Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles: A Comparison (Monday Musings 80)

ADDENDUM 5/15/21

After extensively puzzling with all three companies, Artifact, Liberty and Wentworth, I found Artifact to be, hands-down, the most fun of the three. Liberty and Wentworth are of excellent quality as described below, but don't have the unique surprises and rather odd shapes/whimsy pieces of those from Artifact. Liberty and Wentworth puzzles are a bit humdrum in comparison.

One of my friend's Artifact puzzle was missing a piece, and he wrote to the owner of Artifact who looked at the puzzle again, and was dissatisfied with it as she felt that the image was "overcleaned"... instead of just sending him the missing piece, she sent him an entirely new puzzle!

Creatively as well as in customer service, Artifacts is hands down the winner!

I've decided to write as many posts as possible, and titling it Monday Musings from now on, to ensure that I don't "fall behind" lol.

As another hobby to consider (to give your eyes much needed rest from all the blue light of video games) is jigsaw puzzles. I got into puzzles once again as my friend introduced me to the Wentworth wooden puzzles. I was so impressed with these puzzles because of the quality and the satisfying tactile feel when you put the pieces together, that I wanted to order some myself.

Upon visiting Wentworth's online site, my heart sank as the puzzles were rather pricey, though at $50 for a 250-piece puzzle, the cost/time is actually reasonable, as long as you do the puzzle a couple of times. Since I'm very slow, it takes about 2 hours, so if you do the puzzle 2 or 3 times, it's cheaper than going to the movies. So I thought of getting one, but then the shipping charges were astronomical, since it's shipping from the UK. However, I found out later that Wentworth often has free shipping to US! But not realizing that at the time, I decided to see if there are US manufacturers which will have lower shipping costs.

Therefore, I did more research and stumbled upon the ridiculous Stave puzzles (Barbara Bush-endorsed) at average price of $1000 (perhaps even $2000 as some are $15K), so this brand will not be reviewed. I then fell upon the much more affordable and reasonable Architect and Liberty puzzles.

I find that they are all equal to each other, so the puzzle manufacturer that is best for you is based really on your preferences and what you're looking for. I'll outline the differences between the three, in alphabetical order.

Artifact puzzles is the most creative of not just the pictures offered, but the many interesting puzzle shapes. I don't find the tired, drab images of known paintings, and boring, uninspired nature scenes, as compelling as the fantastical pictures including monsters, cartoon characters, and so forth that Artifact offers.

Although Artifact pieces are the most loose fitting of the three, the irregularly irregular pieces are significantly more bizarre and odd than the other brands, and therefore quite compelling. It's interesting to see how these weird pieces fit together, often leading to a lot of "Ah ha" moments. They're coming out with the new Ecru line which offers tighter fitting pieces with no glare design, but it's more costly of course. Further, the designs aren't as whimsical or fantastic as their regular line, so I have a feeling that I'd prefer the regular over the upcoming Ecru. Picture for me tends to be most important.

Artifact's Mechanical Griffin

Artifact tends to have the most whimsy pieces out of the three, meaning pieces that are shaped thematically. So a cat puzzle will have cat-shaped pieces.

The image quality on Artifact and Wentworth is better than Liberty in the sense that the images seem like it's actually painted on the wooden pieces. One of the Liberty puzzle pieces had a small peel, that can be glued, so I don't find this a deal breaker.

If interested in Artifact, I would recommend the Griffin that comes with a clever surprise (spoilers avoided here). 

All the Artifact puzzles I own are so completely different from each other (I have 4!). Other customers also noticed that any time you get a puzzle from Artifact, it's a whole new experience.

As for the Liberty Puzzle, it has the same thickness as Artifact (6.35 mm), but the fit of the pieces are tighter, so in that sense the pieces are better quality than Artifact's regular line, only marred by the fact that a piece may (or may not) have some peeling (it seems like this would be a rare occurrence), unlike Artifact and Wentworth. 

Liberty does have a lot of whimsy pieces, not as much as the Artifact, but more so than the

Liberty's and Wentworth's An Exuberant Success

Wentworth. The pieces are more redundant than Artifact, tending to be more regularly irregular, rather than the irregularly irregular shapes of Artifact.

The Wentworth is made of considerably thinner wood than Artifact and Liberty, less than half the thickness (3 mm versus 6.35 mm). The thicker wood feels more luxurious, but because the Wentworth pieces are thinner, it's the best fitting of the three. The sensation of putting the pieces together in a satisfying click, so it  has the most pleasant sensory experience out of all three. There are whimsy pieces, but nowhere near as much as Artifact and Liberty, and more regular-shaped pieces than even the Liberty.

Wentworth includes a rather lovely felt bag to hold the pieces within its sturdy box. Sadly, Artifact and Liberty don't.

If you prefer unique pictures, and thicker, peculiar, odd and whimsical pieces, I'd recommend Artifact. If you prefer an equally thick cut with better fit, and you don't mind more regularly irregular shaped pieces, than I'd chose Artifact's Ecru line or Liberty. Finally, if you want that tactile, satisfying click feel with nice bag, and don't mind less creative shapes, then Wentworth is the puzzle for you.

With these criteria in mind, Artifact is by far my favorite of the three due to the creativity aspects, leading to unique experiences that you can't get anywhere.

If none of these issues matter to you, I'd recommend ordering the designs that you find the most pleasing, because you can't go wrong with any of these puzzle manufacturers. They all cost around the same price, and Wentworth frequently has sales where shipping is free to the US.

For all three manufacturers, prices are cheaper ordering online at their websites:

Artifact Puzzles
Liberty Puzzles
Wentworth Puzzles

The How of Happiness Review

Demon's Souls Remake: Attractive Female Sliders

Happy New Year! I've fallen in love with Demon's Souls all over again, and excited about the much improved character customization sliders. I fell upon this YouTube video (YouTuber JeeNiNeMedia) as a base, to come up with the character sliders. Sadly, I couldn't find attractive male sliders.

This is how she will look like in the character creation menu, using the below sliders:

This is how she looks in game:

I was quite surprised that she looks better in-game than in the character menu! I agree with the YouTuber, JeeNiNeMedia, that the ponytail looks the best in-game. If you want to create her looks these are the sliders:

Skin

Base Tone 3^rd diamond (using R1 to scroll over), first box

Age 20

Weight 0

Face

Top face is 5

Bottom face is 2

Width 0.1

Height 1.00

Depth –0.10

Brow

13

Your choice of color (I chose default)

Ridge 0.10

Height –1.00

Eyes

10 then First choice

Main Color is your choice (I chose dark blue) and Secondary Color (I chose Burgundy)

Glow 0.10

Spacing 0.60

Height 1.00

Depth 0.60

Ears

11

Angle –0.10

Height –0.40

Depth 0.90

Nose

8

Width 0.50

Height –0.80

Depth 1.00

Bridge 0.10

Mouth

16

Width –0.5

Height 0.20

Depth 0.70

Teeth 1

Jaw

Cleft Chin 0.00

Width –0.90

Height –0.50

Depth –0.20

Cheekbones –0.40

Hair

21

Your choice of color (I chose default)

Facial hair default (first boxes x 3)

Decals

Paint & Tattoo 16

Scars & Blemishes 15

You can save this to your profile. If you don't like the looks of your character, you can go to the Nexus statue (main floor all the way to the other end of Stockpile Thomas) for 25,000 souls to open up various options, including Fractured World mode. I believe the first choice is free (?) and then 18,000 to change your appearance thereafter.

Review of The How of Happiness

Moving With Ease And Without Pain, Part 2 of 3

The Bullet Proof Project discussed here (Part 1) improved my pain and ease of movement by 80%. (Part 3 is forthcoming.)

Therefore, I then fell upon Your Body's Brilliant Design (YBBD) by Karen M. Gabler, which is about fascial release. 

I'm not sure if it's really releasing fascia (i.e. connective tissue can be very hard and can only be "released" surgically), but the point is, doing these exercises does something to your body that prevents and reduces pain. Who cares what the theory and mechanisms are, this program simply works.

These exercises are not only "easy" (i.e. no cardio straining), but they feel so good, especially the one where you let your body fall to roll toward one side, that I had no pain (just some tightness) after 2 hours of walking. The great thing about this book is you can do this on the floor, and she even recommends spending 6 weeks on the floor before you progress to the rollers.

Even though the author mentions you should spend six weeks with floor work, it got boring for me, and so I jumped to the half-foam roller, and that was challenging! I stuck with it, because challenges are more fun and interesting. Therefore, if you can do these exercises in good form well before 6 weeks, then progress immediately to the half-foam roller, and then to the full roller.

Fortunately, she tells you what brand foam rollers work the best, and they're cost-effective.

Just doing the YBBD floor work, my pain has improved immensely, and I look forward to doing these exercises because they feel so good. The previous book I looked into, Dynamic Aging exercises by Katy Bowman, can be helpful, but it's just not as fun nor feel as good as YBBD. Because I'm consistent with YBBD, it appears to be a better choice for me.

I actually look forward to YBBD because that falling to your side, and the hip and arm fan exercises feel so good, especially on the half-foam roller.

In conclusion, if you suffer from pain due to poor posture and sedentary lifestyle, and you're sick and tired of feeling weak, I feel that these two books can relieve a lot of your pain and give you functional strength, if you're consistent.

Review of Neff's Self-Compassion