Oh...my...goodness!!

During Brincka LEGO Show in Tomar, Portugal, 1-3 July 2011, the members of PLUG organized this insanely epic and humongous mosaic.

It reminds me of Rivendell (Lord of the Rings), although I'm not quite positive as to what it quite is. All I know, is...it's stinking awesome! By the way, This was found by Bruce on Lego Monster's flickr stream.

DuckJournal and Mime Magazine!

Chris Howard, (Duckingham) who we interviewed a year ago, created two hilarious and clever mosaics. DuckJournal (Parody of "Brickjournal") and Mime Magazine (Parody of "Time Magazine".)



Check out what he's done on his flickr stream to see all the great photos!

*** Note: I'm back from vacation. (obviously!)

Give me (Wings of) Liberty! Or give me death!

Continuing in our series of creations from Brickworld 2010, I stumbled across a Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty display by Pepa Quin (I'm pretty sure it is Pepa) displayed at Brickworld 2009 and 2010, from what I can tell. You may need to click on the picture to get a bigger picture of the mosaic in the display, by the way.

A really cool mosaic, I wonder if it will be there at BW 2011?!?!?!?!

Sir Build-a-Lot - Esquire of Legoland!

Registration for BW11 got me thinking of my experience last year of going to BW10. There were a ton of cool mosaics there! I was looking around on the web, and I don't know how I missed this mosaic...

MOCpages user, Chris Phipson who posted a recap of what happened at BW that year, had a photo of this great SNOT tapestry. I can't tell it is based off an actual flag, or coat-of-arms of sorts (I don't know, maybe I'm just dumb ;0 ), but it looks great. Not sure who the actual builder is though...



I looked through pages and pages of the flickr stream of BW, but could not find the builder. (If you are out there, or know who built it, please come forth!)

By the way, I think I'll continue posting a couple of the mosaics I missed from BW10 as well as continuing our mini-series on Official Lego Mosaic Sets, not to mention, I'm planning another interview! Stay tuned...

Brickworld 2011 - Registration Now Open!

Hello everyone, just wanted to inform you that registration for Brickworld 2011 is now open!



You might have already seen the news, but for those of you that are on the fence, I strongly encourage you to go. Last year there were two mosaic workshop classes, and at least 20 or more mosaics scattered throughout the rooms.

Not only will you see amazing mosaics, but run into cool AFOLs as well. Did I mention the huge presence of mosaics?

Yeah, I will be planning on attending (hopefully), I'm talking to friends, family, and my parents ;-D. But If I'm going, I need to get my butt in action (attendance for full registration is capped at 650, but we'll see how long that lasts ;-D ) because my friends and I have been designing a huge 3 ft x 3 ft display for BW!

There are already (within a day), almost 200 signed up, so if you haven't, do so! I haven't attended as a full attendee previously, only as a public day attendee, but the full sounds great!

Hopefully see you there! ;-D

Mall of America LEGO Store Unveiling Mosaics

A bit of a "not so regular" post today, but I am subscribed to the youtube channel called, LegoClubTV , which I'm pretty sure is the "official"-ish Lego Company youtube channel. They recently posted a video of the Mall of America LEGO Store Unveiling, and they actually had mosaics in it!

Now, there are only a few and they are only in the beginning of the video, but boy are they awesome! Man, I wish I was there! ;-D

Check them out below:

"Ho ho ho! Merrrryyy Christmas!!!"

Flickr user, Alfred jr, posted a photo of a FFOL building/fixing/sitting by a Lego Santa mosaic during LEGO Kid's Fest 2010 of Hartford, CT. I'm not sure if the woman in the photo is the Flickr user (I doubt it), but if anyone can I.D. her for me, that would be great!

Anyway! The mosaic is awesome. ;-D



"Ho ho ho! Want do you want for Christmas, Susan? Lego! Of course you do! Ho ho ho..."

** Thanks to Bruce N H for sending me the link to the mosaic. If you have a mosaic you want to see featured, email me at mosaicbricks (at) gmail.com

"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's another superman mosaic!!!"

We're back again with another superman mosaic! Bricshelf user, davidmackenzie, has an image (I'm not positive if this mosaic is made by this user) of a great, giant superman mosaic with a great use of color.



The mosaics just keep on getting bigger and bigger!

Interview: Dave Ware (Brickwares)

Dave Ware, a titan in the mosaic world, has built some awesome mosaics. Over the course of a few days, I was fortunate enough to interview him over the course of a few days about him, his "War of the Worlds" mosaic, and his experience at Brickcon.

Who are you?

"I’m Dave Ware (Brickwares). I’m an AFOL who specializes in LEGO Mosaics. I’m a husband and father. I live in Calgary, Canada, and I work in as a Business/Systems analyst in the Energy industry."

How long have you been into/playing with Lego? Have you ever had a dark age?

"I loved LEGO as a kid, my friend had all of the space sets, and I would play for hours, making mostly the interiors of ships etc. My dark age would be from the usual (13? 14?) until I was about 27, when I saw the Witch’s Windship, and bought it on impulse. Since then, I’ve been collecting sets. I started building mosaics in 2006, after a trip to the local science center with my almost 3 year old son. It was a LEGO Egypt exhibit, and I was fascinated with the map they had built, and wondered if I could make something like that. The answer is “yes”. I started experimenting with colors and designs, and have built around 20 mosaics in the last four years, and have been honored to win the Best Mosaic category at BrickCon in both 2009 and 2010. These days I’m looking at ways of expanding by mosaic building into a side business, trying to find art galleries to hang my pieces in, etc."

How and when did you find the online Lego community?
"I started searching on the web for other mosaics probably in 2006. Early on, I was using MOCpages a lot, but these days I pretty much post my works on my website (brickwares.com), as well as my facebook group and flickr. I’ve made a lot of friends through attending BrickCon the past 2 years, and most of them I stay in touch with through Flickr and facebook. Readingwise, I enjoy Brothers Brick and Eurobricks, and check in daily to see what other people are building. Seriously, the best thing about this hobby is the imagination and creativity that people show, with seemingly no limits."

What themes do you like to build in? (if any?)

"I like building Town stuff, mostly. I’ve been collecting the “Cafe Corner” style sets, and have a nice street made up. I’m trying to learn how to work in that style so that I can make my own buildings, as I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of wonderful style houses in my travels. I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Islanders theme (sub theme of pirates). I can’t explain it, I just really like them."

Ok, now let's move on to your mosaic, "The War of the Worlds."

Where did the inspiration for this mosaic come from?

"Apart from portrait style mosaics, I like to make mosaics of comic book covers, art deco style stuff, and generally iconic images. The important thing to remember about larger scale mosaic building is that you’re going to be working on, and staring at, the image for dozens of hours, so you HAVE to choose subject material that inspires you, something you’re excited about. I had done a classics illustrated comic book cover last year (“To The Stars”,), and found that the comic book covers really have a lot of style and big splashes of color, without being overly intricate. Often I’ll just randomly do Google Image Searches, and also on flickr, to find subjects I think are interesting, and save them to an “idea” folder. I’m a big sci fi fan, as well as a comic book reader, so War of the Worlds was a natural fit. The thing that really grabbed me after I started tinkering with the image was that there were big areas of bold color, which really stand out for me."

The mosaic is absolutely huge! It's one of the biggest I've ever seen. How did you go about designing such a large project?

"It’s big, for sure. I’ve made a couple that were bigger than this, but not many. This past summer for the opening of the first Canadian LEGO brand store, I built a Stampede Poster mosaic that was 7 feet tall by 5 feet wide . And to certain, there are bigger ones out there. The issue you run in to, quickly, is that more baseplates means more brick, and adding a row or column to the mosaic translates to a LOT of brick and time. When I’m trying to sort out how big something needs to be in order to pull the details I need, I always have to keep in mind that adding 1 baseplate in width could translate to an extra 4-5 baseplates worth of brick."

Once it was all designed, how does it stand right side up? Do the bricks connect to baseplates, or do you glue them, or something else?

"The baseplates (X-large) are drilled through, and attached with screws to a piece of 5/8 or ½ inch MDF. I tried plywood in the past, but it bends too easily. There’s a LOT of weight, and it tends to warp the wood quickly. Most people tend to use plate, which would be a lot lighter. I’ve never switched over, I work only in brick. I use everything from 1x1 up to 2x10. I’ve never glued, as that would easily double the time involved, and make the works permanent. That’s fine if it’s for a commission, but with stuff around the house, I generally want to build something else sooner or later, and use the bricks again. Also, it’s LEGO. It won’t fall off or loosen unless lots of people are touching it. For something really public where folks are touching, I’d consider glue."

Were there any other particular challenges that went along with building this mosaic?

"The biggest challenge was one of capacity. I built this for BrickCon 2010, and I wasn’t about to trust it to the airlines, so I knew I’d be driving it, which meant I had to keep the size down to something that would fit in my CR-V. Width-wise I was fine, but it was too tall. I had to remove the top row of16x32 baseplates, and mount those to a separate piece of MDF, and then assemble on site. Recently I installed this piece in a local comic book store, so I had to do it all again. Essentially, there’s a point where big mosaics become all about carpentry!

The other issue I ran into, is that skin color doesn’t translate well in LEGO, so while there is a tan color, it’s not quite right. So for the central gunner in the picture, who was wearing a tank top in the original, I added some camo sleeves to avoid this. Also, there’s a lot of fine detail towards the bottom, so there was some changing and new color choices involved in trying to keep some of the detail."

Next, we're on to Brickcon...

What was your experience at Brickcon 2010 like?

"I had a blast at BrickCon. It’s a great chance to meet other AFOLs, to get inspired about new things, and to see the brilliant creations that people come up with. I made a lot of new friends, and tried out a few new things, like the Speed and Master build challenges. I recommend going to BrickCon, or the other conventions to everyone. Because of the size of the mosaics, and the fragility of them, I end up driving down. It’s a two day trip, but I really enjoyed the whole experience."

Was there a large presence of mosaics there?

"I think there might have been fewer mosaics this year, but the quality was certainly there. There was a beautiful castle mosaic in a very classic style, an Obama “Hope” poster, and a few others."

You also mentioned that you won an award for the War of the World's mosaic which is also your second mosaic award from Brickcon. What was that like? Were you shocked to win again?

I was honored to win the award, it’s always thrilling to be recognized, especially by your peers. While I don’t build the mosaics for BrickCon for awards, it’s certainly a nice pat on the back. Hopefully we can encourage other people to create mosaics for next year.

Do you plan on going to Brickcon next year?

"I’m planning on going. It’s a long time from now till then, but unless something major comes up, I’ll be there."

And lastly...

What does the future hold for Dave Ware?

"Short term, I’m working on displaying my work in local shops and hopefully a gallery. Long term, I’d love to do this for a living. Until then, I’ll keep building things I like, and hopefully others will feel the same way."

Many thanks to Dave Ware for the interview! Even more thanks for your patience! ;-D View all kinds of things about Dave, below:

- Flickr - MOCpages - Website -
- TV Mini-Interview - Facebook Page -

Interview: Albert (au_riverhorse)

Au_Riverhorse is a somewhat little known AFOL with some very awesome mosaics! He's been previously blogged here on MB, for his cool green army man mosaic. For my fourth interview I was able to talk to him about himself, his mosaics, and his experience at Brickworld 2010.

Who are you?

"Hi, I'm Albert. Yep. Oh, and Canadian, Greater Toronto Area. The interesting parts of the 'who am I' question are really in my other answers."

How long have you been in to/playing with Lego? Have you ever had a dark age?

"I have happy memories of shuffling DUPLO boats and trains, my dad assembling an airport set with me around my third birthday, so I guess it's been a while! The blocks were put aside during high school, roughly corresponding to the end of the Royal Knights line, the introduction of Starcraft, and a move. They found the light of day for a university project, but it wasn't until Battlestar Galactica (and after university) that I tried my hand at making something of my own again. So, thank you, BSG."

How and when did you find the online Lego community?

"I had heard about Brickshelf in 2007, but wasn't aware of the existence of LEGO conventions until 2008, when I found out about BrickCon through The Brothers Brick. I browsed their links, went to the convention (air miles!), found Flickr, and have been easing my way in since."

What themes do you like to build in? (if any?)

"I got back into LEGO thinking that I would do a lot of space (because of BSG) or castle (because those were my favourite sets), but it hasn't worked out that way. It looks like I build to purpose, to express an idea, or to try one out. So, you've got a couple of contest entries, an amateurish response to a bathroom renovation headache, and tinkering with CubeDudes. Lately, I'm comfortably bouncing between mosaics and miniland figures, but if I mix the two categories then I would get sculptures..."

Now, let's move on to mosaics...

Why do you enjoy making mosaics? Has it been something from your childhood, or something that has recently developed?

"Mosaics are relatively new to me. I tried one of Taylor Swift in mid-2009, and after struggling to get a computer-generated template it was really relaxing to just let my mind coast a little and pop in all of the pieces. It being my first mosaic (and Taylor Swift), I also took the time to align all the 'LEGO' etchings on the top of the bricks!

A lack of pieces and the confusion about making templates kept me from exploring this further, but driving out to Brickworld 2010 meant that I could attend two mosaic workshops, and fill my car up with little plastic bricks. After that, it was off to the races!"

Do you have a favorite mosaic you've made (so far)?

"Besides Taylor Swift? I wouldn't say so, although a few are still up in my LEGO room. What I enjoy is that, so far, there's been something new to discover or try out from doing each mosaic - insights into borders, cramming detail into small spaces, freehand adjustments to initial templates, use of colour..."

In one such mosaic of yours (my favorite), "Bandit", the mosaic is built sideways, which had me scratching my head for quite a while. What's the story behind this mosaic?

"Well, this one started from Brickworld, packing Pick-A-Brick cups with pink 1x1 bricks without a clue as to why. After coming back home, I had about one thousand pink bricks, an itch to make a mosaic, and still no ideas. Mixing 'pink' and 'picture' led to my photogenic friend, who graciously allowed me to use a picture of her playing with a scarf. I also had grays and green, so it was an easy decision to go for grayscale with pink accents."

Was it (The Bandit Mosaic) particularly hard to make being sideways?

"There were a number of challenges - the first was cleaning up the original image, then getting a good template. I had tried tilting the image while working on it, but wound up tilting my head too and getting neck cramps. Repeatedly rotating the image kept blurring and moving the colour edges, so eventually I had to restart from earlier saved files and get something that was usable enough to be adjusted freehand. The diamond portrait managed to capture the face, scarf, and hands while keeping the pink and background brick count down, so I guess it worked out!"

On the topic of Brickworld 2010, despite it being three months ago, what was your experience at the convention like?

"Wow, I have to think back a little, now. I remember that it was a huge operation. After registering, it took me half a day of seminars and browsing the main room before realizing that there were more rooms to see! I chose to take in many of the seminars, including the mosaic classes, and the movie theater. Those were probably the more relaxing activities, since focusing on a single topic kept me from getting overwhelmed with everything on display!"

Were there a large presence of mosaics there, or any you found particularly interesting?

"Yeah, mosaics were well represented there, mostly off in one room. Of note: it was fun seeing "The Portrait of Dorian Bley" in person, and the transparent pieces used for "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" gave it a whole other dimension."

Did you attend or help out with any of the mosaic workshops?

"Actually, since Brickworld is around Father's Day, our family made it a big road trip, and I got my parents signed up for the basic mosaic class. That worked out great, since they got to make something to take back as a souvenir. I picked up their notes and attended the advanced class, where we explored ways of jamming the 1x1 stud area with more detail and color. These two classes gave me the kick I needed to get started with my own stuff, so I'm glad I went!"

Do you plan on going again next year?

"That's the plan, for sure. And since Brickworld 2011 will feature 'the world of light and sound', I've been kicking around ideas on how to incorporate that into a mosaic..."

What does the future hold for au_riverhorse?

"Well, on the mosaics skills side I'd like to explore different techniques - studs up, mixing studs up/out, transparent pieces, layers and relief, color schemes, dithering vs. blocks of color...I'd also like to do more freehand pieces and try to develop a more intuitive feel for how things fit, as inspired by the amazing play (I know it's 'work' and it's work, but it looks so fun!) of Katie Walker. Beyond techniques, I've just finished making a wedding mosaic with a few friends, and I think I like that sort of thing, doing pieces for people. Who knows where that could lead?"

A big thanks to Albert for doing the interview! To check out Albert's creations, view his Flickr stream here

.

The Coolest MMORPG on the Web!

Since early 2010 (somewhere around March), I had the privilege of being a beta-tester for LEGO Universe. Not one of those people who's the very first person to try out the game, but I was still a tester very early on. I must say, watching the game develop from then, to now, has been a lot of fun. Seeing what I thought the game was going to be, to seeing it now is unreal. The minifigs for this game are insane! I thought you could had cool armor, but not awesome armor! Anyway, as the summer wrapped up and I got busy, I no longer could play the beta. I just didn't have any time, and then in late September, the beta finally closed. I'm not a full blown player, but I've seen some pretty sweet screenshots.

Anyway, in LEGOLAND California (I've been there once!), now has a brand new "Club House" that features LEGO Universe. Inside the club house, there's an awesome mosaic for the four main characters that represent the four different factions. Sentinel, Adventure, Assembly, and Paradox.



Check out more about the Clubhouse in Legoland here: LINK. And you can watch the brand new trailer for Lego Universe here: LINK

Interview: Katie Walker (eilonwy77)

Katie Walker is a FFOL pioneering the niche of patterns, designs, and stained glass cheese slope windows, developing new and creative designs. Over the course of a few days, I was able to talk with her about herself, her building, and her experience at Brickcon 2010.

Who are you?

"My name is Katie Walker, and I’m 32 years old. I’m married and am currently staying home to deal with the shenanigans of my 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son."

How long have you been in to/playing with Lego?, and have you ever had a dark age?

"I remember playing with DUPLO when I was young. I loved to connect a bunch of the train cars together, and then build houses on top of them, so that my DUPLO people could live entirely on a train. Sometime around my 12th birthday I decided that I really loved Legos (yes! We called them “Legos”! Heresy!) and told everyone to get me Castle and Pirate sets for my birthday and Christmas presents. I spent many a happy afternoon during my early teens building away in my room.

I did have a dark age which essentially started when I left for college. I did bring my LEGO collection with me, and a few times dumped it out on my dorm floor so my friends and I could fiddle around with it. After college, my friends and I re-enacted the song “Space Oddity” with LEGO, including dangling rocket ships over the edge of the loft where my bedroom was. But I think you could say those were just dim points of light in a dark age that lasted till we bought the first DUPLO bricks for my daughter."

How and when did you find the online Lego community?

"In 2008 my husband and I bought our daughter a 33-piece DUPLO set. It became quickly apparent that I couldn’t build anything cool with just 33 pieces. I did some investigating and discovered e-bay, and then BrickLink. It wasn’t long before we’d built up a fairly impressive DUPLO collection. At some point during my attempts to find cheap bricks I became exposed to some of the other LEGO activity on the web. I discovered the existence of LEGO blogs in 2009 and suddenly became aware of how cool LEGO creations could be. I also realized that lots of people posted their pictures on flickr, and I had an account there already. So I started posting our DUPLO pictures, and shortly thereafter created the LEGO DUPLO flickr group.

In the fall of 2009 I got out my “little Legos” (as we call them) to show my daughter. I fiddled with them a bit then, but mostly just came to the sad realization that my “immense” collection was actually teeny-tiny by AFOL standards. It wasn’t till 2010 that I finally bought some more of the smaller bricks and got around to really using them. I feel like that really marked my entrance into the online LEGO community. People started leaving positive comments on my photos, which gave me the confidence to start participating in groups and forums."

What themes do you like to build in?

"The majority of my building thus far has just been about me trying to teach myself how the bricks go together. During this process I’ve come to realize that I’m rather obsessed with patterns and geometric designs. Occasionally I pause from those investigations and make a more official MOC. Those have all fallen in the Castle theme, partly because I really like castles, but also because there are lots of opportunities to display the patterns I discover in a fancy palace."

Now, lets talk about your designs and patterns...

When did the "obsession" with patterns and geometric designs start? Have you always enjoyed them since you were young (or younger), or is this a new thing?

"I’ve been interested in geometric designs off and on since the elementary school art class where I learned that you could make an apparent curve out of straight lines. Over the years I would draw geometric designs, such as the ones seen here. I didn’t really set out to do geometric designs in LEGO, but once I started doing them I found them very compelling."

Did making the designs and patterns come easy to you? Or was there a there a learning curve you had to overcome? Or...has it always been a uphill battle the whole time?

"Making designs and patterns is very easy for me. Often I will be trying to make something non-geometric, but a pattern just somehow comes out instead. It feels a lot like plugging numbers into a formula and having it spit out results. My struggles have been in making something that isn’t obsessively symmetrical; photography has been another challenge for me."


Recently, you've made a "switch" to doing stained glass windows that are made out "cheese slope" pieces, maybe a little more "mosaic" side of your building. What brought these about?

"I was trying to design an intricate floor for a MOC. While working on that design, I came up with the need to somehow fill an empty square which had sides 2.4 studs long. The solution to the problem came through using “cheese slope cubes”, which is just two cheese slopes placed together to form a cube shape. I had to add in some 1x1 plates to make it work, which then sparked some ideas for other cheese slope cube patterns. Then once I had done a few, it seemed like a great idea to try to do them in transparent colors and make them into windows. After a little bit of experimenting, more ornate designs started to develop.

Were these especially challenging, as well?

"Yes! The cheese slopes do not attach to each other; they are all held together by compression and friction. They are rather small to work with, and I often have to use a toothpick to try to finesse them into the right spot. They have a tendency to tip over, and it is a true pain to try to frame them securely enough to stand completed patterns up as windows. Another problem is that cheese slopes are shaped like triangles with one of their points cut off, so a lot of patterns end up with disfiguring gaps where the missing points ought to be. I truly get pains in my neck from working with them! But the results were so lovely that I wanted to keep at it. Besides, challenges can be lots of fun. I do get the urge to scream a little, though, when I have an unprotected window that dislodges and “shatters” to pieces. I didn’t have enough transparent bricks to hold the upper windows of the atrium in place, and one of them did come apart when I was moving it around trying to photograph it. That night I had all sorts of bad dreams about my stained glass windows falling apart and raining down cheese slopes on me."

(Link to the completed atrium: LINK | Link to the back side: LINK )

Do you have a favorite (or especially rewarding) cheese slope stain glass window, or pattern/design of yours?

"I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I haven’t been able to pick out a favorite. What I really like is the sense of discovery, of figuring out how different elements can fit together. I think that’s part of what makes LEGO fun for lots of people: you get the chance to put the bricks together in different ways and see what happens. There are literally an infinite amount of possibilities. At times I feel a bit like a scientist, trying out a certain idea and seeing what happens. Sometimes a particular pattern is especially difficult to figure out, and then I tell myself “I will make this happen!” Then I do feel a bit more rewarded when I finally get it to work."

Over the course of the summer and up 'til now, you've been gaining a lot more notoriety, and I'd say becoming a pioneer in patterns and designs. You've been blogged here, and posted there. What has that experience been like?

"Honestly, the best word that I can think of to describe it is “bizarre”. After the first time I was blogged at The Brothers Brick, I got a ton of views and comments on my flickr account. It was hard to believe that that many people were interested in something I had made. Then I got excited, thinking to myself, “Wow, maybe I’m not that bad at this.” That brief moment of optimism was quickly followed by getting really nervous. I felt like I could never build anything else that would live up to that again. Anything else I made was bound to be a disappointment.


But then after a few days things settled down and my fingers wanted to start moving bricks round into crazy patterns again. (It does seem like my fingers are the parts of me that figure things out; I think my brain is only an assistant in the process.) I still like to say that my reservoir of ideas is going to run dry in the near future; how many patterns can there possibly be to discover? But thus far my fingers always manage to figure out something else, and I remember that there are an infinite number of possibilities. Then the cycle tends to start over: I make something, and if it turns out well, I get excited, quickly followed by becoming a bit anxious about it. The public attention, to whatever extent I get it, is both exciting and nerve-wracking."

What was your experience at Brickcon like?

"I went to BrickCon with my mother for the day on Saturday. I was a bit frazzled when I got there, because Snoqualmie Pass had been closed for rock blasting, and we had to sit on the freeway for quite awhile. I thought I’d be too late to register, but thankfully they let me in. I took the atrium with the fountain and stained glass windows, and then threw in a spider mosaic I had been trying to design for a friend to use. I was so nervous and shaky when I got there that I could hardly set up my MOCs. The stained glass windows got most of the attention, but the spider was the MOC that won an award, for best small mosaic. That was exciting.

Overall, the experience was a lot of fun. I was a nervous wreck much of the time, because I tend to be shy and have a hard time talking to new people. But the LEGO creations there were really fantastic, and once I started talking to people, I found that they were all really nice. Now I keep thinking about the different things I saw and did at BrickCon, and look forward to being able to attend again in the future, hopefully for more than just one day."


Was there a large presence of mosaics there?

"There were some. Someone mentioned to me that there weren’t as many as in past years, but the large ones that were there caught the eye. Truthfully, I didn’t see many small mosaics. I think that the favored technique of making mosaics using 1x1 bricks works best on a larger scale, so most mosaics tend to be larger. I’ve been working on using cheese slopes to create more angles and details in a mosaic on a smaller scale, but I have only seen a few other people do this. (Building a Battle Bug is a much more popular endeavor!) My goal is to be able to incorporate small mosaics into larger MOCs as window, wall, or floor decorations."

What does the future hold for Katie Walker?

"The future will mostly hold more of the same. I don’t have any big projects planned, being short of both bricks, time, and space. I’ll probably just keep experimenting and getting new ideas, and then occasionally will try to incorporate them into a more official MOC, though I imagine they’ll remain on a fairly small scale for quite awhile. I hope to visit BrickCon for a day next week. I’d like to go for longer, but can’t really be away from my kids for that long yet."

NOTE: Many thanks to Katie Walker for the interview and the long delay of its posting. Thank you for your patience. ;-) For her links look below:

Flickr - MOCpages

DK Attempts to break Guinness World Record of Largest Lego Mosaic

Special Announcement:

Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th and Monday 25th October. 10am - 5pm Saturday & Sunday and 10am, LEGO & Dorling Kindersley have got together to promote the launch of the LEGO Star Wars Brickmaster book. It will be a free event at Shoreditch Town Hall, London and an attempt to break the Guinness World Record of the largest LEGO mosaic ever assembled. Pictured above, the dimensions of the mosaic will be 16 meters x 7 meters comprised of 1,500 baseplates and 384,000 LEGO bricks. You can attend this free event by registering on the DK site. Registered attendees will also be included in a drawing for a 4 tickets to LEGOLand Windsor. You can read all the details and register at the DK website.

Sounds pretty exciting! I wish I could be there! From what I know though, that will break the record of the largest mosaic which is currently in the Unofficial Lego Museum in Ohio, USA.

Sources:
- Brickset
- FBTB (From Bricks to Bothans)

Mosaics at Brickfair 2010: Kopaka and Onua (Bionicle!)

The the past weekend (Aug. 5-8th 2010), another Lego fan convention took place out side of Washington, D.C. Brickfair! And although I haven't been able to look through all photos, there was something that caught my eye on BZPower.com.

Now most of Lego community (Most), AFOLs and TFOLs, usually don't care for Bionicle. I'm not saying that they hate it, but most of them don't like it because it's a totally different entity from the original Lego system, and the mechanics of how it functions are some times confusing. (But, there's a respect that goes into the awesome Bionicle creations that are made from only System builders, I might add).
Growing up the Bionicle myself, it's very near and dear to my heart. I remember when my older brother and I got the six original toa for Christmas from our grandparents one year.

But even you don't care for it, or love it, you'll definitely like the two Bionicle mosaics that were made for Brickfair!

Two fairly large ones were made of the six original "toa", Kopaka (Left) and Onua (Right).


Read all about them: here. I'm going to continue to look for mosaics from Brickfair, so look for future posts about them here, on MosaicBricks. =)

Interview: Ben Caulkins (Jetfire35)

Today we have our very first interview. Over a few days I was able to talk back and forth with TFOL, Ben Caulkins, a.k.a. "Jetfire35". We talked about him, his Halo Master Chief mosaic, and his experience in Brickworld. Let's get started...

Who are you?

"My name is Ben Caulkins, I'm fifteen, and I'm from New York (no the city)."

How long have you been playing/into Lego?

"I think I came out of the womb building Lego. I've been building for as long as I can remember, and longer than that. I remember in kindergarden when everyone was playing with wooden blocks, I was sitting quietly on the floor building Lego. But it wasn't until I was eleven that I started building seriously."

How and when did you find the online Lego community?

"Since I was ten I had known of the online community, but not all of it. I regularly checked Brickshelf for new products coming soon, and Mocpages and Flickr for peoples' Mocs. I was very inspired by the builders Kevin Fedde (Crimson Wolf), Red IV, and Keith Goldman, who really got me started into building. But it wasn't until I met Arthur Gugick and he said I should join the online community that I started posting my Mocs on Mocpages when I was thirteen.

What themes do you like to build in?

What I like to build the most are things from movies. It could be a robot or a spaceship. But I prefer to do the robots like Optimus Prime, or the Terminator, or the AMP suit from Avatar. But recently I've been doing some more creative stuff in the space theme, one of the Mocs I've done in that theme even receiving an award nomination at Brickworld (for those who were there it was big and speckled with orange). And even more recently I've been building in the Halo theme, which I find a good thing to work with when there are no new movies with robots in them.

Now on to your mosaic,

When did you get the idea to build the Master Chief Mosaic?

"As I became more involved in Halo, I wanted to do something for the Master Chief. I didn't really want to do something 3-d, so I though I'd try my hand at mosaics, but for me using colors was out of the question, so I settled on black and white."




Did you use any online or computer programs to help design the mosaic, if any?

"To design it, I first found a good picture of the Chief, pixelated it, and turned it black and white. I then used LDD to design a model of the chief as close to the picture as I could. When I was done, I slapped a halo logo on it as well as my internet alias to take up space, and then sent the order in to shop at home."

How large is the mosaic?

"It's 64x80 tiles, so that's 5,120 tiles, although there are a few missing because the TLG sent me some pieces in the wrong color so I left those spots blank. So it's dimensions are approx. 20x25 inches."

The mosaic is made mostly of 1x1 tiles, especially orange ones, how did you go about acquiring so many?

"Actually, it's made of entirely 1x1 tiles, which I did to give it a consistency all the way through. I acquired the parts through the online pick a brick store, which I learned is a lot cheaper than shopping from LDD because of the instructions that come with LDD. Also, I learned that Lego is not entirely reliable, as I have already said I didn't get exactly what I asked for, but it worked out for the most part."

Is the mosaic still in tact? Or was it scrapped for parts?

"Well, I disassembled it for the trip back from Brickworld, and have yet to put it back together, although I plan to at some point. It has proven to be a very popular Moc, and I plan to keep it around for future exhibitions."

Now on to Brickworld...

I understand that you brought this mosaic to Brickworld. What was your overall, general experience of Brickworld?

"My experience of Brickworld was overwhelming. I had never attended a Lego event aside from a very small festival around where I live where I met Arthur Gugick, and that's meant more for little kids anyway. But at Brickworld, it was the first time I had been surrounded by people who shared my love of the brick. My eyes were opened up to a much larger community where everyone is accepting of everyone else no matter if they like G.I. Joe's or are obsessed with Star Wars, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Also, I was able to see some of the most impressive Lego Mocs I had ever seen."

Did you attend any of Mosaic workshops?

"No, I did not attend any of the mosaic workshops. Although I had thought about it, but I thought that there wouldn't be anything I didn't already know. Apparently I was wrong, but luckily my table buddy was the teacher of that workshop and he offered me some tips."


Will you be attending next year?

"I will absolutely be attending Brickworld next year, and will hopefully be able to stay for the closing ceremonies next time. But I wouldn't miss it for the world."

And lastly,

What is the future hold for Ben Caulkins? Any more mosaics?

"In my foreseeable future, I'm thinking of doing a layout of models that tells the story of the film 2001: a space Odyssey, and I've already finished one of it's iconic ships, a midi-scale Discovery One. Also, if I go through with the display, I would like to include a mosaic depicting the stargate sequence. Further in the future I look forward to building another Vic Viper which I've already made some Bricklink orders for. The last thing I've planned out is a model of one of the drones from Iron Man 2. But mosaics are a tricky thing, and a bit pricey, but whenever I can, I'll try to squeeze them in."

To see Ben's fantastic MOCs, visit his Flickr photostream, here or visit his MOCpages account here.

~Casey~

Mosaics at Brickworld 2010: Terminator Mosaic

As many of us know, one of the most popular Lego conventions took place last month (June) in Wheeling, IL. Brickworld 2010, which took place June 17th-20th with 795 attendees, was a huge success (Or at least what I've heard and seen). And it had a fairly good sized presence of mosaics!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I couldn't find the advanced mosaic workshop's mosaic, but now...I did! Turns out that it was, in fact, the Terminator one!



As you can see, the mosaic is incredible because it uses pieces that have curves or "slopes" you could say (Sorry, not really sure how to describe them, just look at the picture =) ) .

Great job Adv. mosaic class. This is fantastic!

Mosaics at Brickworld 2010: Master Chief Mosaic

As many of us know, one of the most popular Lego conventions took place last month (June) in Wheeling, IL. Brickworld 2010, which took place June 17th-20th with 795 attendees, was a huge success (Or at least what I've heard and seen). And it had a fairly good sized presence of mosaics!

One such mosaic that was brought and displayed, was a Master Chief Mosaic, made by Flickr user, Jetfire35.



The mosaic is incredible because it appears to be made entirely of 1x1 tiles.

Seen below is the mosaic at Brickworld (on the left, click the image for a slightly larger size).



Although I don't have much of an interest in Halo, the mosaic is great. =)

Brickworld 2010 Workshop: Advanced Mosaics

As many of us know, one of the most popular Lego conventions took place last month (June) in Wheeling, IL. Brickworld 2010, which took place June 17th-20th with 795 attendees, was a huge success (Or at least what I've heard and seen). And it had a fairly good sized presence of mosaics!

As you've learned from yesterday's post, the first mosaic workshop took place June 17th in the morning, but a second one took place later that day in the afternoon. The Advanced Mosaics workshop took place from 1:00-4:00 PM. Led by Roy T. Cook, the description on the Brickworld website reads,

In this workshop we shall examine some advanced LEGO mosaic techniques (such as those used in my Aayla Secura mosaic and Johnny Cash mosaic, displayed at previous Brickworlds, and my Reese Witherspoon mosaic, displayed this year). In particular, various techniques for 'blending' colors, and using non-rectangular elements to achieve this and other effects, will be discussed. After the presentation and question and answer session, the participants will collaborate on a large mosaic. Led by Roy Cook

I've searched all over the place to find the "collaborative large mosaic", but can't seem to find it. If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be great.

But, I was able to find two of the mosaics mentioned in description.

Both of them are by Roy T. Cook.

First, his Aayla Secura mosaic (Star Wars).



To see the technique he used for this awesome mosaic, click here.

And secondly, his Reese Witherspoon mosaic, which does not have a close up image so you'll click on the one below to get a closer look (The mosaic is the one on the far right).



I've got two more posts about BW'10 so stay tuned! ;-)

Brickworld 2010 Workshop: Build Your Own Lego Mosaic

As many of us know, one of the most popular Lego conventions took place last month (June) in Wheeling, IL. Brickworld 2010, which took place June 17th-20th with 795 attendees, was a huge success (Or at least what I've heard and seen). And it had a fairly good sized presence of mosaics!

The most notable presence of mosaics is the workshop that took place June 17th from 9:00 am 12:00 pm, directed by Jeremy Moody of the "Lego ship in a Bottle" fame. The description on the Brickworld website reads:

Have you ever wondered how the some of the best LEGO mosaics are designed? Have you wanted to build one yourself? In this workshop you will learn everything you need to know to design your own mosaic. We will talk about various techniques in design — where one method is better than another, etc. You will even get a chance to build your own full color mosaic to show at Brickworld and take home at the end of the event! Builders are asked to bring $20 to cover the cost of materials, or $15 if they bring their own 32x32 baseplate. Builders are also highly encouraged (but not required) to bring laptops, and to install GIMP, available for free at http://www.gimp.org. Builders must also decide on an image they want to turn into a mosaic ahead of time, and if unable to bring a laptop to the workshop, send the image via email to [Taken out]. Any other questions about the workshop may be sent to that address as well. Take some time to think of a good subject for your mosaic; remember that these mosaics will be relatively small, so tiny details won't show up. If you are unsure if a particular subject will work, feel free to ask. Limited to 20 teams of builders.* A team refers to a group of one or more builders working on one mosaic. Non-builders may come to watch, provided space is available. Led by Jeremy Moody

$20 for a 32x32 custom mosaic is a great deal and sounds like a lot of fun! Jeremy posted an image of all the mosaics that were made:



Flickr user, TooMuchDew took a closer up picture of the mosaic he made, based off his Flickr avatar.



I think it turned out great!

Be sure to read Jeremy's write-up on how he thinks the workshop went here.

On another note, I was able to attend the public display, and it was blast seeing all the cool mosaics that weren't in the workshop.

For several posts here at MosaicBricks we will be talking about all sorts of mosaics at Brickworld (despite it being a month afterwards). =)