip lock bag. Normally I separate the edge pieces when I store them, but for a puzzle with only 300 large pieces, I didn't feel that was necessary. Maybe next time I complete this puzzle, I'll do it without looking at the picture on the box for an added challenge.

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this puzzle. It was challenging enough without making me feel frustrated. I was left with a sense of accomplishment after each session. I'd definitely be happy to work on another puzzle by Pomegranate again, and specifically designs by Edward Gorey.

Day 3