Tag Archives: Flowers

An botanical from eastern Asia that can’t be beat!

As someone who is constantly striving for natural shapes in my LEGO constructions, I’ve definitely taken notice of the techniques employed by James Zhan in their beautiful orchid plant. The simple yet elegant yellow and brown stripes on the flower’s petals are perfect here. And I’m in love with the use of this constraction armor part for the interior of the bloom. Following the lime stems down, we see some delicate leaf construction thanks to clips, bars, and curved slopes in green. Even further down, the cleisostoma paniculatum is held in a gorgeous black planter adorned with six large LEGO studs. I especially like the natural effect of the olive green roots partially covered by the “potting soil” made of 1×1 round plates.

Taiwan Cleisoma 台灣虎紋隔距蘭

And if you want to see more builders we’ve featured showing off their green thumbs, you can find them here.

The Giffen Gardens is an award-winning LEGO build [Exclusive]

Over the last several months, I’ve been able to admire the individual pieces of this gorgeous LEGO creation by fellow SPSLUG member Kimberly Giffen. But when all the parts came together this past weekend at BrickCon, my jaw hit the floor! The build is alive with so many textures, from the roof and cobbled tan walls of the house to the stone-paved path around it. Each of the dozens of flowers adorning the grounds here feels unique, a single beautiful piece in the larger puzzle. And the variety is outstanding, bounding between building techniques with ease. In this pocket, we have rockwork with studs exposed, but an inch to the left explores the patterns made with this pentagonal tile in dark blue.

Enter the garden grounds below…

I’m no botanist, but I know a pretty build when I see one

He might be better known as a Star Wars builder, but I’ve really been enjoying Amado Canlas Pinlac‘s floral builds of late. The quality is super consistent and super high – they’ve even been exhibited at the LEGO House in Billund! The latest addition to the garden is this Amazon Exotic Flora. I’ve no idea if this is an accurate representation of the real thing, or if it is even a real plant at all! All I know is, it’s beautiful, and I would love one on my mantelpiece…

Amazon Exotic Flora

That’s one beautifully arranged hat

Feeling crabby? Maybe this this cutie from Matt Goldberg can lift your mood. This creative crustacean has all the great organic shaping you’d want and is topped with a lovely bouquet of greenery. Is it the aquatic equivalent of an FTD delivery person? A decorator crab doing its best to camouflage itself? Perhaps this is prom night and the corsage was overzealous. Whatever the case, I adore this fun build.

Unpotted Crab

If you’re still crabby, though, there are plenty more critters in our archives!

Back in the saddle with a new business

This exquisite LEGO storefront by Caleb Schilling is all about new beginnings. It could be the opening of a new store, the blooming of a flower after a long winter, or the next season of Iron Builder. Utilizing 15 of this horse saddle seed part, the build puts them to use in the awning, a flower pot, and as the clerk’s apron. Beyond the seed part, I’m also partial to the excellent front door design in dark green and the intricate white molding on the second-story windows. Overall, there’s a depth to this build that goes beyond a stud count. All the open windows and patterned variations in texture make the creation stretch back away from the screen, inviting passers-by inside to see what’s on the shop’s shelves.

Open for Business

The Gnome Feast delivers whimsy, honey

Sometimes a LEGO creation comes along and immediately you’re like; I totally want to live here! That’s how I felt when I saw this new piece built by Bard Jaskier. Who wouldn’t want to live in a flower-treehouse among a world inhabited by this much whimsy? I love the sparkling flower, the toadstools, the ladybug, and all the blue tulips. (Or are they Forget-Me-Nots?) As sweet as those blue forget-me-jiggers are, the star of the show has got to be the purple bug delivering honey to the inhabitants to feast on in what could be called…a honey bucket. Heh, honey bucket. Get it? OK, I’ll just let myself out. While I make my shameful exit, why not check into why we think Bard Jaskier is as sweet as honey.

The Gnome Feast - Honey Delivery

Bloomin’ Kraata

Ahh, Kraata. The 2003 attempt by LEGO to match the catch-em-all collectability of Pokémon with slug-like Bionicle creatures. If you look closely at these exotic plants from Will Hafner, you can see the subtle variations that distinguish the different stages of their life cycle. Will has even created a flower with just the rare seventh-stage Shadow Kraata (those are the violet ones). I also like the vase, which looks like it began life as a Bionicle canister lid. There’s no doubt these are some cool-looking blooms, but I think if I saw them in my garden I’d be a bit concerned about invasive species.

Potted Plant

If you’re looking for more biologic diversity, check our archives for more amazing floral creations.

Exploring the cycle of life and death in all its haunting beauty

The cycle of Life and Death is something that most don’t like to think about, because it’s seen as scary. However, as we see here in this LEGO build by Dylan Mievis, it can also be beautiful. This build is for the Bio-Cup contest, where builders have to use pieces from Bionicle, Technic, Galidor, etc. The theme is “Nature”, and there’s nothing quite so natural as Life and Death, which Dylan describes as a “beautiful symphony”. In the build we see a potted plant growing up and through the seated human skeleton. The thriving plant brings a sense of wonder and grace to what would typically be frightening and stark. Of course, the plant doesn’t hold a monopoly on beauty. The amount of detail in the skeleton is astounding! It’s not often we get to see the radius and ulna in skeleton arms, or the tibia and fibula in the legs.

Overgrown

Even the knee caps are present, and the fingers and toes articulate. The ribcage is impressive as well, a good use of horns. I really like the design behind the spinal column. The ball joint connector has always reminded me of vertebrae, and here it fulfills that purpose. And let’s not forget to mention the wheelchair! It’s full of fantastic Technic parts, from the wheels to the footrests. The simplicity of the plant twining throughout pairs nicely with the complexity of the skeleton and chair. There’s a bittersweet note with the gold ring on the skeleton’s finger, speaking to a life left behind… Altogether, this shows the balance and cyclical nature of existence. Life turns to death, and death to new life. Truly, a hauntingly beautiful harmony in the symphony of the universe.

A bright and shiny sunflower

Sometimes a simple flower can contain clever secrets. Take this sunflower by Ted Andes for example. It’s one of those models that looks great on its own, but has rewards for the LEGO parts junkie as well.  Creative use of Bionicle Vahki eyestalks forms a real sunburst of color for the petals, and those leaves are repurposed pteranodon wings.

Sunflower

There’s a whole lot you can do when creating plants out of LEGO. Our archive is a garden overflowing with sweet techniques.

Giving nature a hand

The Flower Pot Girl (from the collectable minifigure series 18) gets a boost in this thought-provoking build created by Pascal Hetzel. The model shows an arm raising the colourful minifigure and flowers out of a stone box. Transparent wedges seep through cracks in the stonework and could be viewed as toxic waste with the arm saving the plant life from falling in. The forearm is presented in a staggered motion in order to portray the limb outstretched at an angle. Macaroni pieces are used to represent humanoid curled fingers with small bulb pieces in white forming the fingertips. Best not to give this one a shake, otherwise those carefully placed wedges and flowers will be going everywhere.

LEGO Flower Pot Girl

Gossipus Norvegicus

Apparently I have this thing for LEGO birds. Sometimes they tend to be really realistic, other times they look more cartoonized. These two little cuties by Lars Barstad are more on the cartoonized side of the spectrum They apparently are called Gossip Birds and they tend to come in pairs. Unlike turtle doves, these birds do not symbolise love and affection. These two represent the tittle-tattle, the rumors and the whispers. They are dishing the dirt, spilling the tea. Whatever you might call it, they are game for it! My guess is they are currently telling all the latest scandals about who used the Dr Strange cape as flower petals first.

Gossip birds

This LEGO bloom turns a magical artifact upside down

Some new LEGO Botanical Collection sets are dropping just in time for Mother’s Day, and they seem to have planted the seeds of creativity in the larger LEGO community. Dawn Sloboda, from LEGO Masters Season 2, brings us this single bloom with a magical twist. Dr. Strange’s Cloak of Levitation gets put to use to make some of the best petals we’ve seen on any LEGO flower. Here’s hoping Dawn didn’t have to endure any multiversal dangers to get her hands on four cloaks.