- The United Kingdom is passionate about sheds.
- There is an annual Shed of the Year contest.
- Right sorting strategy can make solving the puzzle a breeze.
- First in a series of shed themed puzzles in the My Haven Collection.
Title: The Craft Shed
Pieces: 1000
Artist: Steve Read
Size: 27in x 20in or 70cm x 50cm
Company: Ravensburger
Year Printed: 2015
Folks in the United Kingdom are very passionate about their shed. Data collected by Cuprinol, a paint/garden company, indicates that the UK shed industry is worth £8 billion pounds or $10 billion USD. About 21M people in the UK own a shed, which is about one third of the UK population. In addition, Cuprinol sponsors an annual Shed of the Year contest. Some of the previous year’s Shed of the Year winners are absolutely amazing, such as a Hobbit inspired one.
In the US, the garage or basement would probably be a close similarity to the shed in the UK. As both provides a place to relax and to get away from it all. With UK’s love affair with sheds, Ravensburger has a shed theme series, called the My Haven Collection.
The Craft Shed is the first puzzle in the My Haven Collection and the illustration shows the quaint interior of a shed packed with crafting supplies and tools and a lovely view of a garden. The illustration is truly an idealistic representation of what an amazing crafting shed would be like, such as one would find in the Shed of Year contest.
Build
A good first step for solving jigsaw puzzles is to devise a solid sorting strategy. For The Craft Shed, the puzzle consisted of four distinctive zones, specifically the window/garden, table top, table face/chair, and the wall/shelf. Within those zones, there are smaller distinctive patterns and shapes to sort. For example, the table top zone has a paint coloring kit that is distinctive from other parts of the puzzle. Another example, the window zone consisted of a blue window frame and contrasting garden in the window panes. Lastly, the borders were sorted separately.
Difficulty
On initial look, the puzzle seems very challenging. However, due to the above mentioned sorting strategy, the puzzle was solved in a relatively fast manner. It took four puzzlers three hours (3:00:45) to complete the puzzle. Two other My Haven Collection, The Cake Shed and The Sewing Shed, took roughly same amount of time to complete.
Overall, a fun puzzle with right balance of difficulty and engagement. The Craft Shed is our 44th puzzle from the 87 puzzle collection. Therefore, we’re now past the half way mark! Leave us a comment, if there are any other My Haven Collection puzzles that you would want us to review.
