Current State of Affairs

Hello MosaicBricks readers,

The blog has very obviously slowed with posts recently due to my going back to school and preparation for college and Katie's need to go back to work as a teacher. Blogging has been a very engaging and fun activity to do in the community, but managing life and the lego world at the same time is a difficult task. MosaicBricks is not over, but is merely on hiatus. The MosaicBricks team thanks you for your understanding.

Thank you,
Casey M.

Petraea University

Sorry to have disappeared completely.  I'm working about 60 hours a week and all the rest of my time needs to be with my kids.  But somehow, miraculously, I have a moment.  And I wanted to show you this gorgeous lecture hall by Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah).  Check out the mosaic floor!

Iridescent Flight

Hi guys, we just wanted to share our newest mosaic with you. 

This vibrant Macaw was painted for our Iron Builder against the Erickson brothers, and was initially inspired by The Horse of Rohan mosaic

by Bolt of Blue

Sometimes our Lego desk takes on a whole new look entirely... :)

And to add some finishing touches, we made a brick built signature!

Thanks for viewing :D

Lessons in Rotational Symmetry

I'm going through my old mail from when I was busy teaching and had no time for LEGO.  Ironically, my friend Susan (LegoMyMamma) sent me a link to a website that talks about how a teacher used LEGO mosaics to help teach her students about rotational symmetry.  Let's see.... a teacher who likes LEGO mosaics and rotational symmetry.  Yes.  That would be something I would definitely be interested in.  Anyway, here is the link to the write-up about it.  If you're anything like me, you might be interested in it too! 

MOC - 2013 Train Festival in Nantou

I don't see a lot of written descriptions about these mosaics, only that they seemed to be on display for the MOC - 2013 Train Festival in Nantou, Taiwan.  Lixia_1982 posted a lot of cool pictures from the festival.

Here are a few of the mosaics:











So many of them are so stylized and cheerful. I don't normally see mosaics like those, and I really like them.

Not all bricks are created equal

Ryan H. (eldeeem) made this exciting LEGO mosaic:



Thrilling, isn't it?  But actually, it gets much more interesting when looked at under UV light:



All of those bricks are regular red bricks, not dark red or anything special.  It's just that some red bricks glow more under UV light than others do.  Strange, huh?  Time to start making some secret messages!

There is another comparison of colors under UV light that Ryan did here. 

Check out those wings!

Here's a closer look:

Aren't they beautiful?  OliveSeon posted this fun scene with this beautiful (and perhaps deadly?) butterfly.

Looking back through OliveSeon's photostream, I see some more cool mosaic work, such as on the floor of this hangar

As usual, I'm in love with mosaics used in larger models.  Check out OliveSeon's photostream for more photos of these neat dioramas. 

Red, White, Blue, and Brick

Today in what is commonly referred to as...'Murica, we celebrate our independence day. I'd like to showcase a ton of American Flags. Enjoy!

Lego Store Monthly Minibuilds for July of 2009. Photo by TooMuchDew.

American Flag by lachme.

American Flag. Photo by mhuffman.

American Flag in Transparent Pieces by Arthur Gugick.

A much larger American Flag in Transparent pieces. Photo by Goldenfire.

 

The Marine Corps War Memorial/Iwo Jima Memorial from the Legoland California Park. Photo by Eric Lumsden.

 

American Flag (from presumably another Legoland of some sort). Photo by allyhook.

 

The Lego Millyard Project by pzmancha.

 

Lex Luthor for President! by Oky - Space Ranger. Not necessarily 4th of July related, but...It'll do. ;)

 

4th of July 2009 by Tofer Watts.
'MURICA by Joel.Baker.

Tyler Clites did another one of his EMOTE's. This time: Independence Day.

Lastly, we have...

...the Iwo Jima Picture recreation. Photo by TooMuchDew. Story from his Flickr post here:
"Participants at WWB created the mosaic depicting US Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the US flag on Iwo Jima — the scene that was the basis for Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph and an iconic moment in US history. The mosaic was constructed on 225 Blue LEGO 10″ x 10″ baseplates and covers 156 square feet of wall space (12.5 ft x 12.5 ft or 230,400 studs)! Participants were rewarded with their choice of a custom US Marine or Army Ranger minifig for each 10″ x 10″ baseplate completed. The mosaic is comprised of the the original LEGO color palette: Blue baseplates and Red, White, Yellow and Black plates and will be on permanent display at Brickmania Toyworks."

Happy 4th! (Even to our non-US readers, so...just have a great day!)

Color-riffic!

Andy Hung (andybear0426) recently completed a couple of lovely mosaics with some captivating colors.  First is the London Routemaster.  Andy says he adjusted the colour of the background and the bus to make a bigger contrast and increase the sense of art.  I think it was a great choice.

Routemaster Mosaic 1

Andy also made this mosaic to celebrate the Buddha's birthday.  The colors are fantastic, and I really like the contrast between the square and round pixels (seen in the calligraphy).

Lego Buddha 01

(insert Super Mario theme music here)

Julius von Brunk built this exclusively for the Nintendo World Store back in April:



He wrote a lot about the building process in the description for the original photo on flickr, which you can find here. 

Thanks again to MosaicBricks' honorary blogger Bruce.  :-) 

Two Comic-Themed Mosaics

Quite awhile ago, Bruce wrote to tell me about two comic-themed mosaics he posted to his Comic Bricks blog.  Here they are:

First, there is War Machine from Iron Man, made by Adam Myers (getdamonkey_): 



And secondly, here is the Joker, by Brian Hanna (BrianTheLegoNut): 



Looking at Brian's photostream, I see he has made quite a few other LEGO mosaics as well.  Check them out here. 

More Spying, this time with More Kitties

I know I just posted an I Spy scatter mosaic that I made, but here is another one that you might also like: 



My kids love it, and they love looking for the things inside of it.  Click on the photo to take you to the original page, where there is the poem with the clues of things to look for. 

Now to get back to posting some of the fantastic mosaics other people have made.... there is quite a backlog!  ;-)

Brickworld 2013 Mosaic Round-up!

Brickworld 2013 was quite the convention! Best one to date! New location, new people, new MOCs, and especially mosaics! The following is all the mosaics I could gather (during Saturday night). Be sure to check out the other non-mosaic creations too because there were a ton of great ones!

Couple things before we start:
1. I knew I missed the KLUG light-up mosaic, the Wiz of Oz balloon mosaic, and some small ones among others. I'll look for pictures of them on the internets, but if you catch any others, shoot me a comment below.
2. I apologize for the awful photography. ;D
3. I tried to credit all the builders when I could, but some of them are without names and I apologize. If you know them, just lemme know and I'd be happy to straighten things out.

NOW! onto the featured presentation:

ToroLUG:

ToroLUG had a bunch of mosaics! Possibly some of the best. Take a look:

Deadmau5's 4x4=12 by ROOK

Moving Pictures and The Dark Side of the Moon by Isaac Mazer

Led Zeppelin - CODA by John Vandermeulen

Batman - Haunted Knight Cover by Claire. That is a lot of orange!

Boba Fett by Sean Jensen.

ToroLUG QR Code Mosaic

NILTC:

The Northern Illinois Lego Train Club also had some great stuff.

Pyrovision by Matt De Lanoy

A collection of small mosaics in Matt De Lanoy's display:

Already featured (beat me to it, Katie!), but Chris Rozek's Black Rock Shooter was present.

He also brought Mai Shiranui! From SNK's King of Fighters!

The Thin White Duke by Adam Myers

Warmachine by Adam Myers. It was nice to see a different take on the transparent mosaics by adding a second color.

Area 51 Sign by Brian Williams

Video Game Display:

The Normandy by Ben Caulkins.

Cortana: A Holographic Mosaic by (again, our very own) Sean and Steph Mayo. This was incredible to see moving! Congratulations to Sean and Steph because they won Best Artwork for it!

Wreck-It-Ralph by ???

Various sprites by ???

ChiLUG:

The Viens' Home('s Roof) by Jeff and Robin Viens.

(the other side)

Lego Skateboard by Jeff Viens

Brickworld Greeting by Jeff Viens

QR Code by Jeff Viens

Now it's time for...

Shameless self-promotion!

Since I have a mosaic blog, I might as well build mosaics every now and again, so, here's the parts of the Goodwill store I built.

The letters could have been done better. I ran out of parts with the 'W' and the 'O's look a bit odd. My tip on building letters: stick with one mosaic style. SNOT or Studs Up. Unless, you can make it work better than mine.

QR Code by Daniel Church.

Nick Jensen's Halo Logo.

The Brickology Cylinder by Beth Weis. I oddly forgot to take a picture of the front, but you can see the Yin Yang through the holes.

Benedict Cumberbatch by Alysa Kirkpatrick.

Cyberpocalypse Display:

There were a ton of mosaics on the Cyberpocalypse display! Here are a few:

Builders include: Word_Freak, Carter Baldwin, Nathaniel Brill, Chris Edwards, Forest King, bermudafreze, and Ignacio B.

Other/Unorganized:

Middle Earth Mosaic by Sharon Vance (apart of a miniland Middle-Earth)

Angry Bird by Bryan Bonahoom.

Smaug by Sharon Vance. I absolutely loved the flame coming from Smaug's mouth.

Once Upon a Time by (our very own) Sean and Steph Mayo.

Dilbert by Michael Harrod

Tweety Bird by Michael Harrod

Workshop mosaics. I think these were the best ones to come out of it so far in the Brickworlds that I've attended.

Andy Warhol by Jeremy Moody

The Great Figure by Jeremy Moody

Sunday Afternoon by Jeremy Moody. The technique utilized here is normal plates underneath with 1x1 rounds on top to get two levels of color. Absolutely amazing! Congratulations to Jeremy Moody for winning Master Builder at Brickworld 2013!

Here's a shot from a distance.

Lego Batman Mosaic by Sharon Santos.

Lord of the Rings by Richard Glatter

S.E. Tucker by Richard Glatter

Red Skull Mosaic by Eric Cacioppo.

A collection of famous artworks by Eric Cacioppo.

Lego Logo Mosaic by John Fritschle

Lion Shield & Dragon Shield by Gary Haas

Ninjago Snake Rockers by Amos Avery

Stain Glass Panels by Stacy Sterling (inspired by our very own Katie).

Dual Lego Logo Mosaic by Roy T. Cook.

You wouldn't believe what a pain it was to get a picture of the other side. Now you get a great view of my legs!

Snoopy's Dog House by John and Ryan Morris.

Lion Crest also by (need to be confirmed) John and Ryan Morris.

Lego Store by Garrett Morris

Baby Mosaic by Mariann Asanuma.

E.J. Bocan III's Iron Man and Captain America mosaics returned.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower also by E.J. Bocan III.

John 3:16 by Brian Williams

The BIG O by Thomas Mueller

Unknown:

Edward's Store by ???

The Apple Store by ???

??? by ???

??? by ???

DaVinciPunk Display mosaic by ???

Superman Macrofigure by ???

The Beatles by ??? (P.s. Can you see my reflection?)

Bricktech Sign by ??? This one was brilliantly lit up.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Brickworld 2013 was fabulous! BW14 is looking out to be great! If you get the chance, come! Remember, if you recognize something above you built or know who built, leave a comment below. Thanks!

~Casey

unused tags (because blogger limits labels to 200 characters): Daniel Church, Beth Weis, Nick Jensen, Alysa Kirkpatrick, Sharon Vance, Bryan Bonahoom, Michael Harrod, Jeremy Moody, Sharon Santos, Richard Glatter, Eric Cacioppo, Garu Haas, Stacy Sterling, Roy T. Cook, Morris, Mariann Asanuma, E. J. Bocan III, Brian Williams, Thomas Mueller,