Mosaics at the Legoland Discovery Center!

Ok, so I recently stopped by the Legoland Discovery Center for my fourth time because the attendees of Brickworld 2011 got free coupons (and get 10% off at the gift shop!)! Coming back with a mindset to snap photos, I got a lot of photos of mosaics! Enjoy. ;-D

So first up we have a lot of castle pictures...


These sheild heraldry mosaics were at the beginning of the dragon ride and were pretty sweet. Following with the dragon theme...



...these were mosaics that were found during the dragon ride. The first photo turned out really nicely while the other one is not so great, as you can tell. It was quite difficult to get them while riding. =) I think these were my favorite ones. The glowed quite nicely in the dark.

Continuing on...


We also found this cartoony mosaic and was pretty neat.

Moving on away from Castle...




All these mosaics were found by the bathrooms. There were 2 day camps eating lunch at this time I took them, so they didn't turn out exactly like I wanted them to, but I'm hoping they're still easy to look at.

Across from the bathrooms by the "Model Workshop" section, we had some more "artistic" mosaics.

Now I'm sure that second one is Van Gogh's Starry Night, but I can't tell what the first one is. (If anyone knows, leave a comment or email me at mosaicbricks@gmail.com). The one below is the Mona Lisa, but didn't turn out that great due to a TON of glare.

*** Note, thanks to Bruce N H and rjg173 for letting me know the first one is "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.


So, yeah! There you go! There was one extra mosaic, but it had even more glare so I figured it wasn't even worth it. The interview with Ben Caulkins is coming up soon. Thanks for reading!

"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

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa everyone (which ever holiday you celebrate)! We're now going to start spreading spirit here on MosaicBricks all through the month of December! Unfortunately, I'm unable to change the colors of the blog right now to green and red. It's weird because blogspot (the website blogging thing I use) has been acting up lately.

Anyway! On to mosaics!

MOCpages user, Jacub Maur, created a great mosaic of a snowman and a Christmas tree (Obviously, but that's what he called it).



It's actually a really, really big mosaic so make sure you check out the creation here to see the entire thing.

So, yeah, time to get in the Holiday spirit!

My Good Friend Dug Who Digs

Brickshelf user, MichaelLau, creates several mosaics on one baseplate of characters and monsters from the 8-bit arcade game, "Dig Dug", a favorite of mine (while my dad is a huge Pac-Man fan).



Check out the rest of MichaelLau's cool video game mosaics, here.

"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...mosaic!!!"

MOCpages user, Michael Taylor creates the famous Superman symbol in Lego mosaic form.



I personally am not really a superman fan, so you can view his Batman and Spiderman symbols here (Woo! Batman!). You can also view a Lego comic book specific blog here. ComicBricks, run by Bruce N H.

* Edit - Hahahahaha, looks like Bruce beat me to the punch for blogging this...go (mini)figure.

** Thanks to Katie Walker 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

"A tail isn't a tail to them, it's just a little bit extra at the back."

Flickr user, mandy314, creates the very gloomy, and sad donkey from Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore. What I really like about the mosaic, is that there is a great use of color going on here.



Be sure to stop my mandy's flickr stream, because she has a lot more, awesome mosaics on it. Find it: here.

'Tis the Season to visit Dentist!

Put on your Halloween costume and head out to collect succulent amounts of dentist drawing delights! It's that time of year for carving pumpkins and watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special! A time of Lego mosaics!

I've collected five great Halloween mosaics from across the web and assembled them for a very special MosaicBricks Halloween post.

First up, we have a double feature from eilonwy77 (Katie Walker). Two cheese slope mosaics, one a neat little spider on top, and a cool jack-o-lantern on the bottom.



Second, we have a scary face with a ton of different colors by DJ Baggadonuts.

Third, we have another mosaic by DJ Baggadonuts that will forever haunt me. ;-D



Fourth, we have a very creepy mosaic from the "Phantom Zone from the Superman I/Superman II films". Regardless, it's an awesome zombie looking mosaic built by Reasonably Clever Chris (Doyle)

Lastly we have our fifth, and final mosaic of the post. Frankenstein's monster, forever haunted by fire, is built beautifully in a cool technique in which you built SNOT vertically and horizontally at the same time. It looks awesome! Built by Legohaulic.



Happy Halloween! Have fun everyone! Try and beat my record of 30 lbs. worth of candy (2005)! :-)

~Casey~

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

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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

"Who lives under a pineapple under the sea?"

Flickr user, lights (and his wife), built the famous sea-sponge that swept the deep blue sea. (err...bikini bottom...err...world...or USA...)



"Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!"

"We are looking for Blue's clues! We are looking for Blue's clues!"

Flickr user, Brickfrenzy, creates the logo from the extremely popular kids' show, Blue's Clues.


"Maybe we should play Blue's Clues to figure out what she wants to do today!" - Steve