Name:
Carol Brouillet
Rating:
Review:
The first time that I saw the Iris Scott Nueve Nonatych, I fell in love with the images, the colors, and knew that I would love to put it together, despite its size! It was at the top of my “Christmas Wish List,” but didn’t actually become available for a very long time… When I noticed the giant box under the Christmas tree on Christmas Day, I was actually totally surprised! (Because our landlord had given us an ultimatum and I had told my husband that if we had to move, he’d have to buy the house before he bought me such a huge gift! He had forgotten that statement, and we still might have to move this year…)
Obviously, these nine puzzles, especially if combined together, could take a very, very long time to assemble. I think Artifact really thought the whole process through very well and brilliantly decided to divide the entire thing into three distinct boxes, which makes assembly fun, and not too challenging or too difficult or too time consuming. I did just randomly grab one of the boxes and began with “Part 3,” although I think if people started with “Part 1” that they would have an easier time, but I am one of those people who enjoy a challenge and won’t even look at the image on the box, as I try to put the puzzle together. This was such a pleasure to do! The pieces were gorgeous, as were the whimsies, and the “bells and whistles,” surprise extras, that were not included in the description!
I was also extremely grateful to receive such a fabulous gift at an unusual time in our lives, my youngest son, who lives with us, came down with Covid 19 just that week, and we all were living under quarantine. (My son was basically confined to his room.) We had no other family or guests visiting us for the holidays, and we self-quarantined until our son was fully recovered. We don’t have a big house and were able to sacrifice our main table to the puzzle, which took six days to put together. It was so gorgeous that we actually kept it out as a decoration for our New Year’s Eve Party, when we filled our living room with special lighting and music, and danced!
Usually, my husband, who has gifted me Artifact Puzzles regularly since he first discovered them (a decade ago), allows me the pleasure of doing them solo. Sometimes, everyone will pitch in, at least a piece or two. This time, there were so many pieces, that he wasn’t shy, at all, about helping, and I think he enjoyed it, although I am the one who really can’t resist staying up late at night, and getting up early in the morning, if there is an unfinished puzzle available to work on. We didn’t just work on the puzzle, we did take time for walks, hikes, meals… but I certainly slacked off on my regular “work on the computer” to simply have fun! It was a delightful escape and pleasure! I don’t know how many puzzles that I have accumulated over the years, but this puzzle is certainly the most “over the top” spectacularly beautiful, amazing, delightful, enormous one that I have ever done, and I can’t imagine anything “topping it.” It does come in 3 very large wooden boxes and requires a good amount of space to store it. I do look forward to doing it again, someday, when I have at least a week or more of vacation and others who would enjoy doing it with me! My thanks to all who put so much time, effort, talent, thought into creating it! My husband also get kudos for his generosity!
