Saturday, August 10. 10:00 AM. I’m sitting in an expo hall, behind a table draped in black cloth and decorated with some of my recent LEGO creations. But they’re not what’s capturing my attention. Instead, I’m staring at a box awkwardly wrapped in fading purple construction paper and wondering what it conceals–and knowing that whatever it conceals will haunt my days and dreams for the next two weeks.
Continue reading “Iron Builder: A Saga”Behind the Scenes: Humble Beginnings
In the bustling marketplace of Barqa, where poor artisans and farmers from miles around gather to trade wares and stories, John and his son Martin work long hours in their modest outdoor space. It’s a small start, but that doesn’t keep these craftsmen from dreaming big and working hard.
Continue reading “Behind the Scenes: Humble Beginnings”LEGO Vault (Commissioned Model)
Over the course of the years I’ve built castles, dragons, life-sized tools, pirate towns, windmills and waterwheels, you name it. But I’ve never built anything quite like this–a commission model of six stacks of servers, loaded with detail to recreate, like tiny computer screens, wires, and fans. And this isn’t just any server, either: this is The Vault, Sermon Audio’s new array for hosting over two million sermons and making them available for worldwide listening. Creating a LEGO replica of their achievement was both an honor and a challenge!
Continue reading “LEGO Vault (Commissioned Model)”Pilgrim’s Progress: A LEGO Saga
It’s been almost six months since I posted work-in-progress pictures of my family’s LEGO Pilgrim’s Progress collaboration. Fittingly, our progress has been slow, but it’s been sure, and we’ve finally taken the last picture, recorded the last piece of audio, and yes, even sorted the last brick (well, except for a few special figures and the sheep, which are sticking around for a while). So at long last we’re ready to present: The Pilgrim’s Progress, built out of LEGO bricks at about 5x minifigure scale!
Continue reading “Pilgrim’s Progress: A LEGO Saga”Pilgrim-in-Progress
Not sure I’ve done a work-in-progress post before, but there’s a first time for everything. And there could be no better first time than this, the biggest in-person collaboration I’ve ever organized. (If any of my siblings tell you they’re organizing it… they’re wrong.)
The collaboration started with an ambition to bring something eye catching to BrickWorld Chicago 2023. Beyond being eye catching, we also wanted our collaboration to be meaningful. So what better than the classic story of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress? I’ll tell you what would be better… Pilgrim’s Progress, but at 3x minifigure scale!
Continue reading “Pilgrim-in-Progress”The Destruction of Laketown
Amid shrieks and wailing and the shouts of men Smaug came over Laketown. A hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales, and their shafts fell back kindled by his breath.
Fire leaped from the dragon’s jaws. Down he swooped straight through the arrow-storm, reckless in his rage, seeking only to set their town ablaze.
Fire leaped from thatched roofs and wooden beam-ends as he hurtled down past and round again. Flames unquenchable sprang high into the night.
Still a company of archers held their ground among the burning houses. Their captain was Bard, grim-voiced and grim-faced. He shot with a great yew bow, till all his arrows but one were spent.
Then Bard drew his bow-string to his ear. The dragon was circling back, flying low.
“Arrow!” said the bowman. “Black arrow! If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!”
–Adapted from The Hobbit by Tolkien
Continue reading “The Destruction of Laketown”Endurance: Building Stories
I’ve always dreamed of one day building a MOC that would tell a good story all by itself. Last month, I finally did it.
Behind the Scenes: Hero Shots
What’s a hero shot, you ask? Well, it’s the distilled essence of a moment of epicness, the high point of a heroic act of daring, the emotion-charged second when against all odds a hero confronts seemingly unstoppable evil.
So, basically, a cool scene with two clear characters facing off.
Continue reading “Behind the Scenes: Hero Shots”Behind the Scenes: The Alleyway
This alleyway is a shady spot… in more senses than one. But what’s going on behind those complex 2×3 stones complete with grooves of dark grey in between? Is everything connected?
Probably Not…Behind the Scenes: Port Royal
This bustling port scene was a four-day collaboration between my brother Isaiah and I. It’s got lots of tiny details, forced perspective, palm trees, and those obnoxiously difficult things to build, gabled roofs.
Continue reading “Behind the Scenes: Port Royal”
Geneva D 