About Caylin

A life-long LEGO fan, Caylin returned to the hobby as an adult in 2003, after her mother bought her a basic creator tub as a joke. Her mother regrets this. She regularly attends BrickCon in Seattle, Washington, where she goes by the title of Prize Goddess. You can check out her flickr account here.

Posts by Caylin

Attending LEGO fan conventions, Part 4: So long! Farewell! [Editorial]

The convention is over. The last builds have been torn down, carefully packed (or tossed in a bin), and the staff have packed up and cleared the space. What’s next?

1. Sleep
I can’t state this enough: a convention is a draining experience regardless of your physical health, activity level, or personal preference for human interaction.

You’ve just spent the last four or five days on your feet, on a cement surface, surrounded by 500-1000 of your new best friends, along with a few hours of thousands of devoted fans ogling your LEGO builds. Your body needs to repair itself. If possible, I recommend taking the day after a convention off from work to rest and work in some self-care.

2. Take care of your physical self
Since you’ve been around hundreds of strangers for the last five days, it’s very common to catch the common cold. By taking time to care for your physical self after a convention, you reduce your risk (in addition to basics during the convention, like hand-washing, hand-sanitizer, and doing your best to get ample sleep and water).

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Italy’s il Duomo di Milano

Sometimes great things take time to create, as is the case with the Milan Cathedral. Construction began in 1386, with the final details (a gate) being completed in 1965. Renovations on the magnificent building continue even today. Hopefully brickbink‘s version did not take six centuries.

This inspired version is recognizable as the famous landmark, with its beautiful doors and statues. The only thing missing is an exorbitant amount of pigeons.

Attending LEGO fan conventions, Part 3: Convention Time! [Editorial]

It’s convention Day One. Now what? (Spoiler: meet people!)

1. Get there!
It’s time to get to the convention. By this time, if you’re traveling long distances, you’ve already left home, and you’re in close proximity. Now’s the time to get to the convention hall, meeting space, convention center, etc. and follow directions for unloading what you’ve brought. If you’ve got smaller stuff that can be easily carried, park elsewhere and save the close spots and loading docks for builders who require crates and teams to carry in their builds. Make sure you have the load-in information, since details vary from event to event.

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Attending LEGO fan conventions, Part 2: Before the Convention [Editorial]

You’ve made your decision! You’ve picked your convention. Now what?

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Attending LEGO fan conventions, Part 1 [Editorial]

Congratulations! You’re thinking about going to your first LEGO fan convention. So, now what?

That’s a great question. Making the decision to attend is the hard part; the rest is just details. But the details are where things can get awfully bogged down. We here at TBB have collectively attended nearly a hundred conventions across the world, so we have a thing or two to say about attending LEGO Fan conventions. Each event has its own unique flavor, so even seasoned convention-goers attending a new event for the first time feel the same excitement of the unknown. This guide will benefit newcomers and old-hats alike.

We’ve boiled down the convention-going experience into three segments: Pre-Convention, During Convention, and Post Convention. We’ll be publishing guides on these for you over the course of the next two weeks. We’re going into a new year of conventions and want to help everyone be prepared!

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They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway

Our very own Elspeth has combined her passion for LEGO and Broadway theater to create iconic scenes from the stage. She’s picked four classic productions and created scenes of one of the climactic moments.

To start us off, let us journey beneath the Opera Populaire with the Phantom of the Opera. I absolutely love the candelabra. The build wonderfully matches the iconic scene of the Phantom taking Christine to his lair for the first time.

Click for admission to your favorite production!

Adam Savage’s One Day Build of Jason Allemann’s Sysiphus Kinetic Sculpture [Video]

We here at The Brothers Brick are long-standing fans of Jason Allemann and his beautiful works. Previously, we’ve featured many of his builds: his Mosaic Printer, robotic Cookie Decorator, and, of course, his beautiful Labyrinth ball maze, released as a LEGO Ideas set this year.

One of my favorites, though, is his kinetic sculpture of Sisyphus and his eternal struggle pushing the boulder. Turns out we aren’t the only big fans of this work of art. Adam Savage of Mythbusters and Tested fame saw a video of Jason’s sculpture, and contacted Jason, getting custom instructions and the parts necessary to duplicate the build.

In the video below, watch Adam Savage and Norman Chan build the sculpture, experiencing all the highs and lows and joys of building a large creation (including not being able to find that ONE part!)

Coat of Arms in LEGO

In a Coat of Arms, everything has meaning: the symbols, colors and placement all tell a story about the family it’s representing. Robert4168 tells us the tale of the fictional Dratiphe Coat of Arms. He tells us the Gauntlet stands for strong and prepared, and the Scales for justice. The Anvil stands for honor, and the Arrows mean readiness for war.

I love the sculpting and scale on all of the items on the coat of arms, and the scroll work is just lovely. It says, “Omnia Praesignis Est” and adds another level of complexity to the build.

Santa Maria del Fiore in microscale

Once, when I was in Italy, I had a chance to visit one of the cathedrals — and was rendered speechless. The massive scale and timeless beauty of these historic works of art is awesome. Each cathedral has its own history and architectural details, and the Santa Maria del Fiore (or Il Duomo, if you prefer) in Florence is a stunning example.

While the original took centuries to complete, Legorevival Lrevival‘s version is small, compact, and considerably easier to construct. He’s given this beautiful landmark the LEGO Architecture treatment, and it’s totally one I’d love to buy someday. It’s instantly recognizable.

Tiny brick-built brownstone neighborhood welcomes you home

Looking for a new place? Barton Thinks has the perfect neighborhood for you. These microscale brownstone homes are just adorable. The build is full of great detail, which can be tricky when you’re working in microscale. The easily recognizable brownstone architecture caught my eye, but check out that wonderful stoplight!

I love the roof and bay windows the building has, all packed into a small footprint. Each home sits on just 3 by 6 studs, making the whole module just 16 by 16 studs.

13 Miller’s Court in tragic detail

The late summer and fall of 1888 was a rough time for women in the Whitechapel district in London. The ever evasive Jack the Ripper slowly but surely made his way into history and headlines, culminating in what is believed to be the last attack on Mary Kelly, who was discovered the morning of November 9, 1888.

Mark Hodgson has illustrated the room she rented with stunning detail of how it looked prior to the first week of November that year.

The alley way, building front, and room are full of detail of the cramped quarters where she lived. Her life, up until her tragic death, is illustrated in one tiny room. Her murderer was never found, and the legends surrounding Jack the Ripper endure to this day.

Visit Copenhagen – in microscale

It can take years to save up for a vacation abroad, or sometimes a vacation at home. Ulrik Hansen has taken the time for you and created a beautiful microscale rendition of Copenhagen, Denmark, for us all to enjoy. While it’s taken us a bit to find this to show you, it’s well worth your time to pore over the amazing detail packed into this city snapshot. The level of detail is just exquisite.

I invite you to explore his Flickr gallery to learn more about sites to see in Copenhagen, and there are plenty of detailed shots for you to enjoy.