This November saw a new LEGO challenge: NovHENber. Participants were invited to build chickens during the month, and many AFOLs answered the call. With the last chickens hatched, we checked in with builders behind the challenge – Syrdarian and Carson Lacy – and cooped up all the hens from the inaugural event.
See the full roundup of egg-celent birds below
It started with a dream – the dream of AFOLSs Carson Lacey and Syrdarian who dared prompt a new building challenge for the community: NovHENber. Frogs and crabs have had their time. Now let the chickens rise to the top of the pecking order! One builder who answered the call and has been strutting her stuff all month is Kristel Whitaker, who just finished her series of ten hens, starting with this plucky lady. This is an extraordinary build of a totally ordinary bird, living her modest egg-laying life on a bed of cozy chopsticks straw.
Only at the end of the series does Kristel reveal the nine fanciful fowl that followed were actually the first chicken’s dreams, with each microbuild becoming a piece of an impressive MOC with a brickbuilt dream bubble housing the peculiar and prodigious poultry. Each of these hens deserves a moment of appreciation.
Fly the coop with us as we meet all of Kristel’s amazing hens!
LEGO sets can make excellent souvenirs to take home from vacations, but how can LEGO prepare you for a trip and make that journey even more special?
Australian AFOL Kristel Whitaker recently wrapped a European vacation where she documented her trip with Polaroids built from LEGO. Rather than visit first, build later, Kristel prepped her “photographs” before leaving Australia based on iconic locations, then took an on-location photograph to match. The results are so much fun!
I love the use of monochrome for the LEGO versions, which makes them feel timeless but could also simplify the need to color-match exactly, like with this snapshot from Copenhagen’s Nyhavn.
Kristel’s compositions also help keep scope manageable when the subject is enormous, like with this shot of the Colosseum that she managed to perfectly match on location.
See the world with more AFOL adventurers after the fold!
LEGO builder Kristel Whitaker presents a sweet little Christmas vignette of a reindeer barn. First we have the good, thich is getting to pet a baby reindeer. Very nice! Next is the bad, which is having to scoop the poopy. I wonder what that elf did to get on the naughty list. Finally we have the…ugly? The funny? The weird? We’re not too sure how to categorize this one but Santa is napping on the roof with what appears to be a liquor bottle and a pizza. There’s no judgements here. We’ve all been there, right?
This is sort of tangentially Christmas-related but here is another vignette that we noticed earlier this month of Mrs.Gingerbread baking some delicious heart cookies. Perhaps they’re laced with a little something extra, which could explain why Santa is napping on the roof.
Was Maleficent a misunderstood defender of the magical world or an unabashedly wicked always up to something bad? Kristel Whitaker shows that the iconic Disney villain is not that girl as the gravity-defying witch is taking part in LEGO’s Build to Give initiative by assembling a heart out of bricks. (Or maybe it’s just a ploy to be popular?) Even as Maleficent builds a heart, Kristel’s clever display is itself heart-shaped. Call me a sentimental man, but I find it charming.
Kristel built similar vignettes for fellow goth icons Wednesday and Noctura. It’s not too late to build and share your own heart as part of the Build to Give initiative. For every heart shared by December 31, LEGO will give a set to a child in need.
LEGO builder Kristel Whitaker is an absolute rebel! She’s not going to let something like a grid of studs keep her from crafting a spot-on remake of the LEGO Scala logo. With so many curved tiles, modified plates, and stud offsets, Kristel is able to trace out S-C-A-L-A in only two layers of red. It certainly pulled its weight for the Scala Murder Mystery Mansion at Brickworld Chicago a few weekends ago.
So, how’s everyone feeling about 2024 so far? We’re still writing threes instead of fours by mistake – not helped by all the 2023 recapping we’re doing. But while we’re deciding our Creations of the Year or looking back at our most popular articles, Kristel Whitaker has seen in the new year in a big way! She’s built some big LEGO blocks out of, er, smaller LEGO blocks. We could use some of these in TBB Towers to remind us what year it actually is. Although it won’t help us work out how much longer before we stop saying “Happy New Year” to everyone. New year, same problems!
In a LEGO world of castles, spaceships, and battle mechs it’s sometimes nice to enjoy something a little different. Kristel Whitaker presents us with a stunning piece of art inspired by Japanese art. She tells us that the plum blossoms in Japanese culture represent hope, renewal and vitality, being the first to flower in spring (before the more famous cherry blossoms).The background is based on shoji, the paper sliding doors and windows common in Japanese homes. With the bold red sun against the white background, this piece almost looks like the Japanese flag, a notion that was surely not lost on a talented artist such as Kristel. This wouldn’t be the first time we were totally delighted by her LEGO creations. Please click the little blue link to peruse our Kristel Whitaker archives to discover more.
I really like the “maxi-fig” concept that has been doing the rounds lately. It can be as simple as LEGO’s own 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure set, or you can use it as a template to let your creativity run wild. Kristel Whitaker has done just that with this dandy pair of Day-of-the-Dead themed figs. They’re named Catrina and Skellie, and don’t they just look brilliant! I love the repeated use of yellow flowers and dark pink leaves on Catrina’s dress especially. It looks just like the intricate embroidery typical of this style of outfit. Skellie’s, er, skeleton is also nicely done with a mixture of SNOT (studs not on top) and tiled building.
Hopefully this format will blow up in a big way! Speaking of big – why not see what else the talented LEGO community has up-scaled?
I didn’t expect to find such a great real estate listing on Flickr, but Kristel Whitaker’s Midi-scale Modular LEGO build looks cozy as can be at eight studs wide. As Kristel has shown us with her previous builds, she is a master of color usage, and this model is no exception. I love the choice of dark blue for the door in contrast to the white trim. And the way the foliage pops against the cobbled walls of tans and browns is just terrific! I’d love to see more modular-style buildings in this scale.
And like with any good real estate listing, there’s always multiple pictures of the property. Check out this shot of the backdoor. The garbage bins are a nice touch.
Christmas has passed but that doesn’t stop us from still drinking egg nog and nibbling on gingerbread cookies. Calories be damned! Am I right? With that in mind, we couldn’t resist featuring this festive LEGO gingerbread stagecoach built by Kristel Whitaker. It has everything you could love in a Christmas-y creation; candy canes, pastries, cute ponies, and a lovely frosted stagecoach and gingerbread driver. There are even some carrots for those who couldn’t be bothered with holiday sweets. I don’t know about you, but I’m smitten. While I sip a spiked egg nog, you can check out all the other times we were smitten by the stuff Kristel has built.
This is a street that makes me feel the opposite of the blues! Kristel Whitaker built a collection of identical townhouses inspired by the colours of the world’s oceans – and also LEGO’s many blue colours. Titled “Ocean Drive”, this build is not only the modular houses but an immersive scene of its residents. The children – currently on summer holiday – are playing outside with the cats while their grandma sits on the front steps. The others come and go, both for work and leisure, and the resident flamingo watches the neighbourhood amongst the flowers. Life is good in the big city.
I love how this is reminiscent of London’s famous Portobello Road, which features similar Victorian-terrace houses. Each of LEGO’s common blue colour looks good – especially teal! This scene radiates a certain warmth, both because of the inclusion of light aqua and medium azure, and also the flowers in each garden. I also like the architectural detail of white flowers in the crest that separates the first and second floors. It’s definitely a street that I would love to live in!
Check out more of Kristel’s lovely builds here!