After reviewing the Iron Giant puzzle from Mondo last year, like many others, I accepted making puzzles during the pandemic. Therefore, when Bewilderness, a jigsaw puzzle company in Washington State, offered to send me some of their high-quality wooden puzzles for me to try, I seized the opportunity. Their puzzles are precision laser cut and the prices range from $40 to $99.

I decided to try two very different styles of jigsaw puzzles in this review. I deliberately chose to stay away from their most difficult puzzles. After all, I am still a relatively newbie in puzzles. Although I like challenges, I think I will encounter the challenges of ordinary puzzles. Moreover, it turns out that I was right.

The first puzzle I started was the Earth, which was a 199 piece puzzle, a watercolor painting designed by artist Erin Darling. It retails for $95 and can be purchased here. It comes in a very compact glossy white box with magnetic closure. Open the box, the puzzle is packed in a zippered plastic bag, wrapped nicely in tissue paper. There is also a copy of the artwork for reference when constructing the puzzle.

Open the jigsaw, a pleasant woody fragrance hits the face. This is almost the smell of burning wood in the fireplace, which may be attributed to the laser cutting process. This is all the parts:

One of the main features of this puzzle is that there are several pieces shaped like animals or trees:

For standard jigsaw puzzles, you can start with the frame. However, the round-earth puzzle is far from ordinary, and it is not clear at the beginning which fragments contribute to the boundary. Therefore, I started to make unique works because it is easier to find matches.

Based on these works, I was able to slowly build from there, and things began to take shape.

Finally, this is the completed puzzle, which is less than a foot in diameter:

It wasn't until I completed the puzzle that I realized a lovely detail: all plants and animals are in suitable areas on the earth!

Next, I continued to use Bewilderness's iconic geometric tailoring work "Wolves and the Moon". The art of the 326-piece puzzle was designed by Henry and designed by Whitney. Wolves and the Moon retails for $99 and can be purchased here. Like the earth, this puzzle is nicely packed in a glossy box with a magnetic closure.

As you can see, the shape of these fragments also makes it as difficult to build as a "standard" jigsaw puzzle. I think I'd better start by sorting by color.

Although I may not be able to build the entire framework first, I can at least start from one of the corners. Since the moon is the only part of the puzzle that uses yellow, this is a good starting point.

From there, I think those big wolf eyes will be the next easiest part to complete. Using the included images as a reference, I was able to position them relative to each other. The artist's signature and bones are also easier to construct shapes.

From there, I moved to the teeth and continued to grow from there. In the end, everything just started (literally and figuratively) in place, and then I was done. The finished size is 11.25 inches x 16 inches.

Using wooden puzzles is different from typical cardboard puzzles. Except for the tightly interlocking parts, such as the matching part of the seahorse's curly tail, the wooden puzzle can easily be knocked over or slipped out of place.

These two puzzles are absolutely challenging and each has its own way. I find that on the earth, the number of very small fragments can make it difficult to find where everything fits. Thankfully, once the larger part is in place, it is easier to see where to insert the smaller part. For the wolf and the moon, the geometric fragments provided a challenge for them to find a suitable location. Especially the starry sky I saved last. Sometimes I definitely want to know if I assembled that part of the puzzle correctly, and worry that I might need to take out the pieces and start over. But, thank goodness, as you can see above, I have put it together.

The Bewilderness puzzles are all beautifully illustrated with different styles. And they smell great too! If you are looking for high-quality puzzles that can exercise your brain and fingers, you should definitely check out Bewilderness's wooden puzzle games. Maybe now I have a couple, I will bravely go and see those difficult...

For more information or to make a purchase, please visit the Bewilderness website.

Note: Confusion sent me the puzzle for evaluation, but did not participate in this review.

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