This was a long video with a lot of information! A few more notes I wanted to share: -I filmed most of this video before Dugald got back to me. So when I said that I didn’t think anyone had had the two versions next to each other before, I meant in a review video on camera. Obviously the creators of this puzzle saw them both! -Looking at the “3D Poster” alternate packaging at the end, I wonder if someone put the Paradox puzzle from the other packaging into this box, because it’s labeled as the “Hidden Nature Collection”, and the Paradox puzzle doesn’t appear on the back of the box as an option. That one is still a mystery. -I don’t know if it fully came across in the video, but it drove me CRAZY how the entire point of the Buffalo version was to stack the three layers and even mix and match layers between puzzles, but they designed it where the puzzle would fall apart with any movement. WHY WOULD YOU DESIGN A PUZZLE THAT WAY? -Dugald also told me that the Buffalo releases of the “Who Said That” puzzles were much simpler than the original Australian versions, and he recommends getting the originals. I definitely want to do a follow up video one day comparing the two, but this video was long enough that I didn’t want to go off on another tangent. -I was hoping I could get more into it if Bambi, the illustrator, got back to me, but Dugald also mentioned that she was commissioned to do these drawings, rather than them being existing illustrations that could be modified into three layers. So she drew the three layers separately, which were then turned into the printing plates. -On Instagram I have a photo of putting the top layer of the Paradox puzzle on top of the bottom layers of the Coral Reef puzzle. I realized afterwards that I never did that in the video. Thank you for watching and let me know what you think of these puzzles!
its a cool idea i know if i had them as kid it would have kept me occupied for a bit the 3d poster aspect of it is really intriguing because the only other "3D" puzzles ythat were on the market at the time was puz3d puzzles
feels like they could've done some really cool "x-ray" concepts with this multi-layer semi-transparent puzzles... like having the skeleton of a creature on the middle layer and the organs in the third... or making full use of the translucent overlaps to do demographic maps... think more educational pictogram than just simple themed illustrations! maybe your channel can commission one as a collab with a more sciencey / geography channel one day 😄
Oh interesting - I've done two of the quiz jigsaw puzzles (Who Sang That and Who Said That) but mine were versions manufactured in the UK by BV Leisure (somehow related to Buffalo Games, I think). They definitely weren't easy and - to be totally transparent - I did end up googling quite a few of the answers (and in the process discovered one or two mistakes)! Fun to learn that they were created by the same person.
It's always a joy when filming Karen says, "I think this won't be too hard" and editing Karen says "LOL". I'm just in the first ten minutes, so I don't know how these transparent pieces will work out, but I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from the designer!
Please keep going with these historical trivia format with the vintage puzzles. It’s soo interesting to see you deep dive into buried memory lanes. You’re literally like solving another layer of mystery as puzzling as the puzzles themselves.
It looks like a very cool concept that is difficult to execute. Both versions of the puzzle seemed super frustrating, for different reasons, and eventually I realized that those frustrations are due to the limitations of using transparent materials. It must have been difficult to find material that was simultaneously transparent enough, easy enough to print on, easy enough to die-cut, and not too shiny. Obviously you couldn't make the pieces too thick since they would be less transparent, and I imagine many materials wouldn't tolerate die-cuts with more unique piece shapes. Since 30 years of materials science advancements have passed since these were originally produced, I wonder if manufacturers today would be able to find a more suitable material to work with?
This puzzle made me realise that puzzling is very much a sighted person activity. Wondering if there's a puzzle for non sighted people, maybe a textured puzzle?
I'm positive there are indie puzzle brands out there that would hear this idea and go bonkers excited. Also sounds like something the Playgroup might attempt.
I’m imagining a rubiks cube, but each square has one of 6 possible textures on it, then the goal is to get all the pieces with the same texture to cover each side.
The pain I felt when you moved the framework of the buffalo puzzle to the side and it all fell apart 😫 kudos to you for completing all three layers cause that would have driven me INSANE
What a fun investigation! I'm sure Dugald had fun going down memory lane on one random project he did for a job 30 years ago.. that's part of what I love about niche collectors, is gathering all this minutia about the past that would be completely lost to the ages without them. There's so much being made all the time and the actual production process is usually clouded in obscurity, it's fun to get these little peeks inside!
As an Australian, who was a kid in the 90s, the coral reef being the big seller makes pretty good sense to me, particularly in Australia. I could imagine it being sold at tourism information centres and souvenir shops across Australia, and particularly in Queensland, home of the Great Barrier Reef. The 90s was also the era of Free Willy, the golden age of Sea World, AND we had the cetaceas, space-ious? art of Christian Riese Lassen, which was hugely popular.
To be transparent, this is the first I've seen these. They look like an interesting concept, though I think they also demonstrate why most puzzles are on thick card. :)
This is indeed a blast from the past. As an Australian kid growing up in the 90s, I remember putting together the black and white transparent stairs puzzle as well as the silhouette brain teaser in Dugolds portfolio!
I just got a 2D Escher puzzle from the thrift store yesterday, so when I saw this video, I was a little taken aback by the coincidence. Always fun to watch Karen do a puzzle even if there's a bit of a struggle 😅 got me to take up puzzling again.
It'd be super interesting for you to calculate the average time per piece for each puzzle once you've completed them! It'd be so cool to see a ranking at the end of the year of what puzzles had the highest average, lowest average, and which ones surprised you.
I could see a company taking this concept and going all out with it. Like more layers and the ability to freely change the layer order to get a slightly different picture. Really play with the depth this puzzle concept can give to illustrations, kind of like how layered resin paintings do.
I got the Buffalo Games version of Paradox for Christmas from a niece in the 90's. I wasn't aware that there were more of these puzzles with different pictures. i remeber how delicate it was to handle as the pieces fit loosely together. I will have to assemble it again and put it on my light tablet. Thanks for showing this TRANSPARENT puzzle video Karen.
UPDATE: I put this puzzle together and had a piece missing : ( My light table isn't big enough to put the puzzle on. Watched your new video on the From Sea to Shining Sea puzzle you worked on in 8th grade. Glad you found the 2nd missing piece from this transparent puzzle.
I don't know about "World's most difficult" 3-D puzzle, but this is actually a really clever idea. (Though the stickiness and making the player disassemble everything beforehand might've been mistkaes.) I'm surprised more companies didn't expand on this idea.
I guess it wasn't that sticky when it was originally made, the glue or plastic may have gone a little funky? Also, are the *transparent* layers really glass like Karen says? I'm guessing they deburred the edges, but even so that seems kind of dangerous to have two pieces of loose glass with the puzzle!
They weren't necessarily sticky, but the plastic would grip the glass. I definitely don't think they were as hard to remove back when the puzzles were originally made.
I truly admire your honesty in doing these special 3D puzzles. You challenge yourself and I love your coordination of pieces along the way. Thank you, Karen! Well done!💕🙋♀️🌴🦩🇺🇸💕
My response to the mix-and-match layering was "POV: you're a fish watching the humans in your terrarium". Good critique and assessments, and I'd agree the need for a backlight is... well, transparent.
I'm tempted to pick up the transparent Coral Reef puzzle if I can find it inexpensive enough. I'm a sucker for a puzzle with a twist. If you've not tried the Tenyo puzzles (a Japanese puzzle company), you might. They make stained glass puzzles, that are designed to hold together (the click is really nice!) and then display in the window. You can pick them up quite easily and when the light hits them, they are really pretty. The Buffalo version would have drove me batty trying to keep all those pieces from shifting!
I had the transparent coral reef puzzle (buffalo version) as a young kid in the 90s! I'd completely forgotten until the closeups of the schools of fish and squid when the memory came flooding back! So cool to hear the deep dive into the history of the 3 layer puzzles, thanks Karen!
Transparent! Love the deep dives into vintage puzzles. My mom and I are big puzzlers and it is interesting to hear which puzzles you do that she remembers seeing advertisements for when she was younger. Keep doing what you’re doing, we are totally here for it!
Could that Transparent paradox Puzzle be the first one ever that's harder to take apart than put together? Hmm. Either way, great video Karen. It's amazing what you put yourself through for your subscribers.
Karen, your detective workin seeking out the puzzle makers and illustrators origin is always so interesting. Especially, when you can possibly interview those people. Keep on.
I remember borrowing some of these puzzles from the local library when I was a kid! I’m pretty sure I even nagged my Mum to go to some of the other libraries so we could borrow different ones. And to (partially) defend the “3D puzzle” name, while PUZZ3D was being made at the same time, it took a while for them to reach Australia. I reckon there were 2-3 years between when I was doing the 3 layer puzzles and when I saw the first PUZZ3D puzzle.
I just wanted to say thank you Karen! i haven't done puzzles for years and years and after much watching i decided to do some small puzzles and been having a blast! Ty for spreading puzzle joy
I really enjoyed the deep dive (there is definitely a pun in there!) and treated myself by watching in 2 halves to extend my enjoyment. I was in Australia in the 90s but don't remember these but then I had stopped puzzling for a while. It was a great image you made at the end, almost like the city of Atlantis with the transparent view to the buildings 😃 As a new subscriber I am loving this channel.
I absolutely love the deep reviews you do, shows how much you actually love this hobby, no one foes puzzle reviews like you. With these puzzles I definitely like that they're unique, if I displayed them I would definitely mix different puzzles together.
Your laughter and smiles gives me confidence I can complete any jigsaw puzzle that comes to me! Your support makes me think I can do the same puzzle anytime I get the chance. You and your sister Katie are great puzzlers!
I can't believe I didn't have the ocean one in the 90's! MOST of my personal collection of jigsaw puzzles at that time were ocean-themed. Everyone knew I loved them fiercely and I got at least one for every birthday and holiday for a while, it seemed. None of them, however, were transparent. I'm tempted to seek that one out just to add to my 90's ocean collection. I also need to rescue some of the others from my parents' place to fully reassemble that dream team.
I have the Escher puzzle. I got it 20 years ago, as your family did (lol), and have been terrified to take it apart!!! I love puzzles, but was definitely intimated by it. Thank you for showing it being worked!
Hi Karen! The first is one of my favorite images. Thank you for thinking about us and our perspective of your puzzle. Love these 3 layers puzzles and how "transparent" they are. Never did one. I especially enjoyed when you placed them on your light box. Genius! Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
transparent. I love your deep dives into puzzles - learning about the creators and the nature of business is just as interesting as watching you solve the puzzles.
I remember this puzzle! I probably solved it about 3 times... Not the most difficult, but a lot more fun than I'd have expected for the low piece count. But then, I also love anything M.C.Escher-esque.
While I'm sure the transparent underwater one looked better in person than it did on this video, the transparent stairs picture was far more interesting to me. I agree that the box wouldn't serve as a great frame, just a cheap and easy option, but I would definitely hang up something like that in a better frame at my house. The depth has so much more intention to it as the impossible structure goes back and forward within it rather than just having a flat fish behind another flat fish. Obviously, the underwater picture has a lot more color going for it, making it the more eye-catching, but I definitely prefer the spatial exploration of the stair picture. It feels like it better earned the moniker of 3D puzzle (though I agree with you, actual 3D puzzles were already a thing before this).
A fun and interesting video. Thank you. The various cardstock colours are beautiful as backgrounds. The thickness and feel of the pieces and how well they cling together is interesting.
This looks like it was based upon Escher's works. That artist is incredible, how he could come up with the 3D optical illusions in black and white lithographs. He was an unbelievably creative and fantastic artist.
I'm an enjoyer of long-form videos every once in awhile but I don't always get to the end in one sitting. Now Karen makes long videos so fun and exciting and I've sat through her videos, no matter the length, in one sitting without fail. I'm a HUGE fan of these deep dives, and I do love a good transparent puzzle :) I can't believe you actually got into contact with the creator too!!
Me, opening TH-cam, seeing Karen has uploaded a 50 minute long video: 🥳 If I would find one, I would do it. But not the Buffalo one. That the pieces don't stick together would make me aggressive. 😅 The idea with the background light was genius. That even changed the "quality" of the puzzle. Thank you for your hard work. I love your channel! Transparent 🧩
The light box does make such a difference doesn’t it 🙂 A glass table and a lamp would also work really well for appreciating any *transparent puzzle. Thank you for sharing this. 🙂🐿🌈❤️
Love your deep dive videos! I would be too I intimidated to do one of those puzzles. But I do like how the “transparent” layering looks once you had a light source underneath it. Looking forward to other vintage puzzle videos.
Greetings from Florida. My 13 year old son and I just started watching your channel a few weeks ago. He's about to finish a 1000 piece Napoleon puzzle and we we're wondering how long it would take you to do a 1000 piece historical scene puzzle? Love your show and passion for jigsaw puzzles. We can't wait to do more puzzles together! Da Vinci's Last Supper is next.
Transparent. Using this idea for an undersea puzzle is super cool since in the Ocean things get blurrier the further away they are due to the atmospheric perspective.
I'm always soooo glad that you're doing deep-dives! When you were done with the first one, I thought to myself "I hope she'll show us the other ones in this video as well, these look so cool and I don't want some short or insta (which I don't use) post on them" Then I saw that we weren't even halfway through the video, and that made me just so happy ☺️ Also loved all the background info you managed to obtain about these **transparent** puzzles The quality of your videos, the effort you put into them - just ❤
My heart sank when I saw how thin and flimsy the puzzle pieces were cuz that puzzle is such a cool idea. It should have been designed with durability over time in mind 😫
I wasn't familiar with the puzzles you solved in this video, but my family had the green The Last Piece puzzle with the Baffling Bugs design. I never solved it as a kid and I am sure the solution exists online but I can't give myself away like that and just look it up. I spent hours as a kid trying this out with different strategies and everything.
I did this puzzle as a teen and oh boy did I have a hard time! I think I gave up on it at one point and then restarted years later but was finally done in by the clear pieces. I had so many false fits that I ended up not even being able to shove in the last piece! Congrats on the smooth solve!
My mom bought this puzzle back when I was in middle school…I’m almost 35 and it’s been in puzzle purgatory almost this whole time. 😂😂 I think she solved it once but did each puzzle separately. She always SAID she would attempt all three at the same time but I think she thought better of it.
The light box reveal made me think that if you were displaying this anywhere, hanging one in a window for the sun to shine through could make sense, if you were doing the older version meant to be displayed
I loved puzzles growing up. I could spend hours alone doing puzzles and only ever had my baby sitter do them woth me. Sie gifted me her whole collection of kids puzzles when I was about 8. Miss them. I left for the Army at 19 and I feel I lost a large gap of time continuing on developing who I was as a person and as a puzzler. Now I'm a mom of 3 kids and have no dedicated space to sit and do any big puzzles. I found your videos and it's really nice to watch you and learn about all these puzzles. I will definitely get back into doing bigger puzzles than the ones I do woth my kids and as they get older do bigger ones as I can have them out and have time to dedicate to them. Sorry for such a long random comment. I hope you see it. Thank you
I did the second version of the transparent coral reef puzzle about 10 years ago. I got it secondhand from a friend who had also worked it. I remember enjoying putting it together and finding it very satisfying when it all came together.
The Paradox puzzle made me think of Pomegranate puzzles featuring the work of Escher. I just got a vintage 156 piece b & w puzzle that will be enough of a challenge for my eyes.
I liked the fact that you made an attempt to contact the designer and he replied. Another great and fun video. Thanks for from an old man recently retired and a puzzler? ha ha.
I really enjoyed this video and like the idea of the transparent puzzle, but don’t know that I would have tried these back in the day. To answer your question, they do make lightboxes to hang on your wall and display art. I have a beautiful piece of stained glass that I moved from one house to another, and in the new house, I mounted it in a lightbox because I did not have a window to fit it. Thanks for always producing such great puzzle content!
This was a long video with a lot of information! A few more notes I wanted to share:
-I filmed most of this video before Dugald got back to me. So when I said that I didn’t think anyone had had the two versions next to each other before, I meant in a review video on camera. Obviously the creators of this puzzle saw them both!
-Looking at the “3D Poster” alternate packaging at the end, I wonder if someone put the Paradox puzzle from the other packaging into this box, because it’s labeled as the “Hidden Nature Collection”, and the Paradox puzzle doesn’t appear on the back of the box as an option. That one is still a mystery.
-I don’t know if it fully came across in the video, but it drove me CRAZY how the entire point of the Buffalo version was to stack the three layers and even mix and match layers between puzzles, but they designed it where the puzzle would fall apart with any movement. WHY WOULD YOU DESIGN A PUZZLE THAT WAY?
-Dugald also told me that the Buffalo releases of the “Who Said That” puzzles were much simpler than the original Australian versions, and he recommends getting the originals. I definitely want to do a follow up video one day comparing the two, but this video was long enough that I didn’t want to go off on another tangent.
-I was hoping I could get more into it if Bambi, the illustrator, got back to me, but Dugald also mentioned that she was commissioned to do these drawings, rather than them being existing illustrations that could be modified into three layers. So she drew the three layers separately, which were then turned into the printing plates.
-On Instagram I have a photo of putting the top layer of the Paradox puzzle on top of the bottom layers of the Coral Reef puzzle. I realized afterwards that I never did that in the video.
Thank you for watching and let me know what you think of these puzzles!
Honestly I love your longer videos cus I end up walking away with so much more information that I didn’t know about puzzles 💕
its a cool idea i know if i had them as kid it would have kept me occupied for a bit the 3d poster aspect of it is really intriguing because the only other "3D" puzzles ythat were on the market at the time was puz3d puzzles
feels like they could've done some really cool "x-ray" concepts with this multi-layer semi-transparent puzzles... like having the skeleton of a creature on the middle layer and the organs in the third... or making full use of the translucent overlaps to do demographic maps... think more educational pictogram than just simple themed illustrations!
maybe your channel can commission one as a collab with a more sciencey / geography channel one day 😄
Could see your video puzzling just perfectly on that wonderful teal surface :) TY And adding the pastel colored sheets was a great idea.
Oh interesting - I've done two of the quiz jigsaw puzzles (Who Sang That and Who Said That) but mine were versions manufactured in the UK by BV Leisure (somehow related to Buffalo Games, I think). They definitely weren't easy and - to be totally transparent - I did end up googling quite a few of the answers (and in the process discovered one or two mistakes)! Fun to learn that they were created by the same person.
It's always a joy when filming Karen says, "I think this won't be too hard" and editing Karen says "LOL". I'm just in the first ten minutes, so I don't know how these transparent pieces will work out, but I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from the designer!
Please keep going with these historical trivia format with the vintage puzzles. It’s soo interesting to see you deep dive into buried memory lanes. You’re literally like solving another layer of mystery as puzzling as the puzzles themselves.
It looks like a very cool concept that is difficult to execute. Both versions of the puzzle seemed super frustrating, for different reasons, and eventually I realized that those frustrations are due to the limitations of using transparent materials. It must have been difficult to find material that was simultaneously transparent enough, easy enough to print on, easy enough to die-cut, and not too shiny. Obviously you couldn't make the pieces too thick since they would be less transparent, and I imagine many materials wouldn't tolerate die-cuts with more unique piece shapes. Since 30 years of materials science advancements have passed since these were originally produced, I wonder if manufacturers today would be able to find a more suitable material to work with?
There are definitely modern plastic puzzles made out of better materials, and I'll be talking about some in a video very soon!
I watch these for Karen and her smiling and giggling. It gives me a good feeling. Doing puzzles is cool. Karen doing puzzles is cooler.
yeah, i don't even own a single puzzle :)
This puzzle made me realise that puzzling is very much a sighted person activity. Wondering if there's a puzzle for non sighted people, maybe a textured puzzle?
I'm positive there are indie puzzle brands out there that would hear this idea and go bonkers excited. Also sounds like something the Playgroup might attempt.
I beleive this exists but i cant recall
That's a very cool idea! :)
I’m imagining a rubiks cube, but each square has one of 6 possible textures on it, then the goal is to get all the pieces with the same texture to cover each side.
It would be amazing for Karen to find a puzzle like that and solve it blindfolded.
The pain I felt when you moved the framework of the buffalo puzzle to the side and it all fell apart 😫 kudos to you for completing all three layers cause that would have driven me INSANE
What a fun investigation! I'm sure Dugald had fun going down memory lane on one random project he did for a job 30 years ago.. that's part of what I love about niche collectors, is gathering all this minutia about the past that would be completely lost to the ages without them. There's so much being made all the time and the actual production process is usually clouded in obscurity, it's fun to get these little peeks inside!
As an Australian, who was a kid in the 90s, the coral reef being the big seller makes pretty good sense to me, particularly in Australia. I could imagine it being sold at tourism information centres and souvenir shops across Australia, and particularly in Queensland, home of the Great Barrier Reef.
The 90s was also the era of Free Willy, the golden age of Sea World, AND we had the cetaceas, space-ious? art of Christian Riese Lassen, which was hugely popular.
To be transparent, this is the first I've seen these. They look like an interesting concept, though I think they also demonstrate why most puzzles are on thick card. :)
The fish puzzles with a light behind them would be such cute nightlights in a bathroom!
I love how invested you get,
Karen, when you hone in on
the history of a puzzle, you're
more than TRANSPARENT!
This is indeed a blast from the past. As an Australian kid growing up in the 90s, I remember putting together the black and white transparent stairs puzzle as well as the silhouette brain teaser in Dugolds portfolio!
Your joy for puzzling is so contagious, love your videos!
I just got a 2D Escher puzzle from the thrift store yesterday, so when I saw this video, I was a little taken aback by the coincidence. Always fun to watch Karen do a puzzle even if there's a bit of a struggle 😅 got me to take up puzzling again.
34 minutes in. This puzzle is dealing me psychic damage through the screen. What a pain to have such delicate puzzle pieces.
I bet the paradox puzzle would look really cool encased in layers of clear resin to block out all the glare and puzzle lines
It'd be super interesting for you to calculate the average time per piece for each puzzle once you've completed them! It'd be so cool to see a ranking at the end of the year of what puzzles had the highest average, lowest average, and which ones surprised you.
I could see a company taking this concept and going all out with it. Like more layers and the ability to freely change the layer order to get a slightly different picture. Really play with the depth this puzzle concept can give to illustrations, kind of like how layered resin paintings do.
Thank you for a 50 minute video. I love long vidoes.
I had so much to say about these!
Gosh those transparent pieces seemed hard! I really love the deep dives you do on these puzzles and their history. It's so interesting to me!
I got the Buffalo Games version of Paradox for Christmas from a niece in the 90's. I wasn't aware that there were more of these puzzles with different pictures. i remeber how delicate it was to handle as the pieces fit loosely together. I will have to assemble it again and put it on my light tablet. Thanks for showing this TRANSPARENT puzzle video Karen.
UPDATE: I put this puzzle together and had a piece missing : ( My light table isn't big enough to put the puzzle on. Watched your new video on the From Sea to Shining Sea puzzle you worked on in 8th grade. Glad you found the 2nd missing piece from this transparent puzzle.
I don't know about "World's most difficult" 3-D puzzle, but this is actually a really clever idea. (Though the stickiness and making the player disassemble everything beforehand might've been mistkaes.) I'm surprised more companies didn't expand on this idea.
I guess it wasn't that sticky when it was originally made, the glue or plastic may have gone a little funky? Also, are the *transparent* layers really glass like Karen says? I'm guessing they deburred the edges, but even so that seems kind of dangerous to have two pieces of loose glass with the puzzle!
They weren't necessarily sticky, but the plastic would grip the glass. I definitely don't think they were as hard to remove back when the puzzles were originally made.
All those clear puzzles were great practice!! Looking forward to watching you solve this!!
I LOVE the concept of a *transparent layered puzzle! Wish a current company would take it on and do another spin on it (matte material etc.)
I recently watched the other video where you found that second missing piece. Made me giggle
I truly admire your honesty in doing these special 3D puzzles. You challenge yourself and I love your coordination of pieces along the way. Thank you, Karen! Well done!💕🙋♀️🌴🦩🇺🇸💕
My response to the mix-and-match layering was "POV: you're a fish watching the humans in your terrarium". Good critique and assessments, and I'd agree the need for a backlight is... well, transparent.
New puzzle video! ~ dropping whatever I was doing and sitting down to watch ~ yay!
This is such a unique concept for a puzzle!
I'm tempted to pick up the transparent Coral Reef puzzle if I can find it inexpensive enough. I'm a sucker for a puzzle with a twist. If you've not tried the Tenyo puzzles (a Japanese puzzle company), you might. They make stained glass puzzles, that are designed to hold together (the click is really nice!) and then display in the window. You can pick them up quite easily and when the light hits them, they are really pretty.
The Buffalo version would have drove me batty trying to keep all those pieces from shifting!
I had the transparent coral reef puzzle (buffalo version) as a young kid in the 90s! I'd completely forgotten until the closeups of the schools of fish and squid when the memory came flooding back! So cool to hear the deep dive into the history of the 3 layer puzzles, thanks Karen!
I love it when the pieces snap together, such a satisfying sound
Sunday morning .
Iced coffee.
Karen posts a video .
Perfect 👍🏻
Haha! For me it's:
Sunday evening
Camomile tea
Karen posts
Perfect!
🥰
Transparent! Love the deep dives into vintage puzzles. My mom and I are big puzzlers and it is interesting to hear which puzzles you do that she remembers seeing advertisements for when she was younger. Keep doing what you’re doing, we are totally here for it!
I really appreciate how in-depth this was! It could have easily been a week-long video series.
The snapping sound is kinda satisfying 😮 but I dont know if I would do a puzzle like this myself
Could that Transparent paradox Puzzle be the first one ever that's harder to take apart than put together? Hmm. Either way, great video Karen. It's amazing what you put yourself through for your subscribers.
Karen, your detective workin seeking out the puzzle makers and illustrators origin is always so interesting. Especially, when you can possibly interview those people. Keep on.
I remember borrowing some of these puzzles from the local library when I was a kid! I’m pretty sure I even nagged my Mum to go to some of the other libraries so we could borrow different ones. And to (partially) defend the “3D puzzle” name, while PUZZ3D was being made at the same time, it took a while for them to reach Australia. I reckon there were 2-3 years between when I was doing the 3 layer puzzles and when I saw the first PUZZ3D puzzle.
That's a good point! Without the internet, it would take a while for products to reach other countries.
6 minutes in... I was like "I need this" and now I'm like "No".
I just wanted to say thank you Karen! i haven't done puzzles for years and years and after much watching i decided to do some small puzzles and been having a blast! Ty for spreading puzzle joy
I really enjoyed the deep dive (there is definitely a pun in there!) and treated myself by watching in 2 halves to extend my enjoyment. I was in Australia in the 90s but don't remember these but then I had stopped puzzling for a while.
It was a great image you made at the end, almost like the city of Atlantis with the transparent view to the buildings 😃
As a new subscriber I am loving this channel.
I absolutely love the deep reviews you do, shows how much you actually love this hobby, no one foes puzzle reviews like you. With these puzzles I definitely like that they're unique, if I displayed them I would definitely mix different puzzles together.
I like how the pieces snap together, it sounds sooo satisfying
Love your vintage deep dives! It's so cool to hear from/about people who were involved in creating them and what they're doing now.
Escher is one of my favorite artist. Very cool.
Your laughter and smiles gives me confidence I can complete any jigsaw puzzle that comes to me! Your support makes me think I can do the same puzzle anytime I get the chance. You and your sister Katie are great puzzlers!
Your puzzle videos are such much fun! I love how you are so passionate about your puzzling. Thank you for having such a bright and cheerful spirit.
The delicate touch you have on that last puzzle is inspiring 😅
I like your honest opinion and straightforward approach
19:56 this transition was AWESOME and so smoooooth. love your videos!
I can't believe I didn't have the ocean one in the 90's! MOST of my personal collection of jigsaw puzzles at that time were ocean-themed. Everyone knew I loved them fiercely and I got at least one for every birthday and holiday for a while, it seemed. None of them, however, were transparent. I'm tempted to seek that one out just to add to my 90's ocean collection. I also need to rescue some of the others from my parents' place to fully reassemble that dream team.
I have the Escher puzzle. I got it 20 years ago, as your family did (lol), and have been terrified to take it apart!!! I love puzzles, but was definitely intimated by it. Thank you for showing it being worked!
Hi Karen! The first is one of my favorite images. Thank you for thinking about us and our perspective of your puzzle. Love these 3 layers puzzles and how "transparent" they are. Never did one. I especially enjoyed when you placed them on your light box. Genius! Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
you got me back into puzzles after YEARS of not doing any. now my collection is thriving
I love to hear that!
transparent. I love your deep dives into puzzles - learning about the creators and the nature of business is just as interesting as watching you solve the puzzles.
I remember this puzzle! I probably solved it about 3 times... Not the most difficult, but a lot more fun than I'd have expected for the low piece count. But then, I also love anything M.C.Escher-esque.
Ooof. Wow, I definitely don't remember having any issues separating the pieces like you did. I'm pretty sure it was much easier when they were new!
your patience with puzzling is always astounding, but even moreso how you handled that packaging!! i always tear into things like a feral raccoon lol
This is one of the few puzzles I have done multiple times. I find it so satisfying
This was super fun! Thanks for the deep dive :) i won’t do this transparent puzzle but i do enjoy all this nerding out about it :)
While I'm sure the transparent underwater one looked better in person than it did on this video, the transparent stairs picture was far more interesting to me. I agree that the box wouldn't serve as a great frame, just a cheap and easy option, but I would definitely hang up something like that in a better frame at my house. The depth has so much more intention to it as the impossible structure goes back and forward within it rather than just having a flat fish behind another flat fish. Obviously, the underwater picture has a lot more color going for it, making it the more eye-catching, but I definitely prefer the spatial exploration of the stair picture. It feels like it better earned the moniker of 3D puzzle (though I agree with you, actual 3D puzzles were already a thing before this).
karen your videos are SO well made, truly.
I'm not sure I'd ever do a "transparent" jigsaw but this was fun to watch. The light box was a genius idea 😀
A fun and interesting video. Thank you. The various cardstock colours are beautiful as backgrounds. The thickness and feel of the pieces and how well they cling together is interesting.
This looks like it was based upon Escher's works. That artist is incredible, how he could come up with the 3D optical illusions in black and white lithographs. He was an unbelievably creative and fantastic artist.
I'm certain it was! I saw the thumbnail and instantly thought of Escher
She references this at about 11:30 in the video. As a mathematical minded person, his art was always my favorite!
I'm an enjoyer of long-form videos every once in awhile but I don't always get to the end in one sitting. Now Karen makes long videos so fun and exciting and I've sat through her videos, no matter the length, in one sitting without fail. I'm a HUGE fan of these deep dives, and I do love a good transparent puzzle :) I can't believe you actually got into contact with the creator too!!
Another beautifully done video, thank you Karen! I particulary enjoyed the music choices with this one 👏🏻
I appreciate you and I being the same age, so when you refer to something from back in our day it feels nostalgic, not historic. 😂
Me, opening TH-cam, seeing Karen has uploaded a 50 minute long video: 🥳
If I would find one, I would do it. But not the Buffalo one. That the pieces don't stick together would make me aggressive. 😅
The idea with the background light was genius. That even changed the "quality" of the puzzle.
Thank you for your hard work. I love your channel!
Transparent 🧩
The light box does make such a difference doesn’t it 🙂
A glass table and a lamp would also work really well for appreciating any *transparent puzzle.
Thank you for sharing this.
🙂🐿🌈❤️
Love your deep dive videos! I would be too I intimidated to do one of those puzzles. But I do like how the “transparent” layering looks once you had a light source underneath it. Looking forward to other vintage puzzle videos.
Greetings from Florida. My 13 year old son and I just started watching your channel a few weeks ago. He's about to finish a 1000 piece Napoleon puzzle and we we're wondering how long it would take you to do a 1000 piece historical scene puzzle? Love your show and passion for jigsaw puzzles. We can't wait to do more puzzles together! Da Vinci's Last Supper is next.
Transparent. Using this idea for an undersea puzzle is super cool since in the Ocean things get blurrier the further away they are due to the atmospheric perspective.
This was a fabulous deep dive. You were very transparent on the benefits and disadvantages of these puzzles.
The puzzles were OK. but the history was excellent!!! Love your research!!
Transparent is a lovely word
Love the puzzles 🧩 seeing the pieces slide into place on camera Is satisfying
I'm always soooo glad that you're doing deep-dives!
When you were done with the first one, I thought to myself "I hope she'll show us the other ones in this video as well, these look so cool and I don't want some short or insta (which I don't use) post on them"
Then I saw that we weren't even halfway through the video, and that made me just so happy ☺️ Also loved all the background info you managed to obtain about these **transparent** puzzles
The quality of your videos, the effort you put into them - just ❤
My heart sank when I saw how thin and flimsy the puzzle pieces were cuz that puzzle is such a cool idea. It should have been designed with durability over time in mind 😫
Its really cool that you got some input from the creator too!
Oh, wow!!!! How interesting! I love a good puzzle investigstion!
Oh my that puzzle that kept falling apart would drive me nuts!
I wasn't familiar with the puzzles you solved in this video, but my family had the green The Last Piece puzzle with the Baffling Bugs design. I never solved it as a kid and I am sure the solution exists online but I can't give myself away like that and just look it up. I spent hours as a kid trying this out with different strategies and everything.
I did this puzzle as a teen and oh boy did I have a hard time! I think I gave up on it at one point and then restarted years later but was finally done in by the clear pieces. I had so many false fits that I ended up not even being able to shove in the last piece! Congrats on the smooth solve!
My mom bought this puzzle back when I was in middle school…I’m almost 35 and it’s been in puzzle purgatory almost this whole time. 😂😂 I think she solved it once but did each puzzle separately. She always SAID she would attempt all three at the same time but I think she thought better of it.
Correction: She said she only did one layer.
Ironic because this puzzle looks like it is a depiction of puzzle purgatory.
The light box reveal made me think that if you were displaying this anywhere, hanging one in a window for the sun to shine through could make sense, if you were doing the older version meant to be displayed
I loved puzzles growing up. I could spend hours alone doing puzzles and only ever had my baby sitter do them woth me. Sie gifted me her whole collection of kids puzzles when I was about 8. Miss them.
I left for the Army at 19 and I feel I lost a large gap of time continuing on developing who I was as a person and as a puzzler. Now I'm a mom of 3 kids and have no dedicated space to sit and do any big puzzles. I found your videos and it's really nice to watch you and learn about all these puzzles.
I will definitely get back into doing bigger puzzles than the ones I do woth my kids and as they get older do bigger ones as I can have them out and have time to dedicate to them.
Sorry for such a long random comment. I hope you see it.
Thank you
I agree, the fish mixed with the staircases looks great!!
Love the research you've done. Great video, thank you!
Karen: Did you have any of these puzzles in 90s?
Me, a person born in 2004: Didn't even have a chance.
Oh! 3d decoupage but in jigsaw form! Interesting concept.
Transparent.
The puzzles were such a good idea! I don’t know how one could avoid the glare effect while doing a similar puzzle.
I did the second version of the transparent coral reef puzzle about 10 years ago. I got it secondhand from a friend who had also worked it.
I remember enjoying putting it together and finding it very satisfying when it all came together.
The Paradox puzzle made me think of Pomegranate puzzles featuring the work of Escher. I just got a vintage 156 piece b & w puzzle that will be enough of a challenge for my eyes.
My friends actually love coming over and helping withy puzzles
I had one of these 30 years ago 😮 now I miss it. It was so much fun!
I liked the fact that you made an attempt to contact the designer and he replied. Another great and fun video. Thanks for from an old man recently retired and a puzzler? ha ha.
I remember doing those puzzles when I was a kid. They were fun but easier than you’d think.
I really enjoyed this video and like the idea of the transparent puzzle, but don’t know that I would have tried these back in the day. To answer your question, they do make lightboxes to hang on your wall and display art. I have a beautiful piece of stained glass that I moved from one house to another, and in the new house, I mounted it in a lightbox because I did not have a window to fit it. Thanks for always producing such great puzzle content!