One day, Joe came home with a couple thrifted puzzles for me. One of which was this Hokusai puzzle of a print called Ocean Waves. There is a Homesense sticker on the back of the box, so this was recently purchased and then sent off to the thrift store, the manufacturer is the the Gifted Stationery Company.
The quality was unfortunately very poor, false fits all over the place, there would be times when I had a piece fully surrounded by others and it would only be about 45 minutes later that I’d realize it was in the wrong place. I don’t think I’ll get another puzzle by this company.
What I did appreciate was studying all the detail up close, these woodblock prints are absolutely amazing! He started young and over his life, he created over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints and illustrations for books! He lived to be 88, which for the mid 1800s is impressive.
So, while I wouldn’t buy another puzzle by this brand, I would definitely pick up another puzzle of better quality showcasing more of his work. That was the only reason I didn’t give up on this puzzle entirely.
No doubt you can see this puzzle was also missing a few pieces. 15 in total, which of course added to the difficulty and uncertainty about any of the fits! I knew very early on into the puzzle that I was missing pieces, so I never stayed in one spot too long because there was always the chance I didn’t have the solution at hand.
I feel like I shouldn’t return this to the thrift shop, that might be a little cruel.
thepuzzlesivedone 