Tag Archives: Sculptures

Don’t ride a bike to add days to your life – ride a bike to add life to your days

What started out as a dare to find a use for the giant technic gears from LEGO’s 2003 Hailfire Droid set has turned into this charming LEGO representation of a picnic in the city. Inspired by fond memories of summer bike rides, Canadian builder Mel Finelli has made ingenious use of many unusual parts to create an almost photorealistic scene. From the reproduction vintage ’30s LaFrance bicycle, retro radio, wicker basket full of goodies and Kensington lamp post, every component of this build demands closer examination to truly appreciate the techniques and finer details. No wonder then that this build won Best in Show when it debuted at BrickCan 2017 in Vancouver last month.

Click here for a closeup look

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They’re good builds, Brent

Let’s face facts: cats no longer rule the Internet. Nowadays the web belongs to the man’s best friend, dogs. And Korean builder Amida Na presents us with this digitally constructed pack of LEGO woofers big enough that anybody can find the perfect companion. Personally, I would totally go with the goofy Samoyed, whose tail is incredibly fluffy despite being built with just a handful of inverted slopes and plates.

Everything you need to be happy is right there, in your heart

Delving deeper into the artistic aspect of LEGO building, Timofey Tkachev follows up his previous build of a blood fountain with a strong image of spring rain, which has a very impressionist feel to it. The composition makes for a very powerful image, with contrast between colours and textures drawing the eye to the man holding his umbrella over the kneeling girl. The best part has to be the difference between the rain drops above and below the stone platform, which makes the rainfall look very dynamic. While the rockwork could be less repetitive, I think it blends in with the textured background well, making for a very consistent creation.

The Sisyphean labors of Rey

Establishing himself as a master of customization and variation, Pangeran Panda, whose Imperial Carousel and BB-8 variations we featured recently, has created a version of Jason Allemann’s kinetic Sysyphus sculpture inspired by The Force Awakens. The base features Rey lounging in front of her crashed AT-AT home, while the upper sculpture shows Rey pushing BB-8 along.

Like Jason’s original, the figure’s legs “walk” and BB-8’s body rocks back and forth.

Now hear this! Now hear this!

Listen up! Here’s something you don’t see every day — a cross-sectional model of the human ear, built from LEGO bricks. The work of South Korean builder Jin Kei, this is a large-scale sculpture with (as far as I can tell) an excellent level of accuracy detail. I’m a particular fan of the shaping of the Inner Ear organs in dark blue, and the rendering of the skull cross section in white with red dots to represent the honeycomb-like structure of bone.

I’d like to see more large-scale medical LEGO sculptures please. Could someone build me a model of a spleen?

Moebius inspired LEGO Sculpture “Colors in da head”

When you see a surreal and colourful sculpture such as French builder Pistash‘s “Colors in da head”, it will obviously catch your eye. But something else triggered in the back of my mind when I first saw it. There was a subconscious familiarity that drew me to it. Upon reading his description, I realized what that familiarity was. Pistash says that he was inspired by French artist Moebious — in particular, his Hendrix work — and as a teenager one of my favourite posters I had was Hendrix Voodoo Soup, for which Moebious did the cover art.

The Moebious inspiration notwithstanding, I think it is safe to say that as LEGO builders we can all relate to the feeling of ideas and inspiration pouring out of our minds when we build. It is certainly a more welcome feeling than the alternative…the dreaded builder’s block!

Beauty always comes with dark thoughts

Russian builder Timofey Tkachev has been on a roll lately with some great creations, but now he follows up his two lighthearted creations of a man working out and a builder’s living room with this discomforting yet enchanting sculpture of a blood fountain, shaped as a girl.

The grace of the figure is both complimented and contrasted by the sinewy and visceral texture of its body, which may symbolize how close we really are to our darkest side. It is important to point out the stone base as well, which completes the creation and gives it a fantasy feel, reminding me of the aesthetic of Blizzard’s Diablo games.

Building by candlelight

At first glance this melting LEGO candle by Jonas Kramm looks like the real thing. The goopy drips of wax cling together perfectly, and the candlestick has the just the right amount of detailing. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder if this candle would look better in white – but what else can an Iron Builder do when forced to work with bright green Duplo squiggle bricks?

Light up your desk with LEGO

Finding the right desk lamp can be tricky, but fans of LEGO will love this desk lamp created by Victor. At first look, this may appear to be a functional desk lamp, but actually it’s a cleverly designed lamp made from LEGO bricks. The lampshade is made with the shoulder armour from the Baze Malbus constraction figure, and was actually Victor’s starting point when building the lamp. Details like the little on/off button on the base and the 3mm rigid hose posing as an electrical power cable mean that this lamp is appears to be real.

Smashing LEGO like a Rock Star: a conversation with Canadian Iron Builder, Tim Schwalfenberg [Interview]

This week we headed up to our great neighbor to the north to track down Tim Schwalfenberg. Tim lives in Canada, is 21 years old and is currently studying Materials Engineering at his local university. He also likes to publicly smash his LEGO builds too, but more about that later.

TBB: Hi Tim! Can you tell us a little about yourself and your relationship with the Brick?

Tim: Sure! I have found LEGO to be a great creative outlet when I need a break from all my calculus or physics courses. While I’ve been building almost as long as I can remember, it wasn’t until my first year of university that I started to look at LEGO with the intention of making anything beyond the rainbow-warrior spaceships of my earlier years. Through a combination of some inspiring creations I stumbled upon through MOCpages and finding myself with too much free time on my hands, I decided that to try out this LEGO thing more seriously. Thousands of pieces and hundreds of creations later the LEGO hobby has become an incredibly important part of my life. The itch to build has become a constant companion that is easily rewarded by long hours tinkering away on a table-scrap covered table.

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Then nightly sings the staring owl

Owls are mainly nocturnal, solitary birds of prey who are known for their silent flight. Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, but the owl’s forward-facing eyes facilitate their low-light hunting. Shawn Snyder has created a LEGO owl with plenty of attitude and a somewhat impudent glare. This is an owl who knows his position, with those piercing, hooded eyes, sharp talons on show, and wings spread wide in an act of defiance.

That’s a lot of character to be displayed by a brick-built owl – I feel watched.

Make mine a cup of mo’joe

It’s early, the alarm has just gone off, and you wearily drag yourself out of bed, not exactly rising and shining. I know that I enjoy that first cup of coffee to clear the cobwebs and it seems that Brother Steven enjoys a cup too. What a great combination for fans of LEGO and coffee — a cup of coffee made with bricks. I love the pouring action from the milk carton and the splash into the coffee.

On second thoughts, there is a certain drawback to LEGO coffee… it doesn’t quite hit the mark on taste.