Brand: Ceaco Title: 52 Pickup Cards Pieces: 500 shaped puzzle Size: 23.5 x 17.5" |
Overall Experience: Great Cut Quality: Great Board Quality: Good Shape Cut: Random/shaped Image Quality: Great Hardest Area: red cards Puzzle Dust? none |
Finish Quality: Smooth-shiny Box Quality: Good Sealed Pieces Inside Box: no Was this purchased new? no Price: Purchase online Recommend Level: High Time: 9.5 hours |
I did not do my usual sorting routine with this one however I did do some color sorting only for organization purposes. Forget trying to do the border - I never accomplished that until I was 2/3's done the puzzle. I kinda played around with the idea of which would be the easiest approach - should it be the red cards with borders or should I just work as much black pieces as possible. The King-Queen-Jacks were just too complex and there were not too many so I did not even bother with them till near the end. |
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So I continued with working just patches of cards into different areas - pretty much whatever I could find to match. Eventually I was able to place enough card-patches to organize them into the actual image.
It ended up that I finished as much black cards as possible, then the reds, then the Aces-Kings-Queens-Jacks which left the red cards. I tried to use the 'biggest' white patches on the pieces first, then the pieces that defined the card-borders, then I had the left over pieces lined up according to shapes.....that went much better than I thought it would.
You can see in the images below there are sections that actually have holes in the puzzle itself to give the image the 'thrown-52-card-pick-up Game' look. And of course there are 52 cards there.
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Ceaco calls these the CONVERSATION PIECES line and this one was produced in 1999. "They are known as Trompe-l'œil which is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture." (Wikipedia)
I have owned this puzzle for a few years in my collection and maybe saw it done once before July 1st of this year. However, I have ALWAYS wanted to see it completed and on my wall. So that Jigsaw Puzzle Connections Group member inspired me to tackle it.
I have to admit - it was challenging THAT's for sure. Of course it took me longer than a usual 500 piece puzzle would normally take but I have to admit - this was like one 'big-juicy-steak' of a puzzle and I am not sure if it was my determination or what but I was not discouraged at any point - I just kept forging on forward to assemble it.
Now it is on my wall where it belongs.....
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