About Josh

Josh is 30+ years old and has more Lego than he has hair. Which really isn't saying much. He builds mostly medieval creations, but dabbles in other genres. He is also a father and uses his kids as an excuse to buy Lego. That justification isn't working as well as it used to, so if you can think of a better justification, feel free to contact him. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Josh's Brickshelf gallery gets messier and messier. Josh also has a Flickr gallery, if you care about such things. He goes by the name "floodllama" there. If you wonder why he goes by "floodllama", you've obviously never owned a llama in flood. Josh feels sorry for you.

Posts by Josh

Guy Himber talks about CrazyBricks, Skulls, pigs, hats, zombies, Munchkin and more!

Guy Himber recently talked with me about his company CrazyBricks and his projects past, present and future. He also sent me some of the prototypes from his current SKULLS project as well as an early version of one of the add-ons, namely the GingerDead Man. The skulls come in three varieties. The largest one is my favorite, as it is the same size and proportion as the regular minifig head and most minifig hair can sit on it fairly naturally…though there is no stud, so anything you put on it is held in place by gravity. The other two skull varieties are a bit smaller than the large skull. One has a stud and the other doesn’t. The smaller skulls fit better inside helmets and cowls. The GingerDead Man is quite nice. He is a zombie variant of the CrazyBricks’ Gingerbread Man that is currently available. The printing is exceptional, made of a combination of both regular flat printing and embossed printing. Anyway, enough from me…let’s explore the mind of a builder!

Josh– Hello Guy, thanks for sitting down with me. You are known to many of our readers as V&A Steamworks, the builder of steampunk creations. But now you have actually started a company called CrazyBricks. Tell us about the concept behind the company and the name.

Guy– Hi Josh!
I had done a number of side projects that I made available to other builders (The Big StovePipe Hats and CrazyArms) and really enjoyed the creative process. I found that as a side effect, I also enjoyed interacting with my fellow LEGO enthusiasts and sharing what I had made. These early items were all machined (versus injection molded) so there was a limit to how much I could create via this method. When the idea of Pigs vs Cows was proposed for last year’s BrickCon I decided it was time to take the next step and bring some of my ideas to market in the form of the Pig and Cow characters. Since this project went beyond my ‘hobby’ and into more of a business, I decided to form a company to sell them under once the Kickstarter project had funded and that Company became CrazyBricks – inspired by the CrazyArms I had made earlier.

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Time for a snack

Schfio just prepared a light repast for your pleasure. There is so much perfection here, from the transparent-over-white milk bottle, the various cheeses and eggs, not to mention the toast. It is all so nicely done.

And now for something crappy

This toilet, by Moko, perfectly describes my mood today and makes me smile at the same time. I’m glad he built it.

Announcing the 11th Annual Colossal Castle Contest!

For the eleventh straight year, the good folks over at Classic Castle are bringing you the biggest Castle event of the season! Prizes include vintage sets, custom items, books, new sets and a mystery prize. Check out the categories and show off your medieval building skills. Compete against the best for the title of Master Builder!

Star Wars LEGO Darth Vadar Mosaic uses over 4000 pieces

Jim Jo is a new-comer to the Adult LEGO Fan community but that doesn’t mean he lacks building skills. His first project is a mammoth mosaic of Darth Vader. The mosaic measures 45 inches square and was done entirely without the help of actual mosaic-making software other than Excel for layout. All of the shading (or dithering) was done by eye, which makes this piece all the more impressive. Jim agreed to answer some questions about himself, the mosaic and the building process. Let him know what you think in the comments!

TBB – Why did you decide to do a LEGO mosaic?
JJ – By training, I am a molecular biologist, specializing in disease and metabolism, and I teach advanced biology and chemistry. I work in a school that has both an advanced art program and a well-equipped woodshop. Art is strictly a hobby for me (one I sadly have little time for), but thankfully I have several friends at my workplace who are skilled artists and craftspeople by trade or training. My mind is extremely analytical (part of the reason I have loved Lego since I was a child), and I think that is reflected in my art. In many ways then, there was a confluence of factors that made even the consideration of Lego mosaic a viable possibility.

I conceived of this project as a Lego mosaic back in the summer of 2012, which is long enough ago that I cannot honestly remember its genesis as an idea. At some point, I had a photograph of Darth Vader, and I thought, given the fairly limited number of common Lego colours, that I could at the very least plan to build it as a Lego mosaic. I had seen a couple of Lego mosaics before, in Nathan Sawaya’s online gallery, who, at the time, was the only Lego artist I was familiar with, so I knew it was possible. So I sat down at the computer and started making the digital picture without really having a realistic plan of how to transform digital into physical. In fact, more than a year passed between the time that I finished the actual picture/plan and when I started building.

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Dino Rider

rongYIREN just let this creature out of the stables and it’s a beaut! It has the cool style we have come to associate with this builder over the years and the compact, sturdy build just begs to be played with.

Harvester Class Widow

Jason Corlett has created an incredible mecha. I love the legs and the single, deadly eye staring me down. Also you have to love the use of the Pick-A-Brick cup for the hind-most part of the body.

Zombie Tommy brings you the latest BrickNerd episode and it’s to die for.

Tommy takes on many roles in this latest episode from BrickNerd. Check it out for news, reviews, chills, thrills, gore and more!

LEGO Record Store

This scene, by Ryan Howerter (AKA eldeeem) perfectly captures the look and feel of music stores all over the country and perhaps all over the world. The use of 2×2 printed tiles as LP jackets is spot-on and the eclectic nature of album art is such that just about any tile would make a good jacket. I also love the speaker up in the corner, as it really anchors the shot. I also like the use of 1×1 tiles as CDs. I have to say I’m impressed. It is not often that a builder completely captures the essence of scene like this. Ryan did so well, I feel like I’ve bought music there. In fact, I think I recognize some of those customers.

A couple of gems

Contrary to what some people think, building good minifigs and getting decent pictures of them is quite difficult. Telling a story in one picture is even harder. Here are two lovely shots of minifigs that have all of that and more.

DS‘s Winter has Begun

Andhe‘s New Horizons #2

Maleficarum

Mihai Marius Mihu has summoned this spooky tree just in time to get you in the mood for Halloween. If the four eyes hovering in the twisted branches wasn’t enough, the pile of blackened skeletons should do the trick.

LEGO Green Eggs and Ham would make Dr. Seuss happy

He would like these green eggs and ham, yes he would, Sam-I-Am. Dave Shaddix cooks up another winner with this Dr. Seuss tribute. I think that curvy fork screams “Seuss” and, of course, the green eggs and ham look perfectly not-tasty!