Frequently Asked Questions

Whimsical Puzzles

LimLinks Limitless Puzzles

Adult Coloring Puzzles

More..... Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have quantity restrictions or inventory shortages?

We are making our wooden puzzles as we speak and will work tirelessly to fulfill your orders and spread joy into as many homes as possible without delay. 
We do not have a lottery system, wait list or purchase quantity limitations. Just place your order, we will fill it, and your beautiful handmade whimsical puzzles, adult coloring zentangle puzzles or infinity puzzles will be on their way before you know it!

What does Liminal mean?

lim·i·nal. /ˈlimənl/ 

 Liminal space is the time between the 'what was' and 'what will be'. It is a place of transition, a season of waiting, and not knowing. Liminal space is where all transformation takes place, if we learn to wait and let it form us. ​ In the same way as life, with each puzzle piece set in place you are no longer where you were and not yet where you will be. Let our puzzles be your companion during these times of stillness and reflection.

How are these puzzles made?

Once the puzzle design is finalized we begin by mounting the image to high quality, 1/4" thick laser grade plywood. Then the material gets a protective coating to preserve the image, protect it from UV discoloration and also make it more durable and scratch resistant. After this the wooden puzzle gets cut in our laser cutters. 

Depending on the size and design of the whimsical wooden puzzle, Infinity Puzzle or Adult Coloring Puzzle this may take 30 minutes to over an hour per puzzle. 

All puzzles are taken apart by hand and inspected to ensure our customers receive a high quality product! Because this process is done by hand and by a person it is possible that you may find a piece or two that is still attached to its neighbor. Sometimes the laser can hit a denser area in the wood and not cut through all the way. This is not a defect, but occurs because we use natural plywood which varies in density, rather than manufactured density board like MDF which has a predictable consistensy throughout. (Chicken breast vs. chicken nuggets, anyone?)
If this is the case, you can use an exacto knife to sever the contact point, usually the size of the tip of a pin needle. 

How difficult are these puzzles?

Our puzzles generally are moderate in difficulty. We want you to be challenged but not frustrated! The difficulty level is noted for each product on its page. 

One suggestion to up the difficulty level is to not look at the image.
Another option is to make the puzzle wooden side up and not use the colors in the image as reference. This seems easier at first but quickly becomes more challenging as you progress. 

I sense a slight smokey oder. What is it?

Think Camp Fire! Since our puzzles are laser cut from high quality 1/4" ply wood, you may notice a slight wood fire smell when you open your box. This is due to the laser cutting, which effectivley burns thin lines through the material. This is absolutely normal and the smokey smell will dissipate if you leave the box lid open or the pieces laid out. This is normal and not harmful! We actually get a lot of positive feedback on this feature. Most people love it! 

What is the packaging like?

We take a lot of pride in our beautiful and unusual packaging. The puzzle box is a flip top, magnetic closure rigid box (no more pulling and tugging on the puzzle box lid which refuses to come off from its bottom counterpart) and is adorned with a beautiful ribbon. The puzzle pieces come in a beautiful organza bag which is wrapped in tissue paper on the inside to keep them from getting tossed around too badly during shipping. 

Do you offer gift wrapping?

Our packaging has been designed with the discerning customer in mind. We feel that our boxes make a dramatic statement all on their own. If you still prefer to have it gift wrapped, we would be happy to do that for you at no cost. Be sure to send us a message and let us know how we can help you put a smile on someone else's face :)

Do your puzzles come with the image?

Going back to the origin of these puzzles, they did not come with an image of the puzzle! The idea was to make it as challenging as possible for the puzzler. In the spirit of tradtion we opted to do something similar. You will not see a big image on the top of the box to be used for reference. 

Instead you will find a smaller label on the outside of the box with the image (so that you can easily see which puzzle it is should you have multiple) and other information such as artist, size and piece count. We also include a copy of the image inside the box for your reference. 

What about shipping?

We do our best to protect your puzzle and box during shipping so that it arrives at your home as beautiful as it left ours! 
Standard shipping is 2-5 day USPS Priority Mail or First Class Mail for our Adult Coloring Puzzles, or UPS which should take 3-5 days, depending on your location within the US. We do our best to fulfill orders within 24 hours and get your beautiful puzzles on their way to you as quickly as we can. We have not experienced any major delays with UPS or the Postal Service in general but over holidays and peak shipping periods we have have seen a small number of packages take a few extra days. 
If you are needing to get your package there quickly and reliable we suggest choosing an Expedited UPS method at checkout. The Postal Service does not guarantee their express shipping to arrive on time!

We also offer international shipping. You will see available options and rates at check out. 

Broken - missing pieces

Even though we do our best to ensure that our whimsical wooden puzzle pieces are not too fragile, some of them are intricate in detail and therefore can be prone to breakage if not handled carefully. If you have a piece that is broken, you can glue it back together with wood glue in most cases. 

Should you notice a small piece of the image detaching from the wood you can use paper glue to reattach it. This is not the norm but we all know stuff happens sometimes. 

Missing pieces are a bit more challenging as each puzzle is handmade and not mass produced. No 2 puzzles of the same design are cut in exactly the same place. Of course we will do our best to help you replace your missing piece and make sure you are satisfied with your purchase today and for many more years to come. Please contact us.

Is there a history behind Whimsical Puzzles?

Yes, there is! 

Wooden jigsaw puzzles first became popular in the 1920's and the Great Depression. People found themselves with very limited resources and too much time on their hands. (Sound familiar?) Wooden jigsaw puzzles became tremendously popuar during those times, not only in the US but worlwide. Early designers incorporated whimsical pieces into their puzzles and then hand cut them with a scroll saw, most often using 1/4 wood. 

The onset of Word War II brought a downturn in demand of these handcrafted wooden puzzles as new technology came out with the now common, die-cut cardboard puzzles which were so much cheaper to mass produce. In recent years the appreciation of handcrafted quality items has made a comeback and with that so have wooden jig saw puzzles. So if you are somone who appreciates the fine quality of a hand crafted product or gift, you have come to the right place!

What is a "Whimsy" and what are "liminals"?

Whimsy or whimsical pieces are what make these puzzles so unique! Those pieces can be shapes, people, animals and objects. They correspond with the theme of the image and it is such fun searching for those pieces of art amidst all the liminal pieces before even beginning to build the puzzle. 

Many of the whimsies are one piece, but there are others that are made up of a number of smaller pieces. This does not give instant gratification, rather it delays the fun of figuring out what it is! Liminals are the pieces that make up the rest of the puzzle, the pieces in between the whimsical pieces, the filler pieces so to speak.

How are whimsical puzzles designed?

We begin by choosing an image. Then we start designing whimsical pieces that go with the theme or idea of the image. Once the whimsies are hand drawn, we begin the process of rendering what we lovingly refer to as the "liminals" - the pieces that go in between.

Once those are hand drawn the enitre puzzle gets a fine tooth comb lookover and the first beta wooden puzzle gets printed. We then disassemble the puzzle and look at each piece, how it fits, whether it is appropriate in size etc. We will go through this process a number of times before signing off on the puzzle and begin production.

How are your puzzles different from "normal" puzzles?

Whimsical puzzles are made up of key pieces that are characters, shapes, animals, items etc and surrounded by irregularly shaped filler pieces. Due to these unusual shapes the brain is challenged in an entirely new way. 

Try it for yourself!

Limitless Puzzles

If you haven't done so yet be sure to check out our line of Infinity Puzzles! This style of puzzle or concept is based on the concept of Tesselation- a repetition of identical shapes that fit into each other. Each puzzle piece is identical which makes these wooden puzzles incredibly hard to put together. It may be hours before you realize that you put a piece in the wrong place, somewhere way back there. These infinity puzzles are designed to really challenge your attention to detail. 

Because each piece is indentical, this puzzle can be built on, added on to, embellished with focal pieces (sold seperately) etc to each puzzler's delight! You can "mash" multiple puzzles into one, or connect multiple puzzles to each other. 
We also sell "Art Barf" - bags of random infinity pieces with which one can create entirely new pieces of art!

The sky is the limit and we can't wait to see what you do with it! #showmeyours

What is Art Barf?

Great Question! Art Barf is simply a bag full of random LimLinks Infity puzzle pieces. Designed for the Creative who thinks outside the box and wants to be in charge of his or her own creative direction.
 
Art Barf is sold in barf bags, by the pound. It can be used to create an entirely new puzzle, mixed in with an existing puzzle or used to add on to any creation imaginable.

Who would have thought barf was gonna be cool one day?

Adult Coloring Zentangle Puzzles

Bringing you another novel idea with our Adult Coloring Zentangle Puzzles.
We all know and love adult coloring pages. They are fun, relaxing and so Zen... So why not combine the delight of puzzling with adult coloring?

Our Zentangle puzzles are smaller in size (they range from approx. 8"x8" to 8"x10" and approx. 90-130 pieces) and could be considered "pocket puzzles". They are laser cut of the same high quality 1/4" plywood and each Coloring Puzzle incldues whimsical pieces in the spirit of the puzzle as well as fun, unique filler pieces. The coloring lines (think coloring page) are engraved into the wood.
You begin by first assembling the wooden Adult Coloring Zentangle Puzzle as you would any puzzle, exept that it has no printed image. Once finished, you can get to coloring! We recommend using fine line markers which will not bleed, also available for purchase on our site. Your purchase comes with a handy how to guide to make this a fun and exciting experience for you.

Please note: these Zentangle Puzzles are NOT designed for children. They contain very small puzzle pieces that are a choking hazard for small children. Also, the zentangle designs are intricate with lots of details. 

Controversial Puzzle

During 2020 we released a puzzle that was rather controversial. After becoming aware of this, we promptly removed the puzzle and would like to state that this puzzle was in no way a political statement or a statement of personal beliefs. We would like to offer a sincere apology to anyone who was offended by this puzzle, as that is and was NEVER our intention.