Vogue Rainbow Connection Puzzle 
by Guest Writer Roberta Shore

We invite you to read Roberta Shore's review on the following jigsaw puzzle. Since she has discovered the advantages of jigsaw puzzling, she has reviewed/journaled several that will be available on this website. You may like this popular New York Puzzle.

Vogue Rainbow Connection Jigsaw Puzzle New York Puzzle Company Ribbon Cut 1500 pieces Finished size: 33" x 24"
Vogue Rainbow Connection Jigsaw Puzzle New York Puzzle Company Ribbon Cut 1500 pieces Finished size: 33" x 24"
Vogue Rainbow Connection Jigsaw Puzzle New York Puzzle Company Ribbon Cut 1500 pieces Finished size: 33" x 24"

Vogue Rainbow Connection Puzzle - Roberta's Review

Roberta-Profile
Vogue Rainbow Connection Jigsaw Puzzle New York Puzzle Company Ribbon Cut 1500 pieces Finished size: 33" x 24"

Vogue Rainbow Connection Jigsaw Puzzle

New York Puzzle Company 

Ribbon Cut

1500 pieces

Finished size: 33" x 24"

My Confident Newbie Difficulty rating: Advanced

At the end of October, 2021, after spending the previous 20 months reading a gazillion books, I decided I needed a new hobby. Little did I know the world had already turned to jigsaw puzzles way before I picked that activity. For me it was just something new to try. I was excited to start and it thrills me to this day. The most calming thing I have ever done. But what does any of that have to do with reviewing this puzzle— a lot, really, especially if you are a new puzzler. I consider myself a confident Newbie now, I’m still relatively slow, I take breaks and don’t record my time, I reference the illustration, I sort and then sub sort so putting the puzzle together is as satisfying as possible. That said, I started with 500 pieces, then 750, my fourth puzzle was 1000 pieces. And that’s where it stayed, throwing in some 500 piece ones to reach success faster, until 6 days ago.

I admired this illustration from the moment I saw it way back when I was building my stash. And yes, I bought puzzles early on I would never have chosen now. But I never thought 1500 pieces were in my future, did I even want to spend the time it would take? Apparently yes, especially since I’ve come to realize that I enjoy puzzles with large areas of similar color over chaotic “busy” ones. I recently added this one to my stash for “someday”.

The day came. And this extraordinary puzzle was definitely worth my time!

Quality: There were 3 issues - a lot of puzzle dust (minor), loose piece fit (annoying), and false fits (frustrating). Clearly considerations, but I truly was having fun throughout the process despite them. As for the rest, the very sturdy box is small (8” x10” x 3”), a full illustration is on the top, inside there is the sealed bag of pieces, no poster. Color match to box pic is excellent. The pieces are quite sturdy, they have just a slight sheen. None were together uncut, or damaged in any way, and none were missing.

(Tip: When the available pic is small or parts are hidden by signage, make your own poster. I go to any site selling the puzzle, enlarge the puzzle picture on the screen and take a screen shot. This time I just made it fit a letter size page, but I have also made larger ones by printing portions and taping them together.)

Getting started: (I want to frame this *, please let there be no missing pieces) Find the edge pieces and sort by color. After doing that, and building the frame I usually sub sort out specific items and areas of color. When I poured out the 1500 pieces, I decided one methodical sort was enough! Besides, the colors were basically dedicated to specific areas to begin with. So along with those large areas of color, I sorted rainbow pieces, VOGUE and other signage, each area of both the left and right landscape, orange and brown pieces, purple and deep teal pieces, the skin and gloves, the umbrella handle, the hats and ribbons, the pink parts of the purple cape, and the beads. Sorting is far from my favorite part of puzzling, this took quite a while. It was the easy part . . .

* (Note: Recognizing loose piece fit early on, I built this on a 30” x 40” foam core board so I could cover it with another and flip it over for taping. I tested out low tack painters tape on another puzzle. It pealed off with no damage. I don’t know what would happen over time, but it would be nice to think a completed one could be a puzzle again.)

Construction: This was advanced difficulty measured in fortitude and time alone. Be forewarned - every piece is the same 2 ins / 2 outs shape, so the only big hint is the pieces alternate from horizontal to vertical. Laying them out is definitely helpful, but analyzing the sometimes minute differences among pieces that look the same at first glance, can be tedious at best. Since all the pieces looked alike and offered little color information, I did not build the frame first. I pieced the lettering, the rainbow parts, and the landscape areas and attached frame pieces where I could. Then I pieced the ladies’ heads and upper torsos. Next, was the umbrella. Very tricky piecing the umbrella outline because of the protruding spines. Filling it in was helped by the spine lines.Time to attack those trays of the clothing. The lines and textures helped, but where things overlapped it was difficult. I left much of the white for last. The rain did not make it easier. False fits happened in the frame and 3 or 4 other times. If not caught early, it can mean undoing sections, loose piece fit means the sections will fall apart - aarrgghh! I’m sure you get the picture. I had about 80 pieces left to complete the puzzle when I realized a white piece had to be in the wrong place. Don’t even ask!

But in the end, the puzzle was complete. And out loud I exclaimed a joyous “I did it!” “I did it!” “I did it!” Would I do another 1500 piece puzzle? Probably, but it won’t be the same as the first 1500 piece surprisingly exhilarating accomplishment.

That is why I think my story is relevant to this review. It was a bit scary to take this puzzle on; if I finish it where will I go from there? Will I go on to bigger ones? Or will it be the culmination of my puzzling adventure? To be honest, I know now the pleasure for me remains in the process, where my mind clears and I am lost in the activity. So, I’m going to do a 300 piece puzzle next and totally enjoy the simple pleasure. I know “challenging” is a part of puzzling, but not all of it. I have completed “busy” and challenging puzzles — in the end they just take more time. Eventually the pieces will fit. Hopefully I can say with a smile it was some fun and worth the effort. And, much to my dismay, I boxed up a couple before they were finished. I got over it. Puzzling is supposed to be fun, don’t beat yourself up if that happens to you!

It is all about the visual for me, I want to enjoy and appreciate the illustration I am putting together. I also enjoy pure, full spectrum gradient puzzles because they are easy for me. Even if large areas of color are considered challenging, I find them fun. I have no interest in one color puzzles. I suppose if that changed I could just turn over the pieces of a a Ravensburger puzzle and do a lovely blue puzzle. Do I need to be faster? No. Do I want to sort 2000 pieces? Um, not today! My preferences may not be yours, my hope is you can relate to my experience. Puzzling is assuredly a personal activity. Just have fun!

My grades: Quality B+, Fun Factor A+

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